Sport

Wales Sevens name squad for Dubai and Cape Town

Published

5 years ago

November 21, 2018

RICHIE Pugh has named his Wales Sevens squad that will travel to Dubai and Cape Town for his first season as head coach.

The former Sevens World Cup winner, who has stepped up from his assistant role since Gareth Williams took over as Wales U20 head coach, will hand World Rugby Sevens Series debuts to five players in Dubai next week – four of whom were recently part of the U20 programme.

Those four players join the programme from the regions, who view the sevens pathway as key to some of their young players’ development.

“Many will already know about Ryan Conbeer’s finishing exploits from a 15s perspective with Scarlets and Wales U20, and he’ll provide us with good firepower out wide. The Cardiff Blues pairing of Ben Jones and Dane Blacker in midfield are full of confidence and back themselves. Dragons’ Taine Basham up front has got a great skillset and footwork for a carrying back-rower.”

Scarlets’ Tomi Lewis has something of a head-start on his fellow young teammates, given the virtuoso display he put on in Dubai last season in scoring seven tries over the course of the weekend.

As part of their preparations for Dubai and Cape Town, the Wales squad partook in a training camp with European champions Ireland a week ago which saw them compete in live game situations (watch WRU TV’s snapshot of the day).

Eighteen-year-old Jay Jones was originally spotted playing at Rosslyn Park Sevens, and has progressed through the sevens development pathway – much to the delight of Pugh. “We’ve been fortunate to have someone like Jay in the squad, who’s not necessarily an academy player or linked with a region. He was part of the Great Britain U18 squad, has played Rugby Europe for us and is constantly putting his hand up, especially with his attacking performance against Ireland last week.”

Luke Treharne will captain his country, ably assisted by vice-captain Afon Bagshaw. Pugh says: “Luke has got a lot of experience and the players look up to him. He can lead the team well and knows what to expect on the big stage. He’s backed up by Afon, who’s been in the programme over a year now and leads from front. They both set the standards and along with the rest of our core players they’ve been supporting the new players really well.”

Pugh believes there’s a good balance in his squad for the first two legs of the series, with Dragons and Wales U20s’ Joe Goodchild waiting in the wings as a travelling reserve. “When you add in Ben Roach, Cai Devine, Owen Jenkins and Will Talbot-Davies, I’m hoping all their experience will spur the boys on come next Friday. It’ll be completely different to the cold climate we’ve been accustomed to lately, so we’ve got to get used to the heat of Dubai and Cape Town very quickly.”

Wales will have a training game against Scotland on Tuesday next week, and Pugh suggests that come their first pool game against world champions New Zealand, some of his players “will be thrown into the deep end of the World Series”, with USA and Spain also to come.

However, he adds: “We need to expose players to these experienced teams, put them under that level of pressure in a top-level environment. This is what sevens gives them an insight into, and it’s fantastic for their learning.”

Core Players: Afon Bagshaw (Vice-Captain), Cai Devine, Owen Jenkins, Jay Jones, Ben Roach, Luke Treharne (Captain). Cardiff Blues: Dane Blacker, Ben Jones. Dragons: Taine Basham, Joe Goodchild, Will Talbot-Davies. Scarlets: Ryan Conbeer, Tomi Lewis.

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70 Pembrokeshire clubs benefit from Sport Wales funding

Published

9 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Tom Sinclair

SEVENTY Pembrokeshire clubs have been successful in receiving grants from the Be Active Wales Fund over the last financial year.

In total the clubs received more than £407,800 from the grants scheme from Sport Wales in 2023/24.

The fund backed 25 different sports, ranging from archery, basketball and cricket to sailing, short mat bowls and weightlifting and everything in between.

The Be Active Wales Fund is open to applications from not for profit community clubs and groups to help develop and sustain their activities.

Grants range from a minimum of £300 up to a maximum of £50,000.

The scheme will support coach education courses, the purchase of essential items of equipment right up to larger projects such as floodlighting and boats for sailing clubs.

For advice and support with your application contact Alan Jones or Lois Hilling at Pembrokeshire County Council’s Sports Development department, Sport Pembrokeshire on [email protected]

The Be Active Wales Fund is always open for applications.

More information is available on the Sport Wales website.

Sport

Clarby stand in the way of Goodwick double

Published

24 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Herald Sport

Two thrilling semi finals last weekend has meant Goodwick United and Clarbeston Road will meet in the senior cup final this coming Saturday.

Goodwick faced Pennar Robins in their semi final who pushed the champions very hard. Carl Vincent will be disappointed but proud of the Robins as they gave a great account of themselves. However in the end Goodwick’s quality and experience just was too much for Vincent’s team.

The other semi was an absolute thriller, and after a nail biting game Matthew Fox’ Clarby progressed to the final. A offside call has sparked a lot of debate around the county. However it seems that linesman Jenkins made an absolute perfect call so credit to him for that.

Both teams would have wanted a nice week of preparation for the final, maybe without any games to play. Unfortunately this hasn’t been possible due to the fixture backlog and both outfits have played already this week.

Goodwick will be favourites of course, however if anyone can upset the apple cart Saturday it’s this Clarbeston Road team. Fox’ outfit have impressed over and over this season. Without too much pressure on them, they are in a good place going into the final.

The double at one staged looked like the minimum Goodwick would be aiming for this season. However losses in other cup competitions, means its Senior Cup success or just the league title for the outstanding team of the season. Oddly becoming champions with no cup success maybe seen as a huge disappointment considering their dominance this season. A unique pressure. However if anyone can handle that pressure it’s O’Sullivans outfit.

Sport

Swifts eyes on double.

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Herald Sport

Monkton Swifts reserves have blown away the second division this season and now have the double in their sights. They face Merlins Bridge reserves in the semi final of the second division cup and lived up to their favourites tag.

Swifts won comfortably with key player Butland getting three assists and Josh Sture grabbing a brace. Waterman and Rhys Sture added the other goals as outstanding Monkton won 4-0.

Herbrandston and Johnston played in the other semi final and this was a much harder fixture to call. The promoted Herbie a younger and perhaps less physical outfit in comparison to the Tigers. Johnston quickly took control of the game when they found themselves two up after just 29 minutes.

However when Scott Murray was shown a red card just eight minutes later, Herbie would have been confident of staging a comeback. Despite being a man light, Johnston held Herbie until the final minute of the 90, when Alex Ouzman gave Herbie late hope. The Tigers held firm however and progress to the final where they will be underdogs. A tag that I’m sure the players and manager Steven Allen won’t mind too much.