News

Bridgend Athletic RFC are grateful to Bryntirion Comprehensive School for allowing them to use their facilities to host their Annual Mini Rugby Festival on Sunday April 8^th, 2018, and to all players, parents, member volunteers, particularly Dean Brown, Rhys Jones, Andrew Smith & Amanda Williams who gave their time to make the event a resounding success.

40 teams took part with around 600 Players in a well organised tournament in which only rugby was the winner, with all players being awarded commemorative medals on the day. Ath legend Rhys Webb & Tom Habberfield, former Mini & Junior Players with the Ath, attended the event along with Ospreys prop Gareth Thomas. The teams thoroughly enjoyed the experience of Nigel Owens and Rhys Webb refereeing some of the games. A big thank you to Nigel for enhancing the festival experience for the youngsters.

Bridgend Athletic U7s participated in the hugely successful Bridgend Athletic RFC mini rugby festival at Bryntirion Comprehensive School. There were 3 pools of 6 U7s teams with every team playing 5 matches! In their age grade there were teams from Beddau (5), Bridgend Sports (2) Felinfoel, Whiteheads, Machen, Kenfig Hill, Cefn Cribwr, Valley Ravens and Maesteg Quins. Ath U7s entered 4 teams with each team doing brilliantly, between them they won 14, drew 1 and only lost 2. One of the best games of the day was 2 Athletic teams playing against one another ending in a draw. The kids loved having Rhys Webb and Nigel Owens assist with refereeing. Special mention to everyone who helped to make it a fun day out!

Bridgend Athletic Under 8s hosted Beddau, Maesteg Celtic, Machen, Porthcawl, Whiteheads, Cefn Cribwr, Valley Ravens and Felinfoel at their annual mini & juniors festival. A total of 10 games played they won 8, drew 1 and lost 1. Great team effort with 45 tries scored through the day.

The Ath U9's enjoyed a successful day at the Mini & Juniors festival up in Bryntirion Comprehensive school. They welcomed local sides Bridgend Sports RFC, Maesteg RFC, Llanharan RFC, Valley Raves RFC and from a little further afield, Whiteheads RFC. Some great entertaining rugby was played in some testing conditions for the young men of all sides on the day. One of the highlights of the day for the lads was being refereed by Nigel Owens who seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself. The 9's played excellently throughout the day winning 2 drawing 2 and losing 1. A great effort by all and thank you to everyone who was involved with making the day so successful and enjoyable for all.

 Bridgend Athletic Under 11s hosted Valley Ravens, Loughor, Pontardulais, Beddau and Whiteheads at our Minis Festival at Bryntirion Comprehensive School. Despite having a depleted squad and dreadful playing conditions, the Ath remained competitive to the end, with every team playing with high skill and intensity levels. The games were played in true festival spirit with fun and enthusiasm, and we'd like to say a big thank you to all the volunteers, coaches and referees who helped make the day a resounding success. Well done to Valley Ravens who went through the day unbeaten scoring some superb individual and team tries.

Junior Reports

The Ath U12’s squad travelled to Hereford to take part in the well organised and competitive Old Luctonians Rugby Festival. They reached the final where in a hard-fought contest with Stourbridge neither side could break well organised defences and ended up sharing the trophy with a 0-0 draw.

Doing well to adapt to RFU rules, the Ath reached the final by topping their group winning all 4 pool games against Bridgenorth 30-0, Whitchurch 10-5, Telford 20-10 and Luctonians 5-0.

The Squad who were a credit to the club and themselves comprised: Forwards: Iwan S, Iolo J, Rhydian G, Daniel H, Harry G, Jacob W, Daniel M and Rhys W. Backs: Leo Q, Rhys H, Louis O, Sam B, Alex T, Dan C, Charlie R, Jake B.

Tournament try scorers Leo 4, Rhys 4, Louis 2, Dan C 1, Rhydian 1 and Charlie 1.

Well done everyone we go again next week to Bristol for Whitehall’s RFC Junior Rugby Festival Celebration.

Buoyed by a large victory over New Dock Stars the Ath U13’s travelled to Llantwit Major, a team this age group cannot remember defeating in previous seasons, anticipating a vey tough game. A massive team performance saw them outscoring the home side by 6 tries to 2 in a 32-12 victory. Flanker Luca Barclay crossed for 4 tries while centre Shea Duggan added2. This was a role reversal of Shea’s 4 tries and Luca’s 2 against New Dock Stars. Jacob Hughes converted one of the tries.

Luca powered over for the first try with 3 players on his back, while slick passing by the backs was finished by Shea for the second try. Luca’s second try followed by the home side’s opening try gave the Ath a 17-0 half time lead.

The second half was a scrappy affair but following Llantwit reducing the deficit to 17-12 with a converted try, Shea’s second try and two more for Luca allowed the Ath to pull away for a well-deserved 32-12 victory.

In an excellent team performance, the back-row dominance of Elliot Patterson, Jacob Cox and Luca Barclay allowed scrum half Fynn Bull to dictate the game.

Bridgend Athletic U15’s travelled the short distance to Porthcawl for a 12pm KO. This fixture is always evenly contested between two very good teams. The sea air proved agreeable to the Ath on the day as they ran out 24-5 victors crossing for 4 tries.

Porthcawl applied early pressure and drew first blood when despite a great try saving tackle by Luke Thomas they drove over from the resultant ruck. This appeared to galvanise the Ath and superior scrummaging and great line out work enabled half backs Thom Lewis and Euan Rees to release the speedy Ath back division.

A kick through by centre Tom Florence, which he then followed up, created a great turnover, resulting in “Big John” Coates racing away from a ruck just inside the Porthcawl half to score a great try in the corner to level the scores. A short while later the Ath were given a penalty in front of the Porthcawl posts. Captain Ryan Neagle took a quick tap and fed “Big John” on the charge and he crashed over at the posts carrying half the Porthcawl pack with him. Euan Rees slotted the extra two points.

On the stroke if half time, a barnstorming run (one of many during the game) from his own half saw Number 8 Michael Gillette on a Jonah Lomu type run smashing his way through the first line of defence and totally outpacing the Porthcawl defence in a sprint to the corner, before finally brushing aside the final cover to crash over in the corner. This gave the Ath a 17-5 half time lead.

The second half continued in the same vein with an incredible Ath line out display aided by accurate throwing from both hookers used. Some stout defence by Porthcawl initially kept the Ath at bay however they were visibly crumbling against the constant onslaught of the Ath forwards running at them at every opportunity. Some great runs by Harrison Morgan, Xander Molitika, Michael Gillette and Logan Shearan causing havoc in the home defence. The pressure finally paid off when with about 10 minutes remaining great handling between backs and forwards resulted in centre Ruben Hunt giving a well-timed pass to wing Owen D’Adamo. A trademark hand off enabled him to race away and score underneath the posts for the fourth Athletic try, duly converted by Euan Rees for a comprehensive 24-5 win against a very plucky Porthcawl side. Another fantastic performance from all 22 players used on the day.