YOUTH RUGBY AT ITS VERY BEST!

 
Last night Narberth RFC played host to a brace of youth finals that were generally agreed to be as good by the huge crowds, if not the best, Youth Cup and Youth Plate Competitions ever.
 
Tenby United beat Narberth in the curtain-raiser where The Young Seasiders were comfortable winners of the  Plate as they beat The Young Otters by 39-22 and skipper Kyle Rossiter received the trophy from Delyth Summons, the District H representative on the WRU, and then Pembroke completed the league and cup double by beating closest rivals Aberystwyth by 33-13 in a fantastic finale to the 2023/24 season for this age group.
 
As usual, PembrokeshireSport.co.uk was the only media outlet in attendance and we proud to produce a full match report, team sheets and photographs, the property of Bill Carne, of the main match and later in the weekend, because of the massive amount of sport going on in our county, the equally high-quality Plate Final.
 
Both follow last Sunday’s TEN JUNIOR FINALS at the same venue and we would like to thanks all the players, coaches, clubs, officials and supporters for giving us their valued help in providing the best rugby coverage by miles across our county!





 
 

Pembrokeshire Youth Cup Final: 

 
 

Aberystwyth Youth 13 - Pembroke Youth 33

 
Venue: The Lewis Lloyd Ground, Narberth
 
Referee: Andrew ‘Twts’ Thomas
Assistant Referees: Dave Byrne & Carwyn Evans
 
Pembroke Youth completed a deserved double of league and cup with this victory by a comfortable margin over an equally-committed Aberystwyth team that had finished second in the league and was still in contention going into the final quarter as they were 20-13 adrift, writes Bill Carne.
 
But then Pembroke completed this memorable campaign undefeated as they raised the tempo with three more scores, as centre Kobi Bratcher, outside half Bowyn Clarke and No 8 Zac Shaw proved outstanding players alongside skipper and second row Max Boswell in a very strong squad as they advanced the score to 32-13.
 
It says much for Aber’s squad as they fought back late on with No 9 Ben Breeze-Griffiths, Rhys Willets-Jones and Cerith Williams all making an impact as they refused to lie down and were rewarded with late points that made the final scoreline just a little more respectable and reflecting the quality of their plays too.




 

Good start for Young Scarlets

 
The Young Scarlets served notice of intent in the opening exchanges as Clarke kicked them into the bottom corner and from the ensuing lineout good work by Tommy Oakley, Derby Williams, Ethan Brown and Rhydian Eynon saw hooker Danny Davies plough through for an unconverted try.
 
Aber fought back with centre Harri Gwynn Jones and pacy winger Spollen combining to take play into the clubhouse corner and Ellis Trigg stretched his long frame to score - although this major ball-winner had to leave the field a little later with a shoulder injury.
 
After 25 minutes Bowen Clarke scored his first penalty from 25 metres and a minute later the outside half slipped away on the left side and was joined by Jack Nicholas and Corey Mathias in putting Bratcher away on a run that brought a cracking try.
 
But Aber reduced the interval deficit to 8-13 when scrum half Breeze-Griffiths scored a good individual try right on the interval after Gerwyn Jones, Mike Whistance and Rhys Owen had helped provide the platform.




 

Aber turn defence into attack but Pembroke have the edge

 
Aber centre Harri-Gwynn Jones and Spollen gave Aber a morale-boosting start to the second half with some superb defending alongside hooker Ioan Evans as the game opened out and Pembroke had to defend well via TJ Jones, Owen Rickard and Josh Greenwood before the ubiquitous Clarke again launched a counter that was maintained by Morgan Heath, Shaw and the rest of the pack before Bratcher held off a tackler to put co-centre Jack Nicholas in at the corner; Clarke adding the difficult conversion.
 
But the lead was reduced again as Aber used their pace behind alongside some good work up front by replacements Hari Turnpenny and Tomas James in a series of close-range raids which finally saw a break by Gwynn-Jones put left wing Llyr Jones over in the left corner.
 

Scarlets raise the tempo even higher

 
Pembroke raised the tempo a notch further at this stage as their forwards were outstanding and allowed half backs Greenwood and Clarke to dictate matters – and the latter slotted two well-struck penalties to effectively kill off their opponents of a late converted try and extra time.
 
Not content with those points, however, The Young Scarlets had the final word when Bratcher again featured as he held off a would-be tackler so that Nicholas and Jones could release left winger Mathias in at the clubhouse corner before Clarke added the extra points and start off the Pembroke celebrations at a job well done. The trophy was presented to Pembroke captain Max Boswell by Aled Walters, Hub Officer for the WRU
 
So Phil Greenwood’s boys claimed that coveted double as reward for an outstanding performance but Aber also played a huge part in a game that had Youth Organiser Ceni Davies delighted by the quality of the game.

He told PembrokeshireSport.co.uk,
 
“It was a fantastic final which was well refereed by Andrew ‘Twts’ Thomas as he maintained the necessary tight control that enabled both teams to show their undoubted fitness, pace, high skill levels and total commitment in front of a very large and enthusiastic crowd of supporters from both camps. What a great advert for our players and coaches which shows the quality of youngsters emerging from our district.”
 
‘PembrokeshireSport.co.uk’ couldn’t improve on that accurate assessment but can only say thank you to Pembroke and Aberystwyth for producing a final that easily ranks with the best youth finals we have seen over many years.
 
Aberystwyth Youth: Jac Stockley Jones: Sion Spollen; Harri Gwynn Jones; Rhys Willets-Jones; Llyr Jones: Wil Hockenhull; Ben Breeze-Griffiths: Gerwyn Jones; Ioan Evans; Rhys Owen: Elis Trigg; Lloyd Ellis-Jones: Jan Ellis-Jones; Daniel Davies; Cerith Williams. Replacements: Gethin Davies; Hari Turnpenny; Michael Whistance; Steffan George; Owen Williams; Osian Jenkins; Charlie Michell; Llyr Morris; Tomos James; Steffan Jones.
Coaches: Wayne Thomas; Llyr ap Hywel.
 
Pembroke Youth: TJ Jones: Owen Rickard; Kodi Bratcher;  Jack Nicholas; Corey Mathias: Bowyn Clarke; Josh Greenwood: Tommy Oakley; Danny Davies; Deryn Williams: Ethan Brown; Max Boswell: Morgan Heath; Rhydian Eynon; Zac Shaw. Replacements: Alfie Brown; Tobi Pratt; Theo Slaney; Logon Eaton; Keanu Williams; Iolo Williams; George Jones.
Coaches: Phil Greenwood; Mark Boswell; Nigel Cole; Jamie Henthorne.
Team Manager: James Tonkinson.
First aider: Hannah Eynon.