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The Athletic Minis welcomed Pontyclun another long-established Mini Club set up to Newbridge Fields for keenly contested games on Sunday October 8^th. In the Junior Section the Under 15’s progressed to the 4^th Round of the Ospreys Cup.

Bridgend Athletic Under 7s welcomed Pontyclun RFC to Newbridge Fields Sunday 7th Oct. The Athletic youngsters with their ever-growing squad of 22 players once again fielded two teams the green & golds. Both teams showed great enthusiasm and dedication, some excellent tries were scored by both the Athletic & Pontyclun. Next week the Ath Under 7s travel to Aberavon Quins

The Ath U8’s was missing a number of their regular players, some of whom had turned supporters for the day, for their parents who were taking on the Cardiff Half Marathon. Despite that, the strength in depth of the squad still meant a very good attendance and the age group were able to field two teams.

It was evident from the pre-match warm-up that, the visitors were a well drilled outfit who would provide a stiff challenge to the home side. With conditions on this beautiful, crisp Autumn morning being perfect for rugby, the battle commenced …

From the first whistle Pontyclun made their intentions clear, playing a great brand of fast paced attacking rugby. The Ath’ however were up for the challenge, lifting the standard of their play to match that of their opponents. Such was the competitive nature of the matches, the Ath’ boys had to be just as strong in defence as they were in attack and the tag-count is proof of that, with the overall tag-count on the day being an exhausting 132.

The Ath’ were made to work for the result by a very accomplished Pontyclun side but in the end ran out worthy overall winners with 2 wins and 2 draws. Each player contributed to, yet again, a wonderful display of entertaining rugby that left both the visiting and home support leaving the ground, brimming with excitement and singing the praises of both sides. A great advert for players and supporters of Mini rugby.

Bridgend Athletic Under 9s welcomed Pontyclun to Newbridge Fields. Pontyclun started strongly with their big ball carriers running at pace and the Ath players finding it difficult to halt them. Pontyclun took an early comfortable lead and with too many Athletic players not stepping up to the physical aspect of the game it always looked too big a task for the Athletic players to pull this one back. Pontyclun showing a great line speed in defence as well as attack. Athletic try scorers were Ashton Davies 2, Ethan Davies, Rudi Quinn, Dylan Jones, Max Edwards, Rhys Gardiner & Rory Whyte. Final score Bridgend Athletic 40 Pontyclun 65. Next week Bridgend Athletic Under 9s take the short trip to Tondu.

Bridgend Athletic U11’s also welcomed their Pontyclun counterparts to Newbridge Fields. It is very difficult to describe what went right or wrong with the game on Sunday as Bridgend gave Pontyclun a whitewash. With three tries conceded in the first 2 minutes Pontycluns’ players heads went down and suffered from there on. With the Ath boys scoring tries at will through individual talent and fantastic team plays there were tries scored from all areas of the field. The game was basically over in the first half with ten tries scored.

The second half finished within 5 minutes of kick off as Bridgend scored another 5 tries ending in a 15-0 victory and a 20 mins game in total. Bridgend’s tempo and structure did not slow down throughout the game. All aspects of play were strong and playing off 9 and 10 worked a treat spreading the ball wide and crashing up the middle.

Massive thank you to the U10 coaches and the three under 10’s that helped out with the U11team struggling with numbers this season. The U11 coach commented “I am proud to see that the under 10’s players and coaches are supporting us and building strong talented players.”

The U13’s travelled down the M4 to play their namesake in Carmarthen Athletic with a squad of 15 eager players.

The Ath started the game at 100 miles an hour with pick and goes from the forwards and handling along the back line leading to tries from Rhys Hockings, Leo Quinn and Iwan Sadd. With no let-up of the pressure, the Ath added further tries from Rhys Hockings and a full team effort putting Dan Clarke in at the corner, meaning a half time score of 33-0.

The second half started off slowly with mistakes and penalties creeping into the game from both sides. However, the Ath managed to take charge of the game again with 15 minutes to go after some great turnover work by the forwards. They then spent time camped on the Carmarthen line leading to a try from Charlie Rees under the posts. With normal service resumed the Ath finished the game strongly with Rhys Hockings running in his hat trick and Harvey Tooze squeezing in at the corner after some great running lines and passing amongst the team. The Ath running out winners by 54-0 at the end with Charlie Rees converting 7 out of the 8 tries

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Well done all, a great team performance and the squad is looking forward to welcoming Tonmawr to Newbridge Field next weekend.

 Bridgend Athletic U14s were up against a very good side today in Newbridge, from the Gwent Valleys. They are the best side in their region and proved too tough a nut to crack for the Ath youngsters.

The game started with Newbridge on the offensive, and the Ath boys with Danny Wilson to the fore making tackle after tackle to keep them out. Something had to give as Newbridge pressure eventually saw their large pack shunt the ball over the try line for a 5-0 lead.

The Ath weren’t overawed and gradually and surely clawed their way back into the game, even though losing in form utility back Bailey John with a broken collar bone. The forwards were working hard to take the game to Newbridge and win valuable ball for the backs to use. They succeeded in turning over a ruck in the opposition 22, and the ball was shipped to captain Shea Duggan who scored wide out to level. Having worked so hard to score it was disappointing  when poor tackling left Newbridge in to reinstate their 5 point lead on half time.

The Ath played some powerful rugby to pressurise Newbridge at the start of the second half. With Newbridge falling foul of the Ref’s whistle more and more, the Ath had their chances, but failed to capitalise. It was against the run of play that Newbridge scored again, and they then followed that up with a rapid fire fourth try, to effectively seal the win. The Ath boys were looking tired now, but they kept trying, setting up a promising attack that was unfortunately intercepted by Newbridge for an 80m run in. Right on the final whistle Newbridge further increased their lead to win the game 34-5.

A harsh score line which did not reflect how well the Ath boys played for long periods of the game. The opposition were surely worth their victory but perhaps the margin suggested an easy win which it was certainly not. Unfortunately, the Ath had chances but failed to take them. However, with the efforts of the players, particularly on this occasion captain Shea Duggan, Gabe Brown, Archie Brent and new forward Charlie Davies, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic for the season ahead. Best wishes to injured Bailey John. Get well soon

 For the Ath U15’s It was the third round of their Ospreys Cup campaign away at Morriston on a lovely morning with the sun shining. With perfect playing conditions the Ath were a bit disappointed with the very narrow pitch chosen by the opposition but the players still went out to play their high tempo game.

With a great start and moving the ball at every opportunity the Ath appeared to have scored a great try, but the referee deemed it was grounded just short of the line. This set back knocked the team temporarily off their stride before regrouping with forwards and backs combining to score 3 great tries to one penalty kick by Morriston to lead 17-3 at half time.

The second half got on the way with the Ath making 8 changes and quickening the tempo of the game. Morriston were now starting to look tired and the Ath sensing this took complete control scoring some lovely well worked tries. The last 10 minutes the forwards got in on the act with some very impressive driving mauls from our lineout resulting in some quality tries. All 23 players available put in a fantastic shift and the U15’s march on to the next cup round. Final score Morriston 3 Bridgend Athletic