And (in no particular order) the winners are...

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WRU DIV SIX EAST 2013-14

RGC assistant coach JoshLeach believes the weekend’s22-15 win at Newbridge showshow the players have devel-oped in the Championship.

“This was a game we wouldhave lost six months ago, wehave come away with a winand adapted to the conditions,”he said.

“We know it is a tough run-in tothe end of the season, but wehave depth in the squad nowand with the conditions begin-ning to change weather-wisethat can only benefit our styleof rugby.”

It was Newbridge that openedthe scoring with a penalty inthe opening minute, but RGCsoon took control of the gameas they looked to shift the balland go through the phaseslooking for a gap in the homeside’s defence.

The Newbridge players weremaking some big and importanttackles and the opening 15minutes was a physical one forboth sides.

Lewis Barker left the pitch witha knee injury and was replacedby Rhodri Carlton-Jones.

The RGC try came after asuperb zinging pass by AlexSchwarz to Tom Blackwell whoskipped through in the corner.Carlton Jones kicked the dif-ficult conversion.

The home side answered backwith a try after some pressureon the Gogs’ line, but it wasn’tlong before the RGC forwardsshowed their power when TallisKaraitiania crashed over underthe posts giving Carlton Jonesan easy conversion.

RGC spurned a few opportuni-ties to open up the Newbridgedefence with a couple of drop

catches and loose passes, butthey visitors did extend thelead just before half time whena Carlton Jones penalty sailedover the posts.

The second half started brightlywhen Ollie Cracknell poweredthrough to score the try asRGC started to think of thatbonus-point fourth try.

But the game began to changeas RGC couldn’t keep controlof the ball as well, and theybegan to invite pressure onthemselves.

Winger Richard Hopkins madea couple of superb tackleswhen the Newbridge attacklooked dangerous.

The home side started to kickbehind the Gogs’ defenceputting pressure on the RGCline out. Andy Baston was giv-en a yellow in the 60th minute,not long after coming on as asub, and the man advantagetold instantly as Lewis Blackerscored and with the conversionmade it a seven-point differ-ence. Newbridge then had aplayer yellowed for an elbow tomake it a 14-man game.

RGC dug in with Huw Wor-thington and Andy Baston bothmaking a big difference atthe breakdown as Newbridgelooked for that important try.

Skipper Kelvin Davies began toshow some good kicking skillsas he hit three decent kicksinto the corner to release thepressure on the RGC defence.

Compared to similar gameslike this in the past away fromhome, this result has to beviewed as just as impressiveas the 10-try Tondu victory lastweek, as lessons from the pastappear to have been taken onboard.

Saturday 15 March

Newbridge 15 v RGC 22

RGC is not only about what happens during the 80 minuteson a Saturday, a big part of the RGC ethos is communityinvolvement across the Region.

Recently RGC have been working with Shotton RFC, Helenfrom the club explains what they have been doing “4 yearsago we had 4 boys in the minis and now we have over 100.We want rugby to play a big part in the community, as wedon’t charge for training and we look to give everyone timeon the pitch. It is not just about skill, talent or ability - thewhole aim is for the children to gain friends on and off thepitch. Parent and coaches also deserve credit for how wehave progresses and we are a community club for the area.“

Marc Roberts RGC Academy Manager “It’s been great tosupport and enhance the work Shotton are doing withintheir community. Shotton are showing a genuine ambitionto be an integrated club and it’s clear that they are cement-ing themselves as a key part of their community. It was agenuine pleasure to work in Maes Hyfryd. the children arethoroughly enjoying the activities and learning some positivevalues from rugby union activities.

Match reports byRob Griffiths, Daily Post

RGC consolidated second spotin the Championship after see-ing off previously third-placedTata Steel 31-15 at Parc Eiriason Saturday.

The win over Tata moved RGCfour points clear in secondplace with Bargoed taking overin third place.

Saturday’s victory meansRGC remain unbeaten in theleague in 2014, with their onlyloss since the turn of the yearhaving been in the Swalec Cupagainst runaway Championshipleaders Ebbw Vale.

RGC were dominant in theopening 25 minutes, runningin three converted tries withoutthe visitors actually having oneattack themselves.

The Parc Eirias crowd, whichincluded Wales head coachWarren Gatland, watched theGogs score the opening tryfrom Tallis Karaitiana whenhe drove over after a quicktap penalty, even managing topower through three defendersin the process. Rhodri CarltonJones, in at fly-half for the in-jured Lewis Barker, added theconversion.

Harri Evans was next to get thecrowd excited when the Walesunder-20s star broke throughfour players, only for his passto escape the hands of CarltonJones. The RGC backline didclick together for the second trywith two superb offloads giv-ing winger Tom Blackwell theopportunity to race down thetouchline for the score. CarltonJones fired over a difficultconversion.

Another of RGC’s Wales U20players, full-back Afon Bag-shaw, claimed the third try rac-ing under the posts, and withthe Carlton Jones conversion itwas 21-0 after 25 minutes.

It wasn’t just about the RGCbackline, though, as theforwards were putting in a bigshift, chasing down every balland making life difficult for TataSteel.

The visitors needed to getback in the game and they didso with a big rolling maul thatpushed over the line for thepoint. Tata Steel then beganto get a foothold in the gamewith Stuart Edbrooke making a

break and causing problems.The wind was causing a fewproblems for the boot of SimonEvans as, after he missed theconversion, he followed it up bypulling a simple penalty wide ofthe posts.

RGC lost their own flow andbegan to get involved in situa-tions that were not really partof the game, which looked partof the visitors’ game plan. Aftera number of stoppages in thebreakdown the final score ofthe half went to Tata Steel witha penalty.

The second half opened with apenalty try for Tata Steel whichwas converted, and the visitorswere using the rolling maul ona number of occasions to tryand gain momentum.

The weather began to playa part as the wind and rainmade handling tricky, withRGC missing a few opportuni-ties to score, including a greatbreak from Blackwell whosepass didn’t make it to AndrewWilliams.

Scrum-half Alex Schwarz wasnext to make a break for theline, and after some good foot-work he was strangely calledback by the referee, who hadfallen and couldn’t keep up withplay. After a few infringementsTata were reduced to 14 menwith a yellow card, and theRGC pack started to dominateagain in the scrum. CarltonJones hit a penalty facing thewind to cap what was a goodday with his right boot.

As the clock ticked down thehome crowd were given thebonus point try they wantedwhen winger Blackwell raceddown the line, and Bagshawfired over the conversion onthe final whistle.

Once again RGC put in a bigperformance and it was a trueteam effort. The forwards weretenacious in the breakdownand they enabled the platformfor Alex Schwarz to set up thebacks, who used the ball wellfor the 80 minutes.

Saturday 22 March

RGC 31 v Tata Steel 15

Warran Gatlandimpressed at EiriasWarren Gatland was at Eirias to watch RGC beat TataSteel 31-15 in the Swalec Championship match whichkeeps the Gogs in second place.

He also took a tour of the facilities at Eirias, including theIndoor 3G training barn and the state-of-the-art gym. TheWales Head Coach spoke after the game on his first visitto the stadium.

“The set up here at Eirias is as good as I have seenanywhere, and the support from Conwy Council is greatto see. I enjoyed the game with both sides competingwell, and for RGC to pick up the bonus point win certainlyended the game on a high for them.

“North Wales is definitely important from a WRU point ofview and with the region having a million people we haveto look to develop rugby across the whole area.

“Hopefully looking long term, we can now provide thevehicle for the talent to develop players that will have theopportunity to progress in the professional and interna-tional game. It is good the processes are now in place,and it won’t be immediate but in 3 or 4 years the resultswill be seen for everyone involved at RGC.”

Gatland also took the time to catch up with a family friend,Tallis Karaitiana, who has joined the RGC set-up fromHamilton Boys School.

The 18 year old back row scored the opening try on Sat-urday with a barn-storming run and earned the man-of-the-match accolade to boot.

Gatland said, “Tallis spent a lot of time at my house grow-ing up as he is a good friend of my son’s. He’s a verytalented player and has come over to try his luck in Walesas he has Welsh heritage.”

RGC came away from theMount Pleasant ground with ahard-fought bonus-point win,gained against a Beddau sidewho belied their Championshipleague position by never mak-ing things easy for the visitingNorth Walians.

Playing down the slope in thefirst half, RGC, who welcomedback Llangefni hooker AndyBaston from injury, had by farthe best of both territory andpossession but had nothingto show for it until 30 minutesin, when Wales U20 ace HarriEvans exploded through agroup of Beddau defenders totouch down under the posts.His Wales under-20 team-mate Afon Bagshaw added theextras.

From the re-start a misunder-standing among the RGC teamled to the ball being re-claimedby the hosts, and a coupleof moments later man of thematch Tom Hughes foundhimself in the sin-bin when hemade his only mistake of thegame as he was adjudged tohave deliberately knocked apass down. From the result-ing penalty the Beddau fly-halfknocked over the penalty kick.

With the home supportersscreaming for the referee toblow the half-time whistle, RGCscored with the last play of thehalf when a flowing move downthe left-hand side of the pitchresulted in another Wales U20sstar, Olly Cracknell, crossingthe white-wash to give the visi-tors a 12-3 half-time lead.

Unsurprisingly Beddau came

out at the start of the secondhalf with all guns blazing anda penalty conceded by RGCbrought them to within sixpoints as they converted a sec-ond effort of the afternoon.

Shortly afterwards RGC fly-halfBagshaw was forced to leavethe field after receiving a bangon the head while tackling acharging Beddau back-rowplayer.

Beddau then had a chance toscore another three-pointer butwith the kick falling short, RGCfull-back Llywarch ap Myrddinlaunched a howitzer of a clear-ance to return play very firmlyinto the opposition 22. AlthoughBeddau relieved the pres-sure on that occasion, shortlyafterwards they were foundout when Harri Evans scoredhis second try and scrum-halfAlex Schwarz slotted over theconversion.

The final try of the game, andthe one that secured the bonuspoint, came from Llywarch ApMyrddin following neat inter-play between forwards andbacks.

Saturday 29 March

Beddau 6 v RGC 24

RGC v Tata SteelPics by Alan Skeates

RGC head coach ChrisHorsman was delighted withhis team’s response to hishalf-time team talk as a strongsecond-half performanceagainst Bridgend ensured theirunbeaten league record for2014 rolls on.

The North Wales representa-tive side overcame anotherhurdle in the race for secondspot in the Championship withtheir victory at Parc Eirias overBridgend Athletic, who hadbeaten RGC in south Walesback in November.

Although RGC were leading atthe break, frustration was build-ing as try-scoring opportunitieswere proving hard to come by.

But the Gogs scored seven oftheir nine tries after the restart,and after the game Horsmanpraised his players for theirreaction.

He said: “It was another pleas-ing performance today, andonce again it shows how far wehave come after we lost thisfixture at Bridgend earlier in theseason.

“It is great to see the develop-ment of the side and after theconversations at half time theplayers took on board the mes-sages from the coaching staffand solved the problems in thesecond half.

“Every player played well todayas we scored nine good tries,but I have to praise RhodriCarlton-Jones who I thoughtwas outstanding and was keyto our attacking game in thesecond half.”

The home side were lookingfor the win from the kick-off,especially after Bridgend’s winearlier in the season.

Scrum half Alex Schwarz wasinvolved in much of the positiveplay with an early 20-yard gal-lop to test the visitors’ defence.And it was Schwarz whoopened the scoring after theball was spread wide for thenumber nine to run in the firsttry of the game.

Bridgend hit back immediatelywith a penalty from StevenLewis, and soon after hit anoth-er three points to take the leadwithout having actually causedproblems for the Gogs.

Much of the first half was fairlyscrappy as RGC failed to con-vert possession and territoryinto points.

The forwards set up somegood platforms but the try-scor-ing opportunities failed to mate-rialise and the home side wereturned over at vital moments.

It was more a case of the RGCplayers causing problems forthemselves rather than the visi-tors, and it was clear to see thefrustration building on the pitchand on the touchline.

The crucial point of the halfcame just before the break,when fly-half Rhodri Carlton-Jones made a dart for the lineand evaded three Bridgendplayers to touch down in thecorner.

That try probably made thehalf-time talk by the coach-ing staff a little easier for theplayers as they went into thedressing room with the lead.

The players certainly tookon board whatever was saidin the dressing room as TomBlackwell touched down earlyin the half, with Carlton Jonesconverting.

Winger Blackwell has beenimpressive all season whenhe is given the ball, and it wasanother good score for him.

The backline were linking upwell, with Carlton Jones offer-ing options to Evans and TomHughes in the centre.

The differences from the firsthalf to the second were theoptions and running off theball, which led to some strongbreaks from all parts of thepitch.

RGC were going through thephases on the Bridgend lineand after the ball was spunwide, Andy Baston poweredover for the all-importantbonus-point try, with anotherCarlton Jones conversion.

Next it was man-of-the-matchHarri Evans’s turn to put hisname on the score sheet aftera break from Carlton Jones,who cleverly offloaded for theWales U20 centre to outpacethe defence and go over. Carl-ton Jones hit the conversion.

Saturday 6th April

Some games you just countthe win and move on, and thatwas the case as RGC keptalive their winning run at Llan-haran to remain in charge ofthe race for second spot.

The game was a messy affairfor 80 minutes with handlingerrors and the referee’s whistlebeing the only consistentsthroughout.

But head coach Chris Horsmanknows the fact his team cameaway with the win was moreimportant than the perform-ance.

“I gave 10 out of 10 to the play-ers for resilience and effort butnot really in terms of compo-sure and control when we hadthe ball,” said Horsman. “Thatsaid we got the result and to befair we played all the rugby inthe second half.

“They got the try from a bounceof the ball but we scored somegood tries today. At this partof the season it isn’t about theperformance but the result thatcounts.

“I have to credit our defencewhich has been pleasing forthe past four games with theeffort from the players being apleasing aspect. We regroupon Tuesday and go again onSaturday.”

The opening try went to Llan-haran after they lost their ownline-out but the ball bouncedinto the hands of Scott Maloneto score a converted try.

The game was being playedout by the forwards, with bothsides struggling at the break-down meaning the flow of thegame was stop/start.

It was the RGC forwards whoset up the Gogs’ try after thescrum drove forward beforethe ball popped out to allowCarwyn ap Myrddin to scamperover the line.

Llanharan then edged backahead with a penalty, beforeRGC added their second try,Llywarch ap Myrddin the ben-eficiary of Tom Hughes’ breakto dive over.

The second half was evenmessier, with a succession ofknock-ons and penalties fromboth sides.

RGC had a couple of penaltiesin kickable range but chose ascrum or line-out only to givethe ball away cheaply. Llanha-ran played 20 minutes with 14men after seeing two playerssent to the bin, but the Gogscouldn’t take advantage of theextra man.

RGC were getting turned overon a few occasions whichadded to the frustration on thepitch, and it wasn’t long beforethe away side were shown ayellow with captain Andy Wil-liams being sin-binned on 68minutes.

It was predictable that the win-ning try came from a mistakeand a loose clearance kickwas superbly taken by AndyBaston, who turned on the gasto sprint in under the postsleaving Rhodri Carlton Joneswith a simple conversion.

The remaining minutes wereplayed out with RGC makingsome big tackles and workinghard at the breakdown, makingsure the Gogs left South Waleswith another win in the chaseto seal second spot.

Saturday 12th April

Llanharan 10 v RGC 17

Evans quickly scored againwhen he scorched down theline to run in under the posts,leaving a simple conversationfor Carlton Jones.

Three more tries followedas the Gogs’ pace and goodhands opened up the Bargoeddefence, with Carwyn Ap Myrd-din, Blackwell, Olly Cracknellall scoring to make it a nine-try

win against a team who previ-ously had also been unbeatenin 2014.

One of the most impressiveand pleasing aspects of thegame was the fact the playerscame out in the second halfand ironed out all the individualmistakes from the first period,and once again played rugbywith skill and pace.

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RGC may have run in 12 trieson their way to securing arevenge win over Bonymaenon Saturday, but the most tell-ing statistic for Chris Horsmanwas that it was another 80 min-utes of rugby without havingtheir own line breached.

The North Wales outfit werenever really in any danger oflosing this match against aside who slipped to the foot ofthe Championship standings.

Bonymaen had claimed a 7-5win over RGC at their ownground before Christmas and itwas clear the Gogs were up forrevenge over their visitors.

But it was the fact they kepttheir opponents down to just aRichard Cunniffe penalty whichwas the biggest achievementfor Horsman.

“It is great to go from a 7-5 lossto a 78-3 win,” said the headcoach. “But the pleasing thingfor me is that in the last fourgames we have only concededone try and that was from alucky bounce, so defensivelywe have been on the money.

“We had a couple of issues weneeded to address which wehave worked on in the week.The line-out was one areawhere last week we put a lotof pressure on ourselves, butthis week I think we addressedthat issue with 100% line-outwhere we were about 60% lastweek, so that is another pleas-ing stat.

“It is just pleasing also to seethe depth of the squad. Wedid have some boys away andmissing for us, but everyonehas stepped up. I thoughtMei (Parry, who has had tobide his time, came in anddid outstandingly and I thinkthe production line is working.Cam Davies, 18 today, comesoff the bench and scores a try

on his debut, and that saystestament to what the acad-emy are doing and generally itis very pleasing.”

RGC were ahead after only 10minutes, Harri Evans cross-ing after a break from fellowcentre Tom Hughes, who thenset up the home side’s secondtry moments later after he tookan inside pass from Evans torace through. While Hugheswas caught close to the line,suffering an injury which wouldsee him leave the field, theball was recycled for second-row Bryn Williams to crashover from close range.

Cunniffe fired over a penaltyto ensure Bonymaen werenot scoreless, but from thereon it was all one-way trafficwith Evans scoring his secondof the game, before AndrewWilliams added a fourth andbonus-point try just before thebreak.

Sean O’Rourke was sent tothe sin-bin before the intervalfor some ‘lazy running’ as heattempted to get back onsideafter a ruck, but RGC contin-ued to add to their score afterthe break, Mei Parry goingover before a brace of AfonBagshaw tries.

Cam Davies came on to makehis debut on his 18th birthdayand celebrated the occa-sion with a try, the youngstermobbed by the whole of theteam.

Evans completed his hat-trickbefore Llywarch ap Myrddinrace clear late on and replace-ment prop Joe Jones ‘weavedand side-stepped’ his way tothe line in the dying secondsto add some gloss to the total.Rhodri Carlton Jones enjoyeda good day with the boot,slotting five conversions, whileBagshaw added four.

Saturday 19th April

RGC 78 v Bonymaen 3RGC owe a debt of gratitudeto Bridgend Athletic after theNorth Wales side and theirclosest rivals for second place– Cardiff Met – both lost at theweekend.

RGC went down to a 36-17loss at Bargoed, to end theirhopes of extending their un-beaten run of matches to 10.

However, they stay five pointsclear of third-placed Cardiff Metin the race for the runners-upspot, having played a gamemore than the side from thecapital and knowing they facea trip to take on the students intheir final match of the cam-paign.

Although disappointed not tobe able to make it 10 wins ina row in the Championship,RGC could have no complaintsabout the final outcome ofthis highly-charged encounteragainst Bargoed.

With the wind at their backsRGC had the majority of theplay in the opening quarterbut a combination of their ownerrors and strong defence fromthe home side meant that theystruggled to convert this pos-session into pressure.

The opening score when it didcome arose from the first timethat RGC managed to spin theball wide and led to full-backAfon Bagshaw shrugging offtacklers to score under theposts, with Rhodri Carlton-Jones adding the extras.

From the re-start RGC failed totake control of the ball leadingto a period of concerted pres-sure from the home side whothought that they had scoredin the corner shortly afterwardsafter a quickly- taken tappenalty.

However, although the ref-eree called them back on thatoccasion, they scored shortlyafterwards when their pack,who had the advantage in theset-piece throughout the after-noon, drove over from shortrange. Although they wereunable to convert the resultingconversion they were able togo into the break with a 12-7advantage as they scored theirsecond try, again from closerange, just before the refereeblew up for half-time.

With the wind against themthe RGC side knew that theywere going to be in for a toughsecond half and their task wasmade even harder when theopening score of the secondhalf went to the home side,their hooker forcing his wayover from a couple of metresout.

Although RGC reduced thedeficit when replacementwinger Richard Hopkinsshowed great speed to go overin the left-hand corner, threefurther scores from the homeside ruled out any chance of acomeback.

To their credit RGC kept onplaying right up until the endand Hopkins was rewardedwith his second score when hewon the race to touch downafter Bargoed had dropped theball just outside their 22.

Although obviously disap-pointed to lose their firstleague game of 2014, re-sults elsewhere mean that ifthey win their remaining twogames, away to Pontypooland Cardiff Met, RGC can stillfinish second in this season’sChampionship, which would bea remarkable achievement.

Saturday 26th April

Bargoed 36 v RGC 17

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RGC came away from thecapital knowing they gaveeverything in the last gameof the season against CardiffMet - but in the end it was thestudents who claimed the winand second place in the Cham-pionship, with Chris Horsman’sNorth Wales side finishingthird.

The weather conditions weremore suited to Novemberrather than mid-May with astrong wind to contend withthroughout the 80 minutes, butboth teams played some greatattacking rugby.

It was all RGC in the opening10 minutes as they control-led the ball and went throughthe phases, driving homeside back on their line. Theiropening try came from a great30-yard break from scrum-halfJosh Leach, full-back MorganWilliams giving the ball toRichard Hopkins to score in thecorner, the winger beating fiveplayers to get the score. RhodriCarlton Jones hit a great kickagainst the wind to take a 7-0lead.

Cardiff Met, as expected,looked dangerous when theyhad the ball, but their try wasmore from RGC’s own makingafter the ball was spilled andTim Thomson picked up toscore. Cooke added the extras.

Mei Parry was having an im-pressive game with some goodruns and a couple of importanttackles when Cardiff Met wereattacking.

The home side’s second trycame after RGC were pun-ished for bringing down arolling maul and the refereegave a penalty try with Cookeconverting.

Leach was making somepositive breaks but it was thestudents who scored again af-ter the Gogs were turned over

on the halfway line and it waspunished with them breakingfor the try and conversion.

With the lead extending it wasimportant for RGC to get thenext score, and so they didwith the best try of the game.The ball was spun from thetouchline with Williams andHopkins swapping quick pass-es for Hopkins to touchdown.

If that score was down to skilland quick hands the next trywas sheer power with the packdriving 15 yards, and Llywarchap Myrddin credited with thetry. It was as good a half ofrugby as you could have seenin the division this season asboth sides looked to play withball in hand and the scoresreflected that.

It was Cardiff Met who crossedthe line early after the breakwith Chris Leversley going overfor the try. With both teamsgoing for the win, the game gota bit feisty as tensions spilledover off the ball. RGC wereputting in some big tackles asCardiff Met broke on a numberof occasions and as a result afew bodies were down on theground. Andy Williams went offand Leach ended up movingfrom scrum half to flanker, withJoe Simpson and Parry soon tofollow Williams off the pitch.

The Cardiff Met centres com-bined to run down the middle toget another score as the gameedged away from RGC.

Cam Davies, on at scrum-half, made a couple of directruns and the Gogs still kepton pushing for the score but itwas a penalty from Cooke thatadded to the Cardiff Met score.

The last score of the game andthe season came from AndyBaston when Cam Daviestook a quick tap penalty beforethe hooker dived over for thebonus-point try.

Saturday 10th May

Cardiff Met 36 v RGC 24RGC kept alive their hopes offinishing second in the Cham-pionship, but needed results togo their way after a disappoint-ing defeat at Pontypool.

The North Wales side wentdown to their second loss onthe bounce as they crashedto a 23-7 defeat in the SouthWales valleys.

However, RGC remain insecond place heading intotheir final game of the seasonnext Saturday after Cardiff Metand Narberth both crashed todefeats in their outings.

Although RGC went down totheir second away defeat ina row at Pontypool Park theycould walk with their headsheld high after a much im-proved performance from theprevious week’s at Bargoed.

The opening score to the homeside came after a flowing backsmove leading to their left wingoffloading to scrum-half AaronQuick, who touched down inthe corner. Shortly afterwardsRGC had a chance of their ownto put points on the board froma long-range penalty attemptby Rhodri Carlton Jones, butunfortunately his effort cameback off the upright, allowingPontypool to clear.

Further scoring opportunitiescame RGC’s way via breaksfrom Olly Cracknell and Harri

Evans, but on both occasionsscrambling defence from thehome side snuffed out thechances and it was in factPontypool who were to scorethe only other try of the firsthalf when after a cross-fieldkick their full-back ClaytonGullis dived over in the left-hand corner. With the conver-sion missed, half-time camewith Pontypool holding a 10-0advantage.

The hosts extended theiradvantage by three early in thesecond half with a successfulpenalty kick before RGC goton the scoreboard themselveswhen Llywarch ap Myrddinshowed tremendous pace tocross under the posts, havingmade a break from all of 40metres out, Carlton Jones add-ing the extras.

From the restart Pontypoollooked to keep the RGC sidepinned deep in their own half,and following a great chasethe visitors were penalised forholding on just inside their 22.From the resulting penalty thehosts extended their lead byanother three points, and theywere to score their third andthe final try of the game shortlyafterwards when left wing JoshHurley picked up a chip totouch down under the posts.

Saturday 3rd May

Pontypool 23 v RGC 7

WRU CHAMPIONSHIP 2013-14

WRU DIV ONE NORTH 2013-14

WRU DIV TWO NORTH 2013-14

WRU DIV THREE NORTH 2013-14

DIV ONE YOUTH NORTH 2013-14

DIV TWO YOUTH NORTH 2013-14

MANY THANKSTO ALL THE CLUBS WHO KINDLY SENT THEIR

RESULTS IN THROUGHOUT THE SEASON

WRU DIVISION ONE NORTH WINNERS 2013-14 - CLWB RYGBI’R BALA

WRU DIVISION THREE NORTH WINNERS 2013-14 - HARLECH RFC

WRU DIVISION TWO NORTH WINNERS 2013-14 - LLANDUDNO RFC

WRU 2ND XV LEAGUE/CLWYD CUP WINNERS 2013-14 - RUTHIN 2nds

CLWYD DISTRICT PLATE WINNERS 2013-14 - DENBIGH 2nds RFC

WRU ONE NORTH YOUTH WINNERS 2013-14 - NANT CONWY RFC

WRU TWO NORTH YOUTH WINNERS 2013-14 - LLANIDLOES RFC

NORTH WALES YOUTH CUP WINNERS 2013-14 - LLANGEFNI RFC

‘Call Them to Remembrance’The Welsh Rugby Internationals WhoDied in the Great WarPlease note that a donation from the royalties of this book will be made the Welsh RugbyCharitable Trust

‘From the boisterous singing and exhilarating cheers of Cardiff Arms Park to the deafeningroar of artillery shells and gunfire, these humbling stories describe thirteen individual jour-neys which began on muddy yet familiar Welsh playing fields but ended in the unimaginablebrutality of the battles of the First World War. These are men who experienced two verydifferent kinds of glory.’

Dan Allsobrook, www.gwladrugby.com

‘This is a book which moves as well as informs, combining impeccable scholarship withdeep human sympathy. In recounting the active lives and terrible deaths of the 13 Welsh in-ternationals who died in the First World War Gwyn Prescott not only offers a fitting tribute totheir sacrifice but paints a vividly compelling picture of Wales, and the increasingly impor-tant role that rugby played in Welsh life, in the decades leading up to 1914.’

Huw Richards, Associate Lecturer in Sports History, London College of Communication

It is estimated that the First World War claimed the lives of 40,000 Welshmen, all of themheroes whose sacrifice is honoured by a grateful nation. ‘Call Them to Remembrance’,which includes 120 illustrations and maps, tells the stories of thirteen Welsh heroes whoshared the common bond of having worn the famous red jersey of the Welsh internationalrugby team.

Gwyn Prescott’s sensitive and fascinating book, the product of over ten year’s research andstudy, recovers the memory of these thirteen multi-talented and courageous Welshmen whogave their lives in the Great War of 1914-18, detailing their playing and military careers.Amongst their stories are the leading amateur golfer in Wales who represented Newport atfive sports; the Cambridge choral scholar who gave up his job in India to volunteer for theArmy; the flying Cardiff winger who impressed Lloyd George; and the “lion-hearted” heroof the famous Welsh victory over New Zealand in 1905.

A native of Cardiff who played alongside Gareth Edwards in the 1965 Welsh SecondarySchools team and later played for Cambridge University, Gwyn Prescott was awarded anMPhil, on the history of rugby, by the University of Glamorgan and is author of severalbooks including ‘This rugby spellbound people’ - Rugby Football in Nineteenth-CenturyCardiff & South Wales (Welsh Academic Press, 2011).

A contribution from the royalties generated from the sale of this book will be donated to theWelsh Rugby Charitable Trust, which supports those players and their families who havebeen severely injured whilst playing rugby football in Wales.

Further information about the work of the Trust can be found at: www.wrct.org.uk/

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATAMay 2014978-1-902719-375Large Format Paperbackxiii + 162pp£14.99120 illustrations/photographs

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