RHYFELWYR LLANELLI WARRIORS TYMOR 2017 - 2018 SEASON Rhaglen Exhibition Match Exhibition Match Sunday 17 Carmarthen AthleticRFC £2 th December 2017 Programme 1 Personal Player sponsorship is still available Ask committee for details 2 Last time out: Llanelli Warriors 15 25 Llanishen 26/11/17 Tough Day for Tired Warriors Llanishen say goodbye to USK road in style. A Warriors side rather depleted the day after a hard match and heavy night, still played a full part in this entertaining game that helped Llanishen end their time at USK road before moving on to a purpose built 3G pitch next season. With 6 last minute withdrawals the Warriors had to reshuffle. Gwilym moving to scrum half at such moments has become standard but also moving out of the pack were Nathan Lawson at 13 and Jordan Jones at 14. Llanishen fielded a combined XV of 1sts and 2nds and set abut enjoying themselves. Cross kicks and ambitious passes were the order of the day but stout defence and some lapses frustrated them for most of the game. The Warriors dominated at times and the pack worked hard in rumbling forwards with Jenkins, Mark Lewis, Dai Haines and Richard Evans all going strong and man of the match Tomos Hall hitting ruck after ruck. Llanishen never looked like losing and crossed for 5 fine tries as they showed off their full range of skills. The Warriors got on the board in the 1st half when the elusive Andrew Davies wriggled through. The 2nd half was closer with Ben Winstanley turning through a pile of bodies and right at the death Davies followed up a scrum half break to bag his 2nd try. Conversions could have made the score closer but there were no complaints from the Warriors over the result. The End of the Road for the ground then but the Warriors keep marching on. Warriors: Simon Day, Dan John, Nathan Laswson, Ben Winstanley, Jordan Jones, Jamie Evans, Gwilym Lewis, Mark Lewis, Richard Evans (Cpt), John Horwood (Darren Pollitt), Andrew Davies, Dai Haines, Simon Jenkins, Tomos Hall. Ref: Marc Wakeham The day after the night before, a chilly day spent at Usk Road chatting to ex Warriors Mike Seignot and sorting out who had made it and who had drunkenly gone back to Llanelli and wouldn’t make the game. Even those that took the field were struggling; Jordan playing with what turned out to be a broken hand, Polly struggling through the pain of a bad ankle and Ben Princess having to leave the field. Apart from the rugby and the cold there was a fair amount of traipsing about and not a lot of food, even missing the buffet at Scrum V. Still looking back it was a great achievement to play the Chiefs first match and spend the international day in Cardiff, go back up and help Llanishen sign off on their old ground and visit Scrum V. Congratulations to Llanishen, not only on the win, but also signing off at Usk Road in such style, good luck with the new 3G pitch next season. Shame the interview didn’t quite come off but the producers have been in touch, they sent their apologies and are looking to have us back on during the 6 Nations. All the photos, stats and a report are on the club’s website www.llanelliwarriors.co.uk 3 Llanelli Warriors’ Results and Fixtures 2017/18 Day Date Month Opponents and notes Sat 5 August Burry Port W 19 26 Sat 19 August South Wales Police Falcons L 56 32 Sun 10 September Swansea Vikings L 7 55 Sun 17 September WRU Community Select L 35 34 Sun 8 October Aberavon Green Stars L 32 27 Sun 15 October Betws W 53 54 Sat 11 November Pantyffynnon W 29 31 Sat 25 November Cardiff Chiefs L 24-22 Sun 26 November Llanishen L 15-25 Sun 17 December WRU Scarlets Community Select Sat 26 December Betws Sat 31 December Burry Port Sat 10 Feb London Welsh (Tour) (Wales england) Sun 24 Feb Trinity Primary Ed (Wales Ireland) Sun 11 March Cefneithin (Wales Italy) Swansea Gladiators, Croeserw, Bumble Bee Barbarians 7s and touch tournaments For all appearance records and statistics visit www.llanelliwarriors.co.uk Ability Rugby International: Championship Winners 2015/16 4 AbilityCarmarthenshire Rugby International Team – See of thethe Facebook Year 2017 page Croeso Mawr ichi gyd Croeso i Caerfyrddin, welcome to Carmarthen and the Warriors 1st ever match in the town. We are very pleased to be here at the Athletic club today and thank them for the use of their excellent facilities. We enjoyed training in the Barn recently and look forward to taking the field here and trying out the clubhouse! We would also like to thank the WRU for fixture today. The support of the WRU in the last two seasons has been exceptional, not just to the Warriors, but to the concept of mixed ability rugby. In Cardiff we have seen them heavily involved in the establishment of the Chiefs to the point that Ryan Jones even played in the games. Here in the Scarlets region Dai Arthur has taken an interest in our club since coming into post and attended several matches. We would like to thank him for this support. As always we like to welcome the ref without whom there wouldn’t be a game. Both Nigel Owen and Jonathan Hardy have officiated for the Warriors previously, and Jonathan even featured again Tumble. It was Dai who joined up the work Darren Carew was doing in local schools with the Warriors. Today’s 2nd training session for SEN children gives them the chance to see the Warriors 1st hand and establish where they can take their newly acquired rugby skills. The Warriors and Burry Port RFC would be very interested in these sessions continuing long term if enough interest can be generated. Last time we welcomed Ryan and James to their 1st Warriors session so this venture has already been a success for us. Congratulations to all the players who featured for the Warriors in Cardiff recently. 2 games in Cardiff in two days was some achievement, and to also take in the international and visit Scrum V made it a very special occasion. They weren’t just any games either with it being the Chiefs 1st match and Llanishen celebrating moving ground. Though we lost both matches, the players did themselves proud and I would like to thank them all for their commitment. Congratulations to John Horwood who took the Warriors appearance record to 251 against Llanishen. Thanks also to all who came to the club’s December Disco this week, a great way to start the Christmas celebrations, the next one will be January 12th at Felinfoel RFC. Our next fixture will be a festive one: Betws on Boxing day with early kick off before Scarlets v Ospreys and then on New Year’s Eve we play Burry Port in the 2nd leg of the Origin Cup. So before we kick off today, Pwb lwc i pawb heddi, Good luck to all today, Nadolig Llawen ichi gyd, ymlaen y Rhyfelwyr! Gwilym Lewis (Chairman Llanelli Warriors RFC). 5 Stat attack Playing record 2017-2018: Played 9, Won 3, Drawn 0, Lost 6. Playing record overall: Played 281, Won 174, Drawn 15, Lost 93. POSITIONAL RECORDS Position Most prolific player No 2nd most prolific No Prop Colin Tacon 158 Chris Bonar 69 Hooker Jason Jenkins 119 Rich Hapus 65 Lock John Horwood 255 Darren Pollitt 89 No 6 Nathan Lawson 50 Raymond Millett 35 No 7 Gwilym Lewis 169 Lee Rowlands 20 No 8 David Newson 106 Simon Jenkins 90 No 9 Dean Gilasbey 68 Gwilym Lewis 65 No 10 Jonathan Jones 77 Jamie Evans 53 Centre Alun Stephens 130 Ben Winstanley 53 Wing Tony Whittaker 85 Meredith Pugh 62 Full back Dai Spriggs 80 Lee Rowlands 37 TOP TEN APPERANCES 1: John Horwood 256 2: Gwilym Lewis 249 3: Colin Tacon 203 4: Lee Rowlands 189 5: Richard Evans 183 Jumpin’ John Horwood – 6: Alun Stephens 150 became 1st player to make 7: Dean Gilasbey 141 250 appearances against 8: Simon Jenkins 135 Cardiff Chiefs 9: Jason Jenkins 130 10: Darren Pollitt 123 Significant appearances Last time: Jason Jenkins 130, Simon Day 55, Dai Haines 30, Jordan Jones 25 Today: Gwilym Lewis 250, Lee Rowlands 190,Simon Jenkins 135, Nathan Lawson 80. Thomas Edwards 15 Record win: 57-5 White Lion, 52-0 Llanelli Hospital. Highest total: 70 vs Kwik Save Crosshands Longest unbeaten run: 18 matches, Consecutive wins: 11. Most points in game: 24, Jon Kerr vs Cefneithin Most tries in game: 4 Jonathan Jones (vs Kwik Save Crosshands), Jon Kerr (Cefneithin), Richard Pegler (Cambrian), Luke Jenkins (Gwlad) Drop goal: 1, Dai Spriggs vs Betws and vs Llandybie, Rhys Bersley vs Carterton Tries in season: Jonathan Kerr 15 (2004/05) Penalties in season: 5 David Spriggs (2000/01), Simon Jenkins (2013/14) Drop goals in season: 1 David Spriggs (twice), Rhys Bersley. Conversions in season: David Spriggs, 38 (2000/01) Points in a season: Jon Kerr, 134 (2004/05) Most tries to date: David Newson, 50 Most penalties to date: David Spriggs, 12 Most drop goals to date: David Spriggs, 2 Most conversions to date: David Spriggs, 142 Most positions played: Lee Rowlands: 10 (of 11) 6 FORMER COMRADE – Past Player profile: Roger Thomas Roger made his debut in September 2001 Roger Thomas made his debut in 2001/02 about the time that Meredth Pugh, Gareth McKibbon, Chris Spriggs, Alan Taylor and Chris Hancock started playing.