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The Mini section was mainly successful as they hosted Pontypridd at Newbridge Fields. The Under 13’s away at Nantyfyllon and the U14’s at Rhiwbina won their games. 13 of the U15 squad represented the District in a Dewar Cup game against Cardiff.

Bridgend Athletic Under 7s welcomed Pontypridd to Newbridge Fields on Sunday 17th February.

Pontypridd showed up with a squad of 12 players, even though the Ath had 5 players missing they were still able to field an impressive squad of 20 players. Pontypridd showed some nice individual skill but had no answer to the Athletics’ organised disciplined defence and support play. Both Bridgend Athletic teams the Green & the Golds comfortably outscored their opponents scoring at will.

Star players of the week were Joshua Owen for the Greens and Rohan Davies for the Golds. Next up for the Ath 7s is a trip to Llanishen.

It was home again this week for the U8’s who took on Pontypridd in a return fixture. Having played them away earlier in the season, the Ath’ knew what the visitors would bring and that was a confident side who liked to throw the ball around.

Pontypridd brought a squad of 14 players so could only field two 7-aside teams. The Ath’ numbers, by comparison, significantly outnumbered the visitors so fielded 2 teams, the Greens and Yellows each with 9 and 10 players respectively. The resultant need to play rolling 2- and 3-man substitutions meant the Ath’ struggled for continuity. The players however dealt with the challenge admirably, with no complaining at being switched mid match. Credit also to the parents on the touch line who ensured the player transitions ran as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

The Ath’s defence was exceptional, and needed to be, with Pontypridd being proponents of the quick offload. The Bridgend offensive game was equally as impressive, having to fight for every inch of space, as they were left very little room to manoeuvre by their visitors’” over-zealous” defensive line.

The large following of supporters from both clubs were treated to a display of fast paced, exciting tag rugby. The Ath’ supporters would have left the more satisfied of the two, both with the on-field performances and conduct of their players and the results, with both the Greens and Yellows each winning 2, losing 1 and drawing 1. A total of 36 tries were scored and 175 tags made over the 8 matches played so a good day at the office again for the U8’s.

Bridgend Athletic Under 9s along with the rest of the minis hosted Pontypridd on Sunday 17th February. With the Athletic only just winning the previous meeting earlier in the season between the two sides they knew they needed to be on top of their game in order to do the double over the black & whites. Pontypridd got off to a fast start racing into a 10-0 lead with the Ath defence not holding their positions. The Ath made 10 changes after the first quarter and were soon back in the game with 3 answered tries from Regan Henly, Dylan Jones & Ethan Davies.

The third quarter saw Pontypridd score the only try to level the scores 15-15. Despite another individual try from Dylan Jones it was Pontypridd who finished stronger scoring 3 tries and winning the game 30-20. It was a poor performance from the Athletic who didn’t play well as a team, more players are needed to stand up and be counted in both attack & defence. Stand out players in defence were Osian Kenny, Ethan Davies, Mason Brown, Ethan Morris, Regan Henly & Grayson Lewis Whelan.

The under 10's welcomed a well drilled Pontypridd to Newbridge Fields on Sunday. The first quarter was a close encounter with the Ath going 1-0 up with a good sole run from winger Jack who cut cleverly inside to score. Defence was strong from the Ath but a mistake put Ponty back in the game to make it 1-1 at the break.

 During the second quarter, changes in the backs saw great individual skills from Oliver Williams to score two tries making it 3-1. Throughout the game, the boys showed a lot of skill, were quick to the break down and offloaded well in the tackle. The try of the game was scored after a brilliant break through the defence by Charlie who stormed twenty yards up the field beating four tacklers before being held up ten yards from the line.  He managed to turn and offload to the supporting run of Albert who scored in the corner. Ponty performed well with a bare 10 players to score two tries of their own to make it 5-3 going into the final quarter.

There was great team work and two well worked tries scored by Theo and Chaitu. The final score was 8-4 to the Athletic with Oliver Williams bagging a hat trick. The overall performance from the under 10's was excellent and great to watch. Every game the boys are showing more team work and starting to get together to become a great team. Naturally there were a few errors in muddy conditions, but the boys out played a good Ponty team with great offloading, rucking and tackling from every player. It was a pleasure to watch and hope they keep it going, well done boys keep it up.

After a run of hard fixtures, the Ath U13’s travelled away to Rhiwbina for their latest match. The home fixture ended with a 2-point win for the Ath, so the team knew the return leg was not going to be easy.  The first half started off at a fast pace with both sides trying to keep the ball in hand and attack from everywhere. Turnovers were king in the first 10mins with both sides attacking the ball and trying to slow each other’s possession down.  After a good spell of sustained pressure, the Ath managed to get on the score board first, from a scrum in the middle of the pitch. With no full back at home Leo Quinn chipped over the top with the back 3 and Rhys Hockings chasing hard, ending up with quick recycled ball back for Rhydian Greenhall to charge over near the posts. The conversion was kicked by Charlie Rees, for the Ath to take a deserved 7-0 lead at half time.

The second half started as a mirror image of the first with both sides putting pressure on at the ruck and turning the ball over numerous times.  After some good attacking by the Ath forwards and backs it was from a loose kick that the Ath scored again. Rhiwbina trying to clear their lines, kicked from close to their try line but some great elusive running from Rhys Hockings meant he beat several attempted tacklers to score a great try. Charlie Rees successfully kicked the conversion again for the Ath to lead 14-0.  Rhiwbina didn’t give up and after several hard runs and recycling the ball with speed, they managed to spread the ball from side to side and cross after a mix up in the Ath defence. With the conversion kicked it meant the score was 7-14 heading into the last 10mins.  With the U13’s battled hardened after a number of hard fixtures it was their defence and team spirit that closed the game out with the winning score 7-14 to the Ath.

The U14’s visited Nantyfyllon.  The Ath kicked off and Nanty came at us straight away using their big forwards and after a series of pick and go’s they were over under the posts 7-0. Time to regroup, as that was far too easy. We hadn’t committed hard enough in that last period of play and Nanty got what they deserved.

The Ath came back though and put Nanty under pressure as they drove and rucked on the muddy pitch. Nanty were having difficulty in holding them out and were penalised a few times as our forwards ground onwards.  From the last of the penalties the alert Jack Whitton tapped quickly and went in to score 5-7.

The same player claimed the next try which came from a maul with a short ball from Fynn to Jack on the burst through the 10/12 channel and over. No stopping that 12-7

Next period of play saw Nanty in the ascendancy as the game went to and fro, but we were defending well, even when they got up to our try line, we always seemed to be able to make a tackle, spoil ball or even pinch it.

This had been a good game so far, hard but not dirty and we were certainly in a contest.

The Ath started well in the second half, some strong runs, but Nanty worked hard in the tackle. The slippery ball meant there were several errors, and from one such knock on the Ath won a scrum and Sam Barraclough came hard onto the ball to break the line and score a good try, to give his team some breathing space at 7-19

Soon after though we were penalised in front of our posts and Nanty kicked the penalty for 10-19. We pressed and pressed though and at one stage we were camped right on their line. Nanty were penalised, and after failing to use an advantage the Ath elected for a scrum. From the scum Sam B scored his second off the back of the set piece. 10 -26

Nanty took the restart and pinned us back taking play into our 22. There were minutes left now and whilst they were beaten, they weren’t giving up, and were pressing hard. They disrupted our lineouts and eventually they deservedly scored in the corner for a final score of 15-26 in favour of the Athletic.

A good game with lots of endeavour from each side and our defence generally was good. A few boys played in new positions and did well, thanks to Sam Barraclough and Gabe Brown for giving it a go. There were some great individual performances from Archie Brent, Danny Wilson and Charlie Patterson in the forwards and Fynn Bull and Jack Whitton in the backs.

There was no U15 game with 13 of the team representing the District in a  Dewar Shield game against Cardiff.