News

Most of the Mini & Junior sections were able to brave the wind and rain last Sunday. The highlight was the U16’s finishing their Mini & Junior Careers by progressing to the Ospreys U16 Cup Final at Llandarcy on the 28^th April. Gowerton will be their opponents that day.

Bridgend Athletic U7s welcomed Tondu Sunday 10th March who like themselves also have a large squad. With Tondu bringing 20 players and Bridgend Athletic having 22 three pitches were set up with both clubs fielding three teams. It was a great advert for rugby with the parents being treated to some excellent defensive & evasive skills from both clubs. All games were played in the true spirit of minis rugby with no scores kept, it was great seeing all the players enjoying plenty of game time.

Bridgend Athletic U8s played Penallta and Brecon in a round robin on a sunny Sunday. The Ath had just the 10 players due to international commitments in Scotland!

There were 3 x 20-minute matches in total so lots of game time for all the children. The team played extremely well and competed against two well drilled Penallta teams. The defensive effort could not be faulted with every player contributing and when we managed to find space the boys took their opportunities very well. The last match was a try fest with the Ath running in 12 tries. Thanks goes to Penallta RFC for the friendly welcome. Results: -

Penallta Yellows 6-2 Bridgend Athletic (Coles, Mannion)

Penallta Blues 5-5 Bridgend Athletic (Tune 2, Phillips, Jones, Mannion)

Brecon 3-12 Bridgend Athletic (Mannion 3, Jones 3, Tune 3, Coles, Edwards, Lewis)

Bridgend Athletic Under 9s played Nantyffyllon on Sunday 10th March and due to having such a large squad were able to field a second team to face Pencoed who were in search of a fixture. Bridgend Athletic Golds played three 10 min quarters against Nantyffyllon and showed some promising rugby. Nantyffyllon kept the ball alive well with the Ath players not completing their tackles allowing Nantyffyllon to off load easily. The Ath need to improve defensively and hold their positions better. Bridgend scored two tries through Rhys Gardiner & Ewan Gill, but it wasn’t enough as Nantyffyllon ran out comfortable winners. Rhys Gardiner & Osian Lord stood out in the Athletic defence.

Bridgend Athletic Greens were also scheduled for three 10 min quarters against Pencoed. The first quarter saw Bridgend score two quick tries to race into a 10-nil lead. The second quarter saw Pencoed come back and take the lead 30-20. With all to play for in what had been a very good game things took an unexpected twist with Pencoed refusing to play the third and final quarter? This left 11 Bridgend Athletic players lined up ready to restart with no opponent, even more disappointing was that Pencoed had 5 substitutes who never got on to the field of play?

It became obvious that Pencoed’s U9s coaches were more concerned with getting a result than the development and game time of their players. Bridgend Athletic try scorers were Dylan Jones 2, Grayson Lewis Whelan & Oliver Turvey. Next up for the U9s is a Friday evening trip to Tonna then a Home game vs Maesteg Celtic on Sunday 17th March.

The Under 11’s travelled away to Loughor to face a very strong team, with big numbers. The boys started very slowly and Loughor raced to an early lead through some poor defensive organisation. The first 10 minutes were difficult to watch for both parents and coaches as the Ath seemed to be always on the back foot. Thankfully this didn’t last too long, and the boys started to get some possession and began to ask questions of the Loughor defence. Hard work paid off and a well worked line out led to the Ath crashing over for their first try. Half time 21-7 in favour of Loughor.

The second half started well for the Ath and extra pressure on the Loughor back line was paying off. Soon enough the Ath were back in the game with a well worked try from the backs. The next part of the game was testing for the team with several injuries to key players meaning that a full reshuffle was needed with several players having to fit into new positions. It was very pleasing to see the boys then step up and boss the game and attack Loughor at every opportunity. Soon enough the pressure turned to points and the Ath clawed their way back to within a score.

 Unfortunately, time was against the Ath and Loughor eventually won 42-35. Full credit to all the players involved today, with just one sub and players shifting out of position this was a game that the coaches felt we could have won and with a few more minutes maybe would have. Well done all.

The under 12s travelled to Old Penarhians buoyed by the return of some key players from injury; and did well to adapt their game to the cold and blustery conditions.

The first ten minutes saw The Ath forwards completely dominating their opponents, with some relentless pick and go moves from James Waite, Kian Tolentino and Harry Jones eventually softening up the defence, allowing centre Luke Humphries to score the first points of the match with a deft pick up and run over the try line.

The first half continued in the same vein, with winger Lucas Kenny scoring the Ath’s second try just minutes later following some well worked handling from flanker Alfie Creed and scrum half Ioan Roberts. The Ath pulled further ahead before half time with two further converted tries. Centre Jo Bruckel scored the Ath’s third try benefiting from the skilful hands of flanker Josh Ludlow and the sheer power of second row Harrison Harper; before Ioan Hammond scored a great fourth try under the posts with one of his trademark swerving runs.

The second half started slowly as both teams battled the increasingly strong winds and hail showers. Defences dominated play until number 8 Will Jones broke away and scored the Ath’s fifth try with a powerful solo run from inside his own half, converted by outside half Jack Thomas.

The final quarter fizzled out with Old Penarthians scoring a consolation try in the closing minutes, but this was a great Ath attacking  and defensive performance from 1 to 15. Final score: Old Penarthians 7; The Ath 31

The Under 13’s hosted Llantwit Fardre and came up against the same opponents for the third time this season winning one and drawing one of the matches to date, so the coaches and players knew it would be a tough match.

After surviving an early pitch inspection, the Ath soon tried to wear their opponents down.  The Ath as had been the case for most of the season were up against bigger players man for man.  Half way through the first half Llantwit tried to put the Ath backs under pressure from a line out in their own 22 but the backs managed to draw their defenders and put Rhys Hockings into space for him to run in from 70m scoring under the posts with Charlie Rees converting to give his side a 7-0 half time lead.

The wind was having a bearing on the handling and Llantwit started using their big forwards to carry more often. To their credit the Ath defended well and from a turnover exploited space out wide for another Rhys Hocking try again converted by Charlie Rees to double the lead at 14-0.  For the remainder of the second half the Ath were under pressure giving away a series of penalties close to the line which resulted in the Llantwit prop crashing over from close range to make the final score 14-5 in favour of the Athletic. We look forward to resuming our tough but friendly battles next season.

This coming Sunday we welcome Pontypridd to Newbridge Fields for another tough encounter.

The Ath 15's welcomed Llangennech to Newbridge fields on a very windy morning and returned to winning ways.

With the emphasis on hitting space rather than contact and getting quicker ball the Ath got off to a great start with a try out wide for Tom Clarke. Moments later play was stopped due to a neck injury to Ath player Will Fyfe and the Emergency Services called.

The game was changed to another pitch and the Ath struck again with tries from Lochlan Baron, Luke Florence, Will Laverick, Evan Beach and another by Tom Clarke. Although all tries were scored out wide credit must go to the Ath pack for providing a great platform. Final Score Bridgend Athletic 32 - 0 Llangennech

Ath coaches, players and supporters wish Will a speedy recovery from his concussion.