News

It was a Sunday morning that threw all the elements at the young players whose games survived the wind, rain, hail, snow and eventually it was the sunshine that rounded off the morning.  The Under Eights, Nines ,Elevens,  Twelves and Thirteens were all in action, the latter two  teams  successfully negotiating  their way through to the District D Ospreys  Cup semi-finals.   

Under Eights

The Under Eights ventured up to the Garw Valley where the Valley Ravens hosted a round robin with Ystrad Rhondda, Porthcawl and the Ravens all involved.  All young players performed extremely well in the cold conditions. Every game was not only exciting to watch but it showed the Sports  players can play as a unit and when the ball is passed, more opportunities come together. A fantastic team effort from all and the young players should feel very proud of themselves.  Rhydian Cronin was top try scorer with 6 tries.  Top tagger was Archie Hall with 16 tags. The Sports try scorers were Rhydian Cronin (6) Matthew Griffiths (4) Charlie Hearing (2) Leo D’Adamo (2) Archie Hall (2) Mikey Heanue (1) Holly Eynon (1) Alex Bright (1).

The game scores were:  Bridgend Sports 6 – Valley Ravens 6; Bridgend Sports 8 Ystrad Rhondda 7; Bridgend Sports 5 Porthcawl 11.

Under Nines

The Under Nines travelled to Aberavon where the Green Stars played host to no less than five teams with each game a straight 10 minutes.  
The Sports played a solid hour of rugby and played as a team showing some great skills particularly with ball handling, finding space and well timed passing. There were many evenly matched games as the results show:

Baglan 3 Sports 3, Aberavon 5 Sports 2, Cwmavon 3 Sports 3, Skewen 6 Sports 6 and Taibach 2 Sports 2.

The Sports try scorers were : Dan Perriman, Max Hearing, Rafferty Williams, Sam Heycock and Thomas Roberts with Sam Heycock named Star Player of the Week, whilst Cairan Murphy put some strong tackles in to secure him the Tackler of the Week award. 
 

Under Elevens

The Under Elevens hosted their own round robin on a sticky Bandstand field. It was a busy morning with eight sides competing. Pyle, Baglan, Skewen, Briton Ferry, Tonna, Porthcawl and New Tredegar all travelled.

With the weather deteriorating and players welfare the primary consideration, all teams played around four games before the morning was cut short.  All players and teams played some fantastic rugby in the wet slippery conditions. The Sports results were : 
 

Bridgend Sports 20 - Tonna 0
Bridgend Sports 5 - Porthcawl 5
Bridgend Sports 5 - Skewen 0
Bridgend Sports v New Tredegar match abandoned due to conditions.

Under Twelves

In the first of the two quarter finals the Under Twelves defeated Nantcorrwg, a combined Glyncorrwg and Nantyfyllon team, 27-5.

It was a physical game played out in heavy conditions under foot.  The visitors came out firing and were more competitive in the early rucks. When the Sports found their feet, they competed well in the ruck area and won plenty of ball, but the conditions and excitement played a part in frustrating any early score.

Tom Bimson, Deacon Keseru, Toby Atkins, Dan Harris Sam Gardner and Gruff Roberts carried well for the Sports and Ben Evans was always a threat. A good passage of play was rewarded with Ben Evans crashing over for the first try. Dylan Harrison came close to adding a second but was held up, from the resultant scrum, Ben Evans was able to cross for his second which was converted by Jack Sperduty for a 12-0 halftime lead. The second half was a bit scrappier, but the Sports still had the edge on possession and territory. Gruff Roberts was able to crash over for the third try and Tyler after scoring 2 tries last week added a fourth.  The Sports relaxed which allowed Nantcorrwg in for  a soft try. This gave the visitors a bit of confidence.  The sports battled through the pressure and Ben Evans killed the game off with his third of the day for the Sports to secure their place in the semi - final.

Under Thirteens

  The Under Thirteens led the way a little earlier as they also hosted their District D Ospreys Cup quarter final clash against Baglan.   With their growing squad the Sports are starting to hit form and from early on in this game the side showed signs of an emerging confidence. They did not allow the visitors to settle into the game and within minutes the Sports had registered the first score as the ball emerged from the ruck on their side, Connor Jones made ground Cian John saw and exploited a gap in the Baglan defence, and he was away to score.  Despite the weather, the  home side were determined to continue with their attacking intent as the backs and forwards combined well to place Baglan under constant pressure.  Megan Lewis, Mackenzie Dent, Mason Balmer and Tom Chick all made ground with the ball in hand. Baglan absorbed the pressure well and were very competitive at the maul and ruck. Patience is a virtue they say; the Sports were rewarded for this when they secured a penalty inside the Baglan half. Callum Lewis took a quick tap, Ben King took the pass switched direction and using his speed and strength powered in for a great score , the conversion was added to extend the lead to 14-0.  The Sports scored three further tries by half through Ben King, Connor Jones and Cian John to extend the half time lead to 33 -0.  

Baglan threw their all  at the Sports in the second half but could not find a way through the home side’s resolute defence. The Sports threw themselves at everything , putting in an incredible seventy nine tackles. There were some outstanding efforts with Callum Lewis, Chloe Gant, Connor Jones, Efan Dyer, Iestyn John, Mackenzie Dent. Mason Balmer, Megan Lewis and Theo Clarke all piling up the tackle count, but it was a fifteen player effort to stop any away side attempt to make ground.  Such effort deserved reward and it came with tries from Efan Dyer and Connor Jones. Ieuan Pilliner added his sixth conversion from seven attempts  for the Sports to lead 47-0.   Baglan kept battling to make a contest right until the final whistle. They were rewarded when Callum Milan  pounced on a loose ball from a Sports  line out that drifted over the line to touch down and make the final score 47-5.