RHYFELWYR LLANELLI WARRIORS TYMOR 2017 - 2018 SEASON Origin Cup17/18 Rhaglen Origin Cup17/18 Llanelli Warriors Burry Port £2 V Programme 1 Personal Player sponsorship is still available Ask committee for details 2 Recent Result: 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 Sat 26 December Betws D 25 all Sat 31 December Burry Port January 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 Carmarthenshire Team of the Year 2017 4 Ability Rugby International – See the Facebook page Croeso Mawr ichi gyd Croeso i Parc Goffa, welcome to the Memorial Park. Thank you for coming along today, Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda. Sport is as much a part of the festive season as anything else and it’s great to be a part of it. We hope you will join us in the clubhouse later for some socialising and even more rugby on the tv. It’s nice to be back at our home ground in Burry Port for only the 3rd time this season having made 4 trips to Cardiff and 2 to Betws, even training has been in Carmarthen recently. With all the excitement of facing new teams like Cardiff Chiefs and Cardiff Falcons it is also good to renew rivalries with clubs like Betws and especially our hosts Burry Port. Personal friendships, old scores and bragging rights all ad to the occasion and we look forward to writing another chapter in our shared history today. It Congratulations to the team that secured a draw in Betws last week, especially to James Duke who made his debut and Simon Jenkins who was named Man of the Match. With Christmas soon to be history we will be heading into a busy time of the year for the Warriors – the 6 Nations and so there is likely to be only 1 fixture in January (stay tuned for details folks!) but there will be a disco and possibly other fundraising events so please keep a eye on the website and social media. This time of year it is natural to reflect on the last 12 months and the Warriors have had an incredible 2017 which included playing the Basque Champions Gaztedi, England’s Premier Mixed Ability side the Bumble Bees, Samoan Champions Vaiala Ulalei, play 5 matches in New Zealand, help start a new side in Cardiff and win our own 7s tournament. That’s good going for any club and of course we also had our usual local matches, monthly discos, black tie dinner and presentation evening. Of course we also look forward and February will see us at London Welsh on Wales v England Day and back in Bradford towards the season end. So before we kick off today, Pwb lwc i pawb heddi, Good luck to all today, Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda ichi gyd, Ymlaen y Rhyfelwyr! Gwilym Lewis (Chairman Llanelli Warriors RFC). 5 Stat attack Playing record 2017-2018: Played 10, Won 3, Drawn 1, Lost 6. Playing record overall: Played 282, Won 174, Drawn 16, 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 66 Lock John Horwood 256 Darren Pollitt 90 No 6 Nathan Lawson 50 Raymond Millett 35 No 7 Gwilym Lewis 170 Lee Rowlands 20 No 8 David Newson 106 Simon Jenkins 91 No 9 Dean Gilasbey 68 Gwilym Lewis 65 No 10 Jonathan Jones 77 Jamie Evans 54 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 257 2: Gwilym Lewis 250 3: Colin Tacon 203 4: Lee Rowlands 189 5: Richard Evans 184 Jumpin’ John Horwood – 6: Alun Stephens 150 became 1st player to make 7: Dean Gilasbey 142 250 appearances against 8: Simon Jenkins 136 Cardiff Chiefs 9: Jason Jenkins 130 10: Darren Pollitt 124 Significant appearances Last time: Gwilym Lewis 250,Simon Jenkins 135, Darren Pollitt 125 Today: Lee Rowlands 190, Richard Evans 185, 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. He made his debut in match 49 – a 10-0 win over the Swansea Gladiators. He went on to play 77 times over 8 seasons. Initially he started on the wing and even featured once at prop before moving into the 2nd row, replacing Stephen Walley in the engine room and was until recently the 2nd most prolific player in the position next to the ever durable John Horwood. On field he was known for being ever reliable and for once turning up with a face full of orange foundation, off field it was for his memory.