SENIOR RUGBY

The season closed for the First XV last weekend, however the second XV will have played their final game last Wednesday: report from this game next week

FORMER PLAYERS

A group of former players, thanks to ‘Watts Travel’, took a short sojourn to Bordeaux recently, to take in the city and the match between Bordeaux Begles and Toulon.

The travellers (seen above) were greeted by a cold wind on day one, beautiful warm sunny weather days two and three, and a storm and heavy rain on their final day; however, this did not dampen their enthusiasm to take in the stunning architecture and try out the cafés, bars and huge range of culinary delights on offer, in a truly beautiful city.

Amazingly, they learned that a lot of the city was originally built by the British, before being evicted by the French.

The highly anticipated game, in the same impressive arena that Wales footballers had performed in the Euros, did not live up to its billing, despite both sides containing a large number of current and former international players from around the globe. Bordeaux were simply out-gunned by a very powerful Toulon outfit.

The picture shows the group at the Sunday market, after having had local fresh oysters and snails for breakfast.

YOUTH SECTION

Pembroke Youth enjoyed an end of season tour to Bristol, playing one match against Walcott RFC Colts. Tour commenced at 10.30 on Friday morning travelling to Bristol for an afternoon of ‘Go Kart’ racing with champion David Baggs and runner-up Rhys Mainwaring proving to be the quickest on four wheels.

After the racing, the whole party, including 21 players and five adults, enjoyed the delights of the Bristol nightclub scene.

The following morning they travelled to Walcott to play their ‘Colts’ team and Pembroke began very well scoring four unanswered tries from Elliott Evans, Rhys Mainwaring, Hal Gaskell and Aran Williams to lead 24 points to nil. Alas, the Pembroke lads tired as the fatigue set in from only having had a few hours sleep and the home team replied with two tries of their own to make the half-time score 24-12 to Pembroke.

The second half continued as the first half ended, with the home team now dominant and scoring five further tries.

Pembroke went close on a number of occasions, with Dan Evans particularly unlucky not to score in the corner on several attempts. Eventually Pembroke did score with ‘Super Sub’ Jordan Evans crashing over to make the final score 41-31 to the hosts.

Both teams then travelled to watch the local derby match between Walcott’s 1st team and Coombe Down.

Pembroke would like to thank both clubs for the hospitality received.

The tour party returned home on the Sunday ‘thoroughly refreshed!!’ after a very enjoyable trip.

MONKTON OLD BOYS YOUTH FLOODLIT 7s TOURNAMENT

The 17th Annual Pembroke 7s Floodlit Tournament was held on Friday, April 28. Eight teams took part, Pembroke A and B, Crymych A and B, Fishguard, Haverfordwest, Narberth and Pembroke Dock Quins.

The teams played in two groups, with Crymych A and Pembroke A emerging as the winners. The cup semi-finals were Pembroke A against Fishguard, Pembroke winning, and Crymych A against Haverfordwest, Crymych winning.

In the Plate competition semi-finals, Narberth beat Crymych B and Pembroke Dock Quins beat Pembroke B.

The Plate final was between Narberth and Pembroke Dock Quins and after a bruising affair Narberth came out as winners.

In the ‘main event’, Pembroke A began well and opened the scoring with a well-worked try. However, Crymych A fought back and held a one try advantage at the halfway stage.

In the second half, Crymych dominated and emerged as well-deserved champions on the night.

The referees on the night nominated Alex Varney, from Crymych, as the player of the tournament.

The ‘Jimmy Hulbert Memorial Trophy’ was presented to the victors by Pembrokeshire Youth chairman, Mr. John Colley.

Pembroke Youth would like to thank all who attended the event. Special thanks to Mary and Basil James, Andrew Skeels, Nicola and Megan Cole, Helen and Carys Thomas, Chris Dungey, Nick Shiels, Dr. Owen Cox, Mr. Mike Watts, P.I. Scaffolding and main sponsors - South Meadows Homes Ltd and Sealand Pembroke Ltd for all their assistance to ensure the festival was a success.

JUNIOR SECTION

On Sunday, April 30, the Under 13 (seen in the second slide) and Under 16 squads and their supporters travelled to Crymych to participate in their respective finals matches.

Pembroke Under 13s v Cardigan Under 13s: After a tough season of cancelled games due to bad weather, the Under 13s were delighted to reach the final of the Pembrokeshire Cup once again this year, which was to be held at Crymych Rugby Club. Players, coaches and parents all travelled together on a coach to Crymych, where a hungry, determined Cardigan Under 13s opposition were awaiting.

The final was proving to be a re-run of the previous year where the two teams met in the final in Narberth. Although Pembroke were the victors on that occasion, they knew that this game could go either way as Cardigan are a quality team with some outstanding individual players.

It was a nervous start for both teams and it took them the first 10 minutes to settle into their usual rhythms. With a build-up of momentum, Pembroke pressurised the Cardigan try line which resulted in number eight Zack Stewart scoring the first try, which was converted by Kareem Bugby.

Cardigan retaliated well and came back strongly at Pembroke. After a number of rucks close to Pembroke’s line, their second row managed to crash over in the far corner for their first try.

Due to the touchline position of the try, the conversion was missed, making the score 7-5 to Pembroke.

The try seemed to have given Pembroke the incentive they needed as the restart saw them up their game, showing a mature style of rugby, resulting in Josh Smith sprinting up the wing and crashing over for a try in the corner. Again, due to the position of the try, the conversion was missed, leaving the score 12-5 in Pembroke’s favour.

The score gave Pembroke the confidence needed to attack Cardigan again and as a result of a number of powerful phases of play from a quality Pembroke team, another try was scored by Zack Stewart, but a missed conversion meant the score was 17-5 at half-time.

Not much needed to be said by the coaches at half-time as the boys were already showing a great, disciplined style of rugby.

The second half did not disappoint. After a series of attacking phases of play, Pembroke’s number 10, Iori Humphreys, seemed to snake his way through the Cardigan defence to score close to the posts, meaning a conversion was successful.

With the score now at 24-5, Cardigan were still as keen as ever and once the ball got to the hands of their powerful number eight, a try was inevitable. This was not converted.

Pembroke attacked fiercely a tired Cardigan due to their gallant efforts in defence, creating gaps and allowing the quick feet of Jacob Wright to increase the lead by sprinting down the wing and running across to place the ball near the posts. This was once again converted by Kareem Bugby.

With the final score thought to be sealed at 31-10, Zack Stewart had other ideas and powered his way over for his hat-trick try under the posts, confirming his well deserved selection for ‘man of the match’. With another convincing conversion from Kareem Bugby, the final score was Pembroke 38, Cardigan 10.

We wish good luck to Pembroke Under 13s who will now play Tumble at Parc -y-Scarlets on May 14.

Pembroke Under 13s finalists: Tom Cabot, Bob Edwards, Bobby Jones, Dan Urack, Travis Mathias, Kareem Bugby, Lewys Boswell, Zack Stewart, Evan Davies, Iori Humphreys, Glen McGill, Jacob Wright, Zac Jones, Josh Smith, Archie Hillier Wood, Tom Donavan, James Davies, Aaron Griffiths, Dylan Evans, Harry Llewellyn Coaches: Neil Humphreys, John Jones, Martin Mathias, Dan Machin.

Pembroke U16s v Crymych: The squad knew they were up against formidable opponents in Crymych in this final. The score was 10-0 to Crymych at half-time; Pembroke had played well, but had lost a key player to injury before the interval.

Crymych proved a very strong side and scored two quick tries in the third quarter. Pembroke rallied, but failed to penetrate a stubborn home defence in the half, leaving Crymych deserved winners 34-10.

Junior presentation evenings: All other Pembroke RFC Junior age groups will be holding their presentation evenings over the coming weeks, where all of the squads will be rewarded for their excellent season’s work. The main committee thanks all of the coaches and volunteers at all age levels for their hard work, dedication and perseverance throughout a long season.

Final match: The final match of the season for the Junior Section will see the Under 12s team hosting a touring team from Cowbridg tomorrow (Saturday), with the match kicking-off 11 am.

CLUB ANNUAL

THANKYOU BBQ

On Friday, June 9, the club will be holding its annual ‘Thankyou BBQ’ for all coaches, team managers, first aiders, other assistants and volunteers, all club, match, kit and ball sponsors and regular supporters.

This night is traditionally the time when the committee and players engage with and say a sincere thank you to everyone who has supported them throughout the past season. The management committee would like to say a very sincere thank you to all personnel who have ensured the smooth running of all of the club’s teams, the growing number of sponsors, who give so generously to support the teams and ongoing developments at the club and the supporters, who turn up throughout the season to cheer on the players at all age levels; we sincerely hope to have your continued support next season and beyond.

On the night, the new coaching teams for the two senior teams and Youth team will be announced and soon after a calendar of events outlining the pre-season plans for all teams will be posted for the players.