Girls' rugby teams from Dyffryn Taf, Whitland, recently, travelled to Cardiff to take part in a seven-a-side rugby competition organised by the WWRU. Surprisingly, Dyffryn Taf was the only school that entered into the competition - all other teams were from clubs all over Wales. Dyffryn Taf's Under 19s' teams were unfortunate to have to play against two very strong teams from Bridgend and Cardiff, which included several county representatives. They played well, but lost both their matches. Nevertheless, this opportunity gave them invaluable experience of playing in a competition of such a high level. The Under 16s team were unstoppable in the first round, beating many of the opposing teams by five or six tries. They finished in second place out of a group of seven, which secured them a place in the semi-final against a team from Dyffryn Conwy. After a very close and exciting match, Dyffryn Conwy secured their place in the final by two tries to one. Dyffryn Taf's player-of-the-tournament was Joely Davies who scored eight tries during the day and kicked all the conversions. The Under 13s team were most impressive in their competition, especially considering they had only had one training session to learn the rules and skills and to prepare for this tournament. They managed to secure five convincing wins out of six matches in the first round. Under the captaincy of Chloe Howells, the team used their pace and new found skills against a team from Neath. However, in the dying minutes of the match, Neath scored the winning try that took them through to the final. There were outstanding first time performances from Rosie Harden, Emily Hutton and Fran Edwards. As a result of such impressive performances on the day, Alice James, Gemma Smith, Joely Davies and Rosie Hutton, were asked to represent the West Wales Under 16 girls' rugby team in a match against North Wales. These players joined fellow Dyffryn Taf pupils, Rachel Davies and Alex Pearce, who have represented West Wales all season at Under 16 level and Chloe Howells and Hannah Richards, who have been selected for the Under 13 squad. Congratulations to all players involved.
