News

District Cup Final – Sun May 7^th, 2023

Bridgend Athletic Under 15’s travelled to Llandarcy on Sunday 7th May to play in the final of the district D Cup v Cwmafan.

 The game started at a high pace and the Ath quickly put Cwmavon under pressure. Unfortunately, some silly penalties put the pressure back on the Ath and Cwmafan started to control the game at both set piece and the breakdown area. Lucky for the Ath Sam Whitefield managed to intercept a lovely back line move from Cwmavon which put him into open space near the halfway line. Sam pinned back his ears and managed to score in the right-hand corner. The try was converted by Tom Thatcher Wynne. 7-0. The try certainly settled the nerves and the Ath started to play some rugby in the Cwmavon half, unfortunately another silly penalty resulted in Cwmafan pinning the Ath back on their own line only to score in the corner with a driving maul. The remainder of the half was played out in the middle of the park with neither side taking control, until again another poor penalty was conceded allowing Cwmafan the chance of a penalty within range. The kick was converted and Cwmafan took the lead 10-7.

After some poor decision making the Ath finally started to play their style of rugby and Ethan Griffiths broke free to score an amazing individual try to put the Ath back in front. Half time score 12 - 10. 

The second half was very nervy and although the Ath tried to get some pace into the game the ref would not allow any penalties to be taken quickly which killed any momentum that we were trying to build.  Some early changes resulted in Hari Humphreys coming into the pack and Sam Whitefield taking over at scrum half. Josh Gabrielson fitted in at centre and Regan Davies came onto the field at full back. This made an almost instant impact, and the backs moved the ball wide only for Regan Davies to be tackled inches short of the try line. Soon after another well worked move the boys put Ethan Griffiths into space on the far side of the field and there was no way anyone was going to catch him. Tom Thatcher Wynne conveted the try and the Ath took a deserved 19 -10 lead.

 The rest of the game was difficult to watch as the boys gave away needless penalties and gave up valuable possession.  The ref made an example of the Ath players and we found ourselves playing the remainder of the game with only 12 men. This was arguably the time when the boys played their best rugby constantly stopping Cwmafan and denying them any scoring opportunities. 9 minutes certainly felt like more, but the boys managed to hang on and win the game 19 -10.

 Unfortunately, with the way the game ended we were unable to get the remaining substitutes onto the field, and we can only apologise for not doing this.

Overall, it was not the best performance from this team that has been nothing short of amazing all season. But as coaches today we are happy to take an ugly win over a pretty loss.

This Sunday May 14^th at Llandarcy k.o. 11am the Ath U15 represent Ospreys East v Ospreys West Region – Morriston U15 in the Inter Regional Final of the Ospreys Cup. All support welcome.