Caerphilly Rugby

Next 2nd XV fixture

Caerphilly RFC v Bargoed RFC Rhondda & East District Rugby Union Keith Jones Cup Semi Final Friday 25th January 2008 Virginia Park, Caerphilly Kick-off 7:15pm

2nd XV Forthcoming Fixture

Friday 25th January 2008 - Keith Jones Cup

2nd XV Coaching Setup

I would like to also welcome Gareth Bowen (Bozi) to the club in his role as second team coach. Bozi will work alongside Bobby Treherne mainly with the 2nd/development team, Bozi's first game with the squad came with the recent game with Beddau. I would like everyone to join me in welcoming Bozi to Caerphilly RFC and getting behind and supporting Bobby and Bozi taking the 2nds XV forward this season and giving players currently in the 2nds XV opportunity to compete for first team places and develop at the same time enjoying their rugby. The second team coaching team now looks like: Coach's: Bobby Treherne & Gareth Bowen Team Manager: Daniel Jones 2nd Team Club Captain: Jonathan Hauge. Can all Caerphilly Supporters please note that when the 1st XV are playing away, the seconds are normally home, so if you would like to follow, and support your teams other squad members in exciting games against local rivals please look at the website for updates.

Beddau 2nd XV 20 - Caerphilly 2nd XV 11 (Saturday 3rd February 2007)

A torrentially wet Friday evening in February was witness to one of the finest displays of Rugby played by a Caerphilly 2nd XV for some years. The visitors were the underdogs from the start, and an unbeaten Beddau 2nd XV was never going to be an easy game, but the performance on the night was a credit to every single player that graced the pitch with their presence. With only sixteen players to choose from on the night, team selection more or less wrote itself, with Gareth 'Psycho' Harrison left on the bench with a slightly injured leg. With mud, rain, wind and a large Beddau pack to contend with, the visitors were very close in causing a major upset. Although Caerphilly lost this game, it was an unfair reflection in the way in which the team played. Sam Woollatt was forced out of the match with a hamstring strain in warm up and from a squad point of view; hope his injury is not all that serious. Mark Withey opened the scoring with a penalty and soon doubled his tally with another, but the home team responded with a try and with slippery ball in hand Caerphilly took the game to the home team, just not managing to penetrate the Beddau back line. The first half saw some great Rugby from both sides and considering the weather, this was a credit to both teams. The second half was started with an exceptional ball retrieval off the kick off by Mike 'Ozi'Osolinski, who placed his body on the line for the whole eighty minutes, which was then spun out and resulted in an exceptional jinking run by in form outside half Mark Withey and a try in the corner. Great vision and awareness from the number 10. Right wing Mike 'Lynchy' Lynch showed his class in defence as well as attack and will surely be knocking on the first team door sometime in the future, as will many others of this team after such a fine performance. The two youth players that stepped up again and will surely be in contention for first team selection next year were James Edwards and James Stocking, both who were exceptionally skilful and committed with the latter leaving the field with a Hamstring strain in the second half. With Stocking off the field this left room for the in form Gareth Harrison to enter the arena and take up his position at Open side, with James Edwards slotting into the centre. With his signature Slamming tackles and aggressive play, James Edwards did himself proud playing out of position in the centre of the field. The line outs and scrums were organised and well drilled with stand in Hooker Ian Jenkins excelling in both areas as well as open play. The two props, Nick Kibble and John Davies really applied the pressure at the scrums and both were involved heavily on and off the ball throughout this torrid affair. First team and ex Fleur de Lys player Paul Muller showed his potential at eight with some powerful runs off the back of the scrum and very instrumental in securing loose ball all over the park, his game was complimented by the running and support of blind side flanker, Alwyn Thomas and the back up of a very strong, classy scrum half in Jonathan Hague. Adam Minty at second row, proved a point and yet another head ache for first team selectors with a powerful and clinical display throughout the game. Welsh Deaf International Steve Lloyd really took his chance at full back and showed pace and sheer guts when running at the defence as did centre Marty Pearce and left wing Dean Clash. Despite the weather conditions, there was a fair sized crowd at Mount Pleasant Park supporting both sides and with first team coach, Chris Ferris and Director of Rugby Gordon Pritchard watching the whole game, there won't be any easy decisions in team selection this week. The commitment, dedication and sacrifice shown by every player on Friday were a credit to themselves and Caerphilly RFC. The game did have one thing missing from my point of view on the touch line and that was the lack of sweets, so Bobby sort your act out for next week and fill those pockets. Jon Pritchard (Hungover) Sunday 25 Feb 2007 ( CRFC Coach)

Bargoed 2nds 10 - Caerphilly 2nds 26 (Saturday 3rd February 2007)

An interesting game, that could have flourished into a tantalizing game of controlled Rugby for the visitors, but slight disorganization and the ability of the home team to disrupt on the floor as well as in open play restricted the visiting team from really showing their full potential. Extremely poor refereeing is once again the main thing that will be remembered from this game, it does seem that this is something we have grown to live with and will have to live with for the future. Lock Lee Howells opened the scoring within the first ten minutes after a show of what can only be described as Champagne Rugby by the visitors, involving forwards and backs, the ball was kept alive in such a way that it was reminiscing of a late 90's Fijian Side, a credit to every player involved in the movement, quick hands and dedication. The try was converted by Mark Withy (10). Further tries were scored by Dai Reed (11), Sam Woolatt (15) James Edwards (replacement) (If these are incorrect then I do apologize). Two further conversions by Mark Withy and Sam Woolatt completed the score of 26. The highlight of the game was with about twenty minutes left on the clock when it was time for the formidable Mr Fred Brooks to enter the arena and take up his position in the front row, pushing up-hill during scrums against a well drilled Bargoed front row, Fred held his own, even pushed them backwards and excelled in open play. Surely this man has to be voted 'Clubman of the Year' this year! Fred, Thank You! It was very promising to see a few Youth Players in the starting line up on Saturday, Pimmy (Hooker) and Gavin Howells (Prop) both proved to be formidable opponents up front against a well established Bargoed front row, but these two took no prisoners and excelled in both set piece and open play and with a few games of senior Rugby under their belts, can look forward to next season as two extremely good squad players. There was another Youth Player who graced the turf on Saturday, but I do feel that he needs a special mention. James Edwards (Eddie) started on the bench and came on shortly after the second half had commenced, during his time on the pitch, he made one of the most amazing try saving tackles you have ever seen on a rampant Bargoed prop, absolutely annihilated another player with an almighty spear tackle and then finished off his master class with a try of his own. Believe me, this boy is one to watch and a credit to him and the youth team coaches who have bought these three young boys through to be such great players and individuals. There were three familiar 1st team faces in action for the 2nds on Sat, Geoff Goodswin, Dai Reed and Gareth Johns, all of whom performed extremely well under the circumstances and I believe although it is always nice to see these players playing second team rugby, they won't be out of 1st team contention for long. All in all, a very promising performance, with players like Sam Woolatt, Mark Withy, Lee Mullane, Nick Walters all proving that they are Classy players with great potential and an abundance of skill and will surely be pushing for first team places in the very near future. A general 'Well Done' to all the players on the park on Saturday, who got stuck in and for once raised the level of aggression to suit that of the opposition, you played like a team and for each other, and if we can keep this going, then we will be going places. All the best for Friday night against Caerau Ely @ home!! Cheers Jonathan Pritchard CRFC Coach (No relation to Gordon)