News

Bridgend Athletic U13’s and U15’s won the Abergavenny Tournament and Burry Port Festivals respectively, with both sides winning all their games.

Bridgend AthletIc U13’s travelled to attend the Abergavenny tournament for the first time on Saturday May 4th, coming away as tournament champions winning all 5 games.

With 5 other teams attending from the home side, Cardiff and as far away as South London the Ath knew they were in for a long day.

 The U13’s started off slowly against Cardiff side St Peters in game 3 of the pool but managed to string enough phases together on quite a narrow pitch to come out 15-10 winners.

  Next up was another Cardiff based team, Llandaff North and the Ath running game was starting to show as they ran in four unanswered tries, winning 20-0.

The games that had already been played in the pool showed the next 2 games for the Ath were going to be the toughest, with the English side from Warlingham in game 3.  The side really came out of the blocks against top level opposition and were soon 10-0 to the good. Warlingham did come back into it, to score 2 tries of their own but not before the Ath had scored the winning try and running out 15-10 victors.

  Next up was a team the U13’s had played a couple times this season, Llantwit Fardre and it turned into another close affair with the Ath defence coming out on top whilst scoring 2 tries of their own, winning score 10-0. 

 The U13’s last game was against the home side Abergavenny who bought a different challenge with a big pack of forwards, but after a long day the U13’s were not going to be beaten showing great handling skills across the whole team and emerging 20-10 winners.

No Athletic players should be singled out, except captain Harry Griffiths who led from the front and won player of the tournament, as it was a real team effort. The line speed from the whole team put all the opposition they played under real pressure and it was that on top of the running rugby and the team spirit that meant the Ath finished the tournament as unbeaten champions.

As the season is fast approaching its conclusion the Ath 15's entered Burryport 7's Festival with a squad of 12 selected and perfect playing conditions. The boys were looking forward to playing with more space and a tempo they enjoy.

The first game the Ath were opposed by Narberth. The team set out their intentions from the start with a very physical defence and putting the ball wide at every opportunity causing the Narberth side all sorts of problems.  The Ath ran out 35-5 winners.

Next up the Ath faced a strong Aberdare side who tested their defence, but the Ath stayed composed and took their opportunities brilliantly winning the game 25-10

Third game up was Burryport Reds who were very physical but the Ath never took a backwards step and raised their physicality to more and match them. The Ath forced Burryport into making lots of errors and with the Ath's superior fitness along with their fantastic handling skills the team finished the game with a 35-0 win.

The last of the pool games was Burryport Blues who played very much like their previous Red side. The Ath picked up on this and again moved the ball at every opportunity to the flyers out wide, resulting in the Ath running out 35-5 winners.

Although winning every pool game there was a final to be played against pool runners up Aberdare.  With the emphasis on keeping their concentration and giving one last big effort the boys didn't disappoint and kept their best until last running out more than worthy winners 30-0

The Coaches were extremely proud of the performances and rightly so scoring 32 tries and only conceding 4 all day.

The current Athletic 1^ST is made up of almost 90% players who have progressed from the Athletic Mini & Junior production line. With the success of the U13’s and U15’s above and recent U16 Osprey’s Cup finalists and 11 of the U14 squad assisting Brynteg win the Welsh School’s Yr 9 Cup it appears the future of the club is in good hands with a well run Mini & Junior Section.