RHYFELWYR LLANELLI WARRIORS TYMOR 2017 - 2018 SEASON Swansea Gladiators Swansea Rhaglen Llanelli Warriors World’s Oldest Mixed Fixtures Ability Mixed Oldest World’s World’s Oldest Mixed Fixtures Ability Mixed Oldest World’s £2 Since 1995 Since Since 1995 Since V Programme Personal Player sponsorship is still available Ask committee for details Recent Result: Llanelli Warriors 30 42 Burry Port 31/12/17 This season the Warriors and Burry Port are contesting the Origin Cup over three matches. The 1st was played pre season, the 2nd on New Year’s Eve. The final match will be after the main season has ended In challenging conditions Burry Port won the 2nd leg of the Origin Cup to set up a summer decider. The 2nd leg of the Origin Cup Series was played in very different conditions to the 1st with sun, rain and hail all making an appearance, but the quality of rugby was still pretty high and a high scoring competitive game ensued. Burry Port were able to field a strong side with a few families having two generations on the field. Grizzled veterans like Nigel Powell and Paul Silva both showed they could contribute and rubbed shoulders with Dafydd Morgan and the impressive Kuba Malecki who showed the Blacks have more good youngsters coming through. Early winter sunshine saw the ball moved freely and the early beneficiary was home wing Simon Day who showed a clean(ish) pair of heels to the defence to grab two early scores. This put Burry Port firmly in the driving seat and the Warriors chasing the game. Tom Ashour slipped through a poor tackle to get the Warriors off the mark but with Reynolds and Pulman scoring for Burry Port it was small comfort. A try just before the break for Jordan Jones and accurate kicking from Simon Jenkins kept the Warriors in touch 20-14 at the interval. The second half saw the game slow down as rain and hail added to the already heavy ground. The Warriors huffed and heaved their way about with strong carries from Haines, Jenkins and Mark Lewis but with some poor rucking failed to capitalise on this. Nathan Lawson did burrow through for a try but Reynolds grabbed a second for the Blacks and veteran Geraint Davies strode in to keep the home side comfortably ahead. With their centers playing well the Warriors did manage a flowing move, foiled only by a deliberate knock on from which the referee immediately awarded a penalty try. The Warriors went all out for attack which brought Jones a second score but left them vulnerable behind. Poor conditions hampered Burry Port's attempts at running rugby but long kicks and hard chase were effective with the Warriors fully committed to attack. Pulman got a final home side's 8th score to guarantee the win as Burry Port saw out the year in style. The 3rd leg of the series will be at the end of the season and with the sides level at 1-1 it's sure to be a highly anticipated finale. Llanelli Warriors: Gareth Ladd, Yanis Whiteley, Nick Davies (Jonathan Kearney), Adam Fussell, Thomas Ashour (Simon Day), Mark Lewis (Dai Haines), Richard Evans (Cpt.) (Gary James), James Duke, John Horwood (Darren Pollitt), Andrew Davies, Nathan Lawson (Jordan Jones), Simon Jenkins, Gwilym Lewis Burry Port: Leon Evans, Ieuan Reynolds, Josh Evans, Joe Pulman, Dafydd Morgan, Nigel Powell, Nathan Toft, Gareth Gravell, Toby Williams, Darren Pulman, Kuba Malecki, Tom Rees, Paul Silva, Gary James (Richard Evans), Geraint Morgan, Vinnie Davies, Phil Payne, Andrew Richards, Simon Day (Yanis Whiteley) Man of the Match: Richard Evans team photos under “Results and Fixtures” All the photos, stats and a report are on the club’s website www.llanelliwarriors.co.uk 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 L 42 30 Sun 14 January Swansea Gladiators Sat Feb Furnace (Wales v Scotland) Sat 10 Feb London Welsh (Tour) (Wales england) Sun 24 Feb Trinity Primary Ed (Wales Ireland) Sun 11 March Cefneithin (Wales Italy) Sat March Rhiwbina (Wales v France) 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 Ability Rugby International – See the Facebook page Croeso Mawr ichi gyd Croeso i Parc Goffa, welcome to the Memorial Park and the latest edition of the oldest of integrated rugby fixtures. We would like to welcome all the players, officials and supporters of Swansea Gladiators RFC and we look forward to renewing old friendships back in the clubhouse after the match. Today’s match will be the 26th time the teams have met over a 22 year period and long may our joint histories continue to be intertwined. We would also like to congratulate the Gladiators on winning the Ability Rugby International Championship last term, a fantastic achievement to appropriately mark their 25th season. It shows that our clubs continue to set the bench mark for others to follow. Good luck to the Gladiators for the rest of the season including their matches with Shropshire Stags next week and then our new friends the Cardiff Chiefs. The Warriors are similarly busy with the 6 Nations line up more or less complete: Furnace (Scotland), London Welsh (England), Rhiwbina (France), Trinity Primary Ed (Ireland) and Cefneithin (Italy). Further ahead there is a 7s tournament, a summer trip to Bradford and our 300th fixture to look forward to. Thanks to all those who turned out for the Warriors over the Xmas period. Hopefully the Betws/Boxing Day clash will become an established part of the fixture list. As for Burry Port, though we are disappointed with a loss it does set up the 3rd leg of the Origin cup as a winner takes all showdown for the summer. As well as another successful disco on Wednesday there was also the latest committee meeting with details on line no if anyone is interested in the various goings on. Thanks to DJ Daze for the disco (and Trevor for rescuing it), next up on the social scene is a curry night on January 22nd. We would also be interested in what people thought about having Thai curry nights at Burry Port RFC, please let us know what you think of that idea. Finally we come to the sad news that former Warriors Dai Edwards passed away recently. Dai was an integral part of the club for 7 seasons. He enjoyed training, he enjoyed playing, he enjoyed socialising, he won several of the club’s honours and of course not many people can say they have led an unbeaten tour of New Zealand. My memory of him on that trip is during the white water rafting when the 3 rafts were racing against each other but Dai was actually paddling backwards – before falling in. He was popular with team mates and opponents and even talked of making a comeback. He’ll never get that chance now and our thoughts are all with his family, foster family and friends. Current Captain and contemporaryof David, Richard Evans will lead the official Warriors delegation at the funeral service on Tuesday. Dai played in may games against the Gladiators and I’m sure he would appreciate the occasion today – lets hope for another match equal to the history of the fixture. Good luck to all, Ymlaen y Rhyfelwyr! Gwilym Lewis (Chairman Llanelli Warriors RFC). Stat attack Playing record 2017-2018: Played 11, Won 3, Drawn 1, Lost 7. Playing record overall: Played 283, Won 174, Drawn 16, Lost 94. POSITIONAL RECORDS Position Most prolific player No 2nd most prolific No Prop Colin Tacon 158 Chris Bonar 69 Hooker Jason Jenkins 119 Rich Hapus 67 Lock John Horwood 257 Darren Pollitt 91 No 6 Nathan Lawson 51 Raymond Millett 35 No 7 Gwilym Lewis 171 Lee Rowlands 20 No 8 David Newson 106 Simon Jenkins 92 Lee Rowlands – 190th No 9 Dean Gilasbey 68 Gwilym Lewis 65 match today No 10 Jonathan Jones 77 Jamie Evans 55 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 258 2: Gwilym Lewis 251 3: Colin Tacon 203 4: Lee Rowlands 189 5: Richard Evans 185 6: Alun Stephens 150 7: Dean Gilasbey 142 8: Simon Jenkins 137 9: Jason Jenkins 130 10: Darren Pollitt 125 Significant appearances Last time: Richard Evans 185, Darren Pollitt 125, Nathan Lawson 80, Adam Fussell 35 Today: Lee Rowlands 190, Mark Lewis 75, Gareth Ladd 60, Thomas Ashour 30, Thomas Edwards 15, Craig James 40 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.