News

Bridgend Athletic 2^nd XV 12 Ammanford 2^ND XV 10

WRU Conference – Sat Jan 5^th, 2019

Without a game since Oct 27^th due to Autumn Internationals and inclement December weather Bridgend Athletic 2^nd XV dusted off the cobwebs to record a seasonal WRU league double over West Wales rivals Ammanford with a narrow 12-10 victory outscoring their opponents by 2 tries to 1. This moved the Athletic to 2^nd position behind Penallta in the league with 4 victories from their 5 fixtures.

The first half was well contested with the action to and fro. The Ath failed to capitalise on some breaks. Ill discipline saw the referee lose patience and following a team warning Athletic lock Aled Pilliner paid the price with a yellow card. Ammanford kicked the resultant penalty to give them a 3-0 half time lead.

In the second half the Athletic started to use their ball carriers to set up field position with Callum Swinford, Lloyd Pemberton, Aled Pilliner, Lewis Dando and Geraint Lang prominent. The first Athletic try came from line out possession and moving the ball wide with a floated pass from Scott Jones finding wing Andrew West to cross wide out on his comeback game after a few seasons away from the action.

Aaron Mordecai led the team from the front excelling in both attack and defence. Nick Jones making his 100^th Athletic senior appearance was like a terrier with chop tackles. Lloyd Pemberton was also prominent in the tackle count.

The Ath made a few changes with Ashley Adams adding enthusiasm to the Athletic play. The second try came from Cameron Thomas finishing off several phases with pick and goes from Lewis Dando and Callum Swinford inside the Ammanford 22. It was Cameron’s first appearance in over a year following a serious shoulder injury. Scott Jones added the conversion to stretch the lead to 12-3. Along with club captain Mordecai Thomas led the Athletic tackle count on the day.

The Athletic emptied their bench in the final quarter. Although the Ath were in general control Ammanford did strike late on with a converted try to leave the final score 12-10 to the Athletic with 4 league points for the Ath and a losing bonus point for Ammanford. and Conference

It was a good all-round team performance from the Athletic. This Saturday Jan 12^th the Athletic visit Cardiff Metropolitan for another WRU Conference league game. Team Manager Liam Griffiths hopes that the great team numbers of 21 on the day will not fall away as the Ath look for a top 3 league finish.

Bridgend Athletic Youth 19 Cwmavon Youth 50

Ospreys Youth East Division – Sat Jan 5^th, 2019

The Ath Youth played against a strong Cwmavon team in an Ospreys Youth East Division fixture with the final score line 19-50 to Cwmavon. This was the first game for the Athletic boys to show what they can do for the new Youth Coaching set up and they certainly excelled in every department.

However, this score line did not reflect the game in any way and every single Ath player should be proud of what they contributed. The game started with the Ath only able to field 13 players, however, every single player gave their all in a fantastic, fast game.

After 10 minutes Cwmavon were 10-0 up after excellent tries by their second row and centre. Things were not looking good, however, the Ath rolled their sleeves up and got “stuck in!”

Pressure from the Ath inside their 22-saw centre Owen Thomas smash through a few tackles and round the opposition to score under the posts for a fantastic try, converted by outside half Ethan White (who had a fantastic game throughout).A short while later, Josh Llewellyn drove over for a well-deserved try again converted by Ethan to take them into a 14-10 lead.

Fantastic grit, commitment and guile, typified by Emyr Anthony diving onto loose ball 2 metres out from his own line, saving a definite try saw the Ath going into the break 14-10 up. This, despite, Cwmavon constantly swapping players on and off to use the 23 players they brought with them- superb Ath effort!!!

The second half started with Cwmavon scoring a quick 2 tries against a clearly (understandingly) tiring team. Cwmavon continued to pile on the pressure and scored another quick try to make the game safe.

Many teams, by this time would simply have given up- however, great handling saw Cameron Lewis give a great pass to emergency winger Morgan Bennett. Morgan used his pace to round his winger, handing him off to score a great corner try, the conversion narrowly missed by Ethan White.

Cwmavon then hit back with a length of the field try by their outside half to end the game, by this time the Ath were down to 11 players. However, every single player continued to give 100% commitment despite being “out on their feet”

All in all, a fantastic effort from all 13 players. The coaches are extremely proud of each player- hopefully the word will spread through the youth and more players will come back and get their boots on to support and play for a very committed, talented bunch of boys. Well done lads from all the coaches!