CARDIFF v NEWPORT Friday 27th October 2017 7.15pm KO. £2 Sponsored by GREAT MOVES START WITH US Buying the right home takes a team. Chat with our mortgage experts today. Principality. Where home matters. www.principality.co.uk/mortgages YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE. ONLINE @principalityBS CALL US BRANCH principality.co.uk Principality Building Society 0330 333 4000• Pop in to see us • To help us maintain our service and security standards, telephone calls may be monitored and recorded. Principality Building Society is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority, reference number 155998. Principality Building Society, Principality Buildings, Queen Street, Cardiff, CF10 1UA. principality.co.uk WELCOME Welcome to the Arms Park for this evenings Principality Premiership game between Cardiff and Newport. With the British & Irish Cup games now over for this period we can get back to the business of the East Division and the second meeting between the Blue & Blacks and the Black and Ambers this season. The first game back in August saw the Blue & Blacks start a run of four consecutive wins that set Cardiff on their way to second place in the table. On the day Cardiff ran in four tries including a hat-trick for Pat Lewis in what was an open game of rugby in the sunshine. Since that run times have been a little tougher for the Blue & Blacks. Three consecutive losses have seen us slip fourth in the table. The last game here had the scoreboard showing Pontypridd running away with the game at the end. Cardiff though had been highly competitive in a very enjoyable game up to the sixty minute mark. That though changed as three tries saw off our challenge. Newport have had a mixed bag of results since our game with them. They beat Ponty at the last whistle and have disposed of Ebbw Vale and Cross Keys too. There have though been losses to Bargoed and Merthyr in between. That leaves the Black & Ambers in fifth just four points behind us. That will bring added spice to tonight’s game as the likelihood is that the winner will go ahead in the table. Not that a Cardiff – Newport game will need anything else to bring it to life. These games have been going on for over 140 years now, and while we may not be back to the age of four games a season on a regular basis, it is a possibility this season. Three league games are definite, but who knows what the cup will throw up post round one if we both go through. That’s all for the future but tonight is all about what happens here, and traditionally Cardiff – Newport games are hard fought affairs on the field but off the field both sets of supporters mingle not only on the terraces but are happy to chat all things Blue, Black and Amber in the bars and clubs afterwards. So it is with great pleasure we welcome our oldest friends, the committee, players, coaching staff and supporters to the Arms Park tonight Enjoy the rugby! COMMITTEE Committee Members: Head Coach: PROGRAMME Chairman: David Allen Steve Law Media: Chris Norman Brian Bennett Backs Coach: Ian Tabor Vice Chairman: Chris Collins Llyr Lane Design: Simon Down Clive Davies Forwards Coach: ZAP! Creative Treasurer: Adrian Hadley Neil Edwards Photography: Marc Wakeham Ian Tabor Asst Coach: Viv Jones Secretary: John Huw Williams James Dixon Produced by: Jill Parker Billy Woods Team Manager: HUSH Iestyn Williams The views expressed in this program Physiotherapy: are not necessarily those of Cardiff Dyfri Owen RFC TOGETHER we will ALL ACHIEVE www.cardiffrfc.com #BLUEANDBLACKS LAST TIME OUT Cardiff 28 – Pontypridd 46 (07/10/2017) After successive defeats to Ebbw Vale and Bedwas, Cardiff hoped to return to winning ways when close rivals Pontypridd visited the Arms Park. The game got off to the best possible start for the Blue and Blacks when after a period of concerted pressure Will Rees-Hole was put over in the corner. The lead only lasted for a couple of minutes before a momentary loss of concentration allowed former Cardiff player Diggy Bird (who was to prove a thorn in the side all afternoon) scored near the posts – his conversion edging Ponty in front. Things got even better for the visitors a few minutes later when another former Arms Park favourite, Rhys Shellard, touched down, this time Bird was unable to add the conversion. Both sides were playing some good rugby and the game had a closeness and intensity that has sometimes been missing from recent encounters. Gareth Thompson was able to add a couple of penalties to bring Cardiff within a point with half an hour of the game gone. In the last ten minutes of the half an Alex Webber try and Bird conversion extended the Pontypridd lead. Gareth Thompson and Diggy Bird exchanged penalties to give Ponty a 22 – 14 lead as the interval approached. With time running out before the break Owen Lane put smiles back on the faces of home supporters when he dived over in the corner, Thompson again converting from a difficult position. Then on the stroke of half time disaster struck for the Blue & Blacks when, as they tried to apply pressure just outside the Pontypridd 22 their captain, Joey Tomlinson, was injured in a tackle. As the medical staff came on the referee took the decision to end the half a few seconds early as the injury was clearly going to take some time to treat. Half time saw a tag game with children of Ysgol Gymraeg, Caerfilli – but the eyes of many spectators were on the prostrate player being treated nearby, before being stretchered off the field by Cardiff and Pontypridd medical staff. TOGETHER we will ALL ACHIEVE www.cardiffrfc.com #BLUEANDBLACKS When play resumed versatile front row man Ian Jenkins had moved to hooker with Peter Lloyd making his debut at tight head. The second half was just as tight as the first with both sides pushing forward to try and make the breakthrough. It was the Blue and Blacks that struck first when Owen Lane broke clear and fed Lewis Jones in support for the scrum half to canter to the line and score. Gareth Thompson again added the conversion putting Cardiff 28-22 in front with half an hour to go. Diggy Bird pulled the visitors back to within three points with another successful penalty before the decision that changed the match. With Ponty on the attack and being repelled by a resilient home defence the referee deemed that some of the home side’s tactics were not legal and sent Dan Fish to the sin-bin. Having already spent 10 minutes of the first half reduced to 14 (after Will Rees-Hole incurred the wrath of the official) Cardiff were to find a further period with reduced resources more than could be managed. Pontypridd tails were now up and in the closing 12 minutes they added tries from Aled Summerhill, Hemi Barnes and Rhys Shellard. Two of these were converted by Diggy Bird (who deservedly won the man of the match award) and the third by the seemingly ageless Ceri Sweeney. The final score of 46 - 28 to the visitors did scant justice to the Cardiff performance. The game proved a timely reminder that rugby is an 80 minute game and that you need all your players on the field to have a chance of beating teams like Pontypridd. The sad news from the physio’s room after the game was that Joe Tomlinson had damage to his ACL and would require surgery, keeping him out for the remainder of the 2017-8 season. TOGETHER we will ALL ACHIEVE www.cardiffrfc.com #BLUEANDBLACKS Hicks Titley Partnership M&E Consulting Engineers Award winning designers of energy efficient mechanical & electrical services for new and refurbished buildings and the wider environment Hicks Titley Partnership has practiced engineering consultancy services since 1999 within the Mechanical and Electrical services sector of the construction industry. Our design office is based at Cathedral Road in Cardiff. We specialise in large multi-residential new build and refurbished facilities, such as student accommodation, extra care facilities and multi-apartment developments. We cover all areas of the construction industry from large commercial office developments to new build homes. We have a strong history of working within the healthcare sector, both for the National Health Service and the private sector, providing detailed design from new and refurbished hospital facilities to large care homes throughout the UK. Our engineering design philosophy is based on a strong commitment to sustainability, using passive means by considering building form and how it conditions the environment within. Our design services consider end user comfort, using heat, light, and ventilation and aim to deliver simple and efficient buildings with low running costs. We can provide Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Services design using MEP REVIT modeling software to ensure collaborative working with the design and construction team. We are CIBSE accredited low carbon consultants and energy assessors, from domestic facilities, to complex non-domestic level 5 buildings requiring Dynamic Simulation Modelling using BRE accredited software, providing Energy Performance Certificates for all building types, and an ISO 9001 Quality Assurance accredited company. Hicks Titley Partnership Sophia House 28 Cathedral Road Cardiff CF11 9LJ Landline: (029) 2010 9124 Website: www.hickstitleypartnership.com e-mail: [email protected] Are proud to support Cardiff Rugby Football Club C’mon the Blue & Blacks We supply, install and maintain Building Energy Management System, to help our customer monitor an d control their energy usage and maintain comfort and productivity .