Newcastle Falcons’ Round 6 Pool 4 British and Irish Cup clash at Cross Keys has been postponed due to heavy snow fall in Wales.
The game has been rearranged for Friday 1 February with a kick-off time to be confirmed.
Newcastle continue their quest for promotion back to the Aviva Premiership at home to Cornish Pirates next Friday (kick-off 8pm).
Llandovery flanker Shaun Miles has won the October ‘Principality Premiership Player of the Month’ award, the second of the season for the club after Rhodri Williams claimed the title for September.
Miles has been pivotal in Llandovery reaching and maintaining the top spot in the League this season with his all-action game contributing to the Drovers’ high scoring success rate.
The 24-year-old had played almost all his rugby for Ammanford until the start of last season, winning two SWALEC Plate finals with the Amman Valley side. He was picked up by Llandovery after the 2011 final at the Millennium Stadium.
The openside earned a run of games for the Drovers last season following an injury to Lloyd Phillips, and has been impressive since the start of this term after a summer of pre-season training with the Scarlets.
He said, “This season has gone well for me personally and for us as a team. We have just clicked as a group and as we’ve been averaging five tries a game and winning matches, we were disappointed with the draw at Aberavon last weekend. It’s a hard league now and any team is capable of beating anyone else.”
Having come up from the lower leagues, Miles is determined to take all the chances that come his way.
“I’ve been a plumber for the last eight years since leaving school so it would be fantastic to play professional rugby, but for now, my ambitions are to keep training hard and stay injury free. Training with the Scarlets was a fantastic opportunity, I gained a lot from it. It would be great to get a Regional game at some point this season, and to win a professional contract would obviously be my dream.”
Richard Cleverley, Principality Branch Manager at Llandeilo, added: “Our congratulations go to Shaun Miles, who has been going from strength to strength in his career and is thoroughly deserving of the player of the month award.
Shaun Miles Factfile
Born: 19.7.88, Morriston
Position: Flanker
Biggest Influence: Former Ammanford coach Aled Griffiths
Most Admired Players / Sports People: Martyn Williams and Richie McCaw
Education: Amman Valley Comprehensive
This Saturday sees the clash of local rivals Cross Keys and Newport RFC in a Pool 4 British & Irish Cup Match. For many years the Keys have lived in the shadow of their more famous neighbours and over the years many players have drifted the short distance to find fame at Rodney Parade. The stats will tell us that Newport have dominated matches since the clubs first met back in 1910 when Newport ran out 24-6 winners at Rodney Parade. Since that very first match the clubs have met 143 times with Newport recording 99 wins to Keys 28 with 16 drawn matches. In the Premier league the record reads P22 W13 D2 L7 but Keys will point to the fact that they currently should be considered to be Gwent’s top club and they did in fact record the double over the Black & Ambers in the Premier League and also took Newport’s place in the B&IC and did well to get to the final.
On paper and current form this looks to be a comfortable win for the home side but then things don’t always go to the form book in local derbies. Cross Keys suffered a heavy defeat at Newcastle Falcons in Round 1 while Newport surprised many with an excellent win over Connacht Eagles at Rodney Parade.
The Aberavon team trained for the last time this evening before they fly out to Cork tomorrow evening. The boys have worked hard this week in training and have put in a huge effort and are looking forward to playing Munster A in the British and Irish Cup this Saturday at Tralee RFC. Munster are a formidable name in the world of rugby albeit their A side, but they are still a very strong unit mixed with senior players and development players coming through the ranks, it will prove a stern challenge for our Semi Professionals.
For the boys to play Munster is a huge honour and with a narrow win against Plymouth last weekend Munster are a very well drilled side and that could be seen in some of the try’s they scored against Plymouth. But we are up for that challenge and won’t take a back step and come into this game with a performance that should have seen us beat Rotherham last weekend and if we click then we will give them a run for their money.
There are a number of supporters who have travelled over to the emerald isle to support the Wizards this weekend and all are excited about the fixture and hospitality they will experience from the town of Tralee. Many a pint of Guinness will be drunk this weekend for sure and when Munster come back to the Talbot Athletic Ground in January the same welcome I am sure will be served to our friends from across the water!
Munster A are the current British & Irish Cup holders after they beat Cross Keys 31 – 12 in the Final last April at Musgrave Park.
In the inaugural season of the competition (2009-10) the Irish side were runners up when they lost 14 – 23 to the Cornish Pirates at Camborne in the Final. During the pool stages, the Munstermen beat Neath 21 – 12 at the Gnoll, outscoring their hosts by two tries, one conversion and three penalties to four penalties.
The following season, Munster A lost their opening pool game 13 – 15 against Llanelli in Waterford. The Irish side crashed out of the competition in the pool stage.
Last season, on their way to lifting the Cup, Munster A again defeated Neath at the Gnoll. This time they scored two tries, two conversions and three penalties, to three penalties by the home side as the final score was 23 – 9.
So let’s wish the boys well for the fixture and add your message of support on our Facebook page, twitter site and forum as I am sure they will read it and appreciate your messages of support.
The Aberavon team for Muster A away is as follows:
15 JOHN PHILLIPS, 14 RICHARTD THOMAS, 13 BEN JOHN, 12 WILL PRICE, 11 STEFAN ANDREWS, 10 JAMIE DAVIES, 9 JOE HEATLEY
1 ROWAN JENKINS, 2 IEUAN DAVIES, 3 CHRIS JOHN, 4 RHYDIAN GIERAT, 5 GAVIN RONAN, 6 BEN THOMAS, 7 JOE TOMALIN REEVES, 8 MORGAN ALLEN
REPLACEMENTS
16 RICKY THOMAS
17 CRAIG EVANS
18 GARETH HARVEY
19 LEE PURNELL
20 DARRYL THOMAS
21 HYWEL DAVIES
22 NEIL WHITE
Former Osprey Gareth Owen makes his long awaited come back at inside centre for Llanelli away to Moseley in the first game of this season’s British and Irish Cup. Also returning to Captain the team will be dynamic hooker Craig Hawkins and inform young forward Lewis Rawlins who wears the number 7 jersey.
Everyone in the Region welcomes Argentinian Tomas Vallejos who starts at flanker. After facing the All Blacks last week it was great to see Tomas’ great attitude and personality shining through in the RFC’s team run.
Away B & I Cup Saturday 13/10/12 k.off 3.00pm
15 Steffan Hughes14. Kristian Phillips 13 Nic Reynolds 12 Gareth Owen 11 Bowdy Davies 10 Owen Williams 9 Justin James 1 Rhys Thomas 2 Craig Hawkins (capt) 3 Sean McDonnell-Roberts 4 Jake Ball 5 Nathan White 6 Tomas Vallejos 7 Lewis Rawlins 8 Ed Price
Replacements/Subs 16 Tom Sloane 17 Tomos Wilson 18 Jamie Kijaks 19 Duane Eager 20 Nathan Hart 21Johnny Lewis 22 Chris Keenan.
Aberavon take a break from the Principality Premiership for the next fortnight as they enter the British & Irish Cup. The Wizards open their campaign by welcoming RFU Championship side Rotherham Titans to the Talbot Athletic Ground this coming Saturday, kick off 2:30pm.
Rotherham are currently sixth in the RFU Championship having won three, losing two, and drawing one of their games this season.
The Titans opened their Championship campaign with a 20 – 26 loss at London Scottish. Wing Peter Homan and replacement hooker Ted Stagg scored tries, while outside half James McKinney converted both and kicked a couple of penalties. The hosts scored one try and seven penalties.
The opening day defeat was followed by a 38 – 38 draw at home to Bedford Blues. The home side scored four tries through full back Mike Whitehead, number 8 Alex Rieder, centre Lee Blackett, as well as a penalty try. McKinney converted three of the tries and also kicked four penalties for a personal tally of 18 points. The Blues also scored four tries.
Rotherham’s first win of the season came with a 27 – 16 win at Nottingham. Outside half McKinney scored 17 points this time with five penalties and one conversion. Wing Eamonn Sheridan scored a try and the Titans were also awarded a penalty try. Nottingham scored one try in reply.
The Titan’s followed up their win at Nottingham with a high scoring 54 – 31 home win over Jersey. The South Yorkshire outfit scored six tries as wing Sheridan, replacement flanker Carl Kirwan, centre Pale Nonu – brother of New Zealand All Black Ma’a Nonu, flanker Rieder, replacement wing Mike Doneghan, and centre Garry Law all touched down. Law converted all six tries and added four penalties for a 29 point haul. The Channel Islands side scored four tries.
At the end of September Rotherham went down 3 – 15 away to Plymouth Albion – one of the other sides the Wizards will be facing in this season’s British & Irish Cup. Outside half Law kicked a sole penalty for the Titans, whilst the home side scored two tries, a penalty and a conversion.
Last weekend, at home to Bristol, the Titans ran out 23 – 16 winners. Flanker Rieder scored a try for Rotherham, who also had a penalty try. Law, playing full-back, converted both and also kicked three penalties.
Looking back in time at previous Wizards games played this weekend:
Ten years ago this weekend Aberavon won 38 – 21 at Narberth in a Division One league game. The Wizards dominated the first half as they put three scores between the sides and entered the interval 23 – 8 up. However, the Otters hit back in the second half to come back to within five points of the visitors before Aberavon sealed the game with two tries in the last six minutes of play. The Wizards try scorers that day were David Hawkins, Matthew Back, Dafydd Owen & Gareth Newman. Jamie Davies kicked three conversions and four penalties.
Five years ago this weekend Aberavon beat Pontypridd 23 – 12 at the Talbot Athletic Ground in the Premiership. Trailing Ponty 12 – 3 at the interval, a stunning second-half display saw the Wizards outscore their visitors 20 – 0 in the second half. A 17 year old Ospreys Academy centre by the name of Ashley Beck made his debut for the Wizards that day when he came on for John Leyshon in the 53rd minute, and made a big impact. Aberavon’s points came via tries by Marc Bennett and Richard Carter, with Beck having a big hand in Carter’s try. Jamie Davies converted both and added three penalties.
The referee for Saturday’s game is Charles Samson (SRU), aided by touch judges Hugh Watkins (WRU) and Terry Thomas (WRU).
