A FINE second half fightback versus Pontypridd just came up short as RGC departed the Premiership Cup.

RGC were left frustrated and disappointed after giving themselves too much to do after a first half performance which gave the visitors a 17-point lead.

With a cup quarter-final going to the victors, a Danny Cross penalty had RGC in the lead, with this soon cancelled out by Jacob Lloyd's kick.

Cai James' interception try halfway had Pontypridd in front, with Lloyd hitting the extras.

Things got worse for the hosts when Bradley Roderick collected a kick through behind the RGC defence to touch down, and Lloyd’s kick made it a 17-point lead at half time.

Back came RGC when the second half got underway and Dan Owen crossed the whitewash, with Danny Cross converting.

The gap between the sides was soon down to just three points.

Zach Clow set up Afon Bagshaw for the next try, which was once again converted by Cross.

A further converted try saw Pontypridd stretch their advantage, before the hosts grabbed their third try as Dan Owen crossed in the corner.

As the clock hit 80 minutes, Cross hit over a penalty to make it a five-point gap with the restart to come.

In the end, and after multiple phases, RGC worked towards halfway, but it wasn’t enough.

Head coach Ceri Jones felt his side gave themselves too much to do after conceding 20 points in the first half.

He told the RGC website: “We left far too many points on the field in that opening 40 minutes and similar to last week gave them some tries that were down to our control.

"If you give the opposition 20 points then the pressure is on in the second half, and that was the case.

"We showed good endeavour in the second half and points wise it was 22-10 but it was an uphill task based on what we did in the first half.”

Jones added: “Having Sam Rogers come off after two minutes meant we had to adapt, but I was pleased with how Matt Buchanan performed coming on.

"We had some good individual performances – when you look at how far Pedr has come from the last Pontypridd game til now, and Dan Owen put in a good game as well.

“It’s my first season, and the group of players are learning on how to win games.

"We can create chances but we need to be clinical and show composure.

"Defensively we are conceding some strange tries, which are in our control such as today with the interception and the slap ball from the lineout. We need to mature quickly and make sure we learn from this.”