ONE MORE FRIENDLY, THEN IT GETS SERIOUS (26/08/13) The nights are closing in, the autumn leaves are preparing to fall and our coaches are preparing their players. A sunny evening at Nantyglo drew a sizeable crowd to watch a game of intensity, the home players were intent on showing why they did not lose a League match last season and ours were intent on getting to know each other. As expected there was a strong forward challenge and many changes were made on a quite excellent pitch which was much better than others we could mention but being polite will not. We met former Steelmen among whom the most vociferous were Nantyglo coaches Nigel Meek and Jason Williams still putting a lot back into the game. Standing within earshot of them along the touchline was enjoyable and educational. The friendly served its purpose and we wish Nantyglo more success in the coming season. Carmarthen ‘Quins travelled far on Friday which we appreciated and as a Premier Club that finished in the top six last season were expected to present a formidable challenge. After 35 minutes of the second half what no one expected was a ‘Quins win because Ebbw had dominated the game up to then. Pre-season “friendlies” are useful to coaches and players especially newcomers to the squad and while the result was disappointing the aim of the game was achieved. The officials officiated seriously and for them too it was a warm up for the season to come but the spirit of both teams was correct which made the brandishing of a yellow card rather surprising. To quote an age old saying, the better team lost. The game seemed in the bag but changes were made as they should be in such matches and that contributed to the late charge by the ‘Quins who for the second year running travelled east and were the first visitors to play under our new lights. Was our try scored by Chunky? As unofficial president of his fan club I say it was for as usual he was here, there, everywhere and all over the place. The West Walians will always be welcome to Ebbw Vale and we wish them well in the Premiership which is our sole aim this season. The coaches will take encouragement from what they saw and so will the supporters many of whom queued to purchase their season tickets. Looking at it as a game, forgetting for a moment that it was a friendly warm-up, it was the manner of losing that briefly disappointed but normal service was soon continued aided by a new beer named after the Steelmen which is worth further investigation. Builth Wells consider themselves the strongest team in Powys which is saying a lot because all teams in the County are packed with big, burly men of the soil. Their badge is of a bull charging beneath rugby posts, something our pack regularly does as a party piece. The Bulls of Builth are clad in black and amber which to Steelmen is, wait for it, a red rag to a bull. Bull can mean a lot of things, a papal edict or trivial and insincere talk but in the context of rugby football it means power, physicality and taking opposing bulls by the horns. And that’s the last you’ll hear of the b’s in this edition. Builth won Division 2 West last season but the town is always in the news for the Royal Welsh Show which draws huge crowds of humans and over sized cattle. Some of Britain’s tastiest main courses were first seen in Builth and so were two Welsh rugby internationals. Winger Mark Jones was born there, played for the Youth team, joined Llandovery, then Scarlets and played 47 times for Wales. There is no need to inspire forwards of any age but the senior careers of Builth Wells props the brothers Pugh, are examples of how locals can make it to the big time. Jeremy won three caps and was heavily involved in the 1987 USA Eagles tour. He captained (as a Neath player) Breconshire who beat the Eagles at Brecon 15-9 and in same side were Brian Thomas, Des Parry and Robert Stephens along with Nick Hunt who represented Brynmawr which used to be in Breconshire. After losing their opening games the Eagles were not expected to do well at The Gnoll but they won 15-6 watched by Jeremy Pugh who made his debut for Wales against the USA a few days later, an easy 46-0 win. His other two caps were against Scotland, as a replacement for Pontypool’s Steve Jones in 1988 (won 25-20) and he started the 1990 game which we lost 13-9. There were seven Neath players in the latter game. The Welsh coach was Ron Waldron - of Neath. REL NANTYGLO, ROMANIA, CARMARTHEN – THE WORLD IS OVAL (170813) Our head coach doesn’t find it all strange to act as a consultant for other teams. Recently his linguistic qualities were stretched when he went to Romania to support Kingsley Jones, once Baird of Blaina now a Tsar, in a four team competition between the host country and the A teams of Russia, Italy and Argentina. It was a high standard affair and a challenge to a couple of lads from Brynmawr and Blaina in coaching and communicating. It’s not a small world after all for to Jason’s surprise when he told a Romanian coach he was at Ebbw Vale the man said he had played for his country against us in September 1979, a special game in many ways. It was our Centenary and the first game of the first tour to Britain by Romania. Jason’s new rugby mate gave him the programme for the game which the tourists won 12-0 followed by a dinner in the Lever Hall when the bar ran out of Scotch by 9 o’clock! The theme beloved by lay preachers “I lifteth up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help” also applies to rugby because it was North Monmouthshire where a lot of internationals made their mark before fame but not fortune followed. Our visit to Nantyglo reminds us it was one of several breeding grounds surrounded by rugby playing Grammar Schools in what is now Blaenau Gwent. When Youth rugby emerged in the late 40s that too prospered as a means of providing rugby for boys who left school early. Nantyglo can boast one directly capped player, a “redoubtable” forward Tom Clapp who played fourteen times for Wales between 1882 and 1888, captaining the team three times as a Newport player. In Tom’s first two games for Wales he represented Nantyglo so there must be a photograph of him in their clubhouse. If there is it will not be an action shot, not even Kodak Brownies were around in the 1880s. In our clubhouse there is a super photograph of a scrum-half diving over the All-Black line in the Gwent-NZ epic of 1972 played on our ground. He was, still is of course, Glyn Turner born and bred in Nantyglo who joined Ebbw Vale and was a player everyone flocked in large numbers to see. Opponents invariably failed to tame him, catch him or even find him and they included Sid Going who was left standing when Glyn scored “that” try 41 years ago. The photograph is in a book to be published (in time for Christmas) by Roger Penn of Whitland called “Three Feathers & A Silver Fern,” a totally different and highly entertaining history of Wales/New Zealand since 1905. Glyn played twice for Wales in 1968 but the games in Argentina were “unofficial” and caps were not awarded. Hopes might yet be realised that they will be officially recognised for it’s never too late to do a good deed. Business is business as we say in the City and it is a pleasure to report that while the props were dominating the bouncy castle on Fun Day and the scrum-halves were failing miserably in getting a ball into Brian Moore’s plywood mouth, the back room was busy taking orders for season tickets. Many loyalists bought them and those not yet enrolled are advised to get theirs soon. Since we began our temporary existence outside the Premier Division we have played two friendlies with Carmarthen ‘Quins, the first in August 2011 at their ground which we lost 31- 19, one of only four defeats that season, and the second at home a year ago which we won 14-11. As a result we have a good link with the ‘Quins and will welcome them again on Friday. There can be no better warm-up for what will be a very important season than a home game against a Premier club. REL FAMILY FUN & FAMILY FIRST FOR FALETAU (110813) Opening day last season kept the Wanderers scoreboard operator busy to the point of despair. We expected to win but the final score of 76-13 was a pleasant shock and a sign of things to come. Once again we will begin a new season away from home and this time the opposition is new to us. It will be déjà vu in the second fixture home to Bargoed the club that challenged us more than any other in the past three campaigns. We have lost to them twice since 2010/11 before which we had never even played them. In the last seventy League games we won 63 and lost seven, two at the hands of Bargoed (one at home), three to Newbridge and one each to Merthyr and Whitland.