Local rugby

THERE seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for Gwernyfed after a difficult few seasons.

The club were relegated from Two East Central in the summer of 2016, after an underwhelming season that saw them win just three of their 22 league games.

They avoided a second consecutive relegation last year with a comfortable mid-table finish, winning seven of 22.

However, they suffered a horrendous start to this campaign losing their first four matches.

“It was purely down to confidence and self-belief,” admitted team manager Lee Thomas.

“The first game of the season we played Old Illtydians and at half-time we were 19-0 up but we didn’t know how to close the game off.”

Gwernyfed ended up losing 23-19 and defeats to Cefn Coed, Penygraig and Pontyclun followed as the club looked set for a relegation fight.

However, a 33-24 victory against Pentyrch was secured on the fifth week of the season and Thomas believes that was a key moment for his young squad.

“Confidence was low, so Chay [Billen] and Danny [Skyrme], the coaches, and myself as team manager went hard to gain the confidence of the boys rather than focus on the negativity,” said Thomas.

“We pushed the positives and all we needed was the first league win against a team above us, which was Pentyrch.

“A lot of teams this season were going with uncontested scrums against us because we have a very powerful pack.

“And when teams were going with uncontested scrums we ended up losing the game, in the first seven games of the season five of them finished with uncontested scrums.

“I think the turning point was when Pentyrch came to us and called uncontested scrums before kick-off.

“Obviously, that got our goat up because it took our strength away and that was probably the day we clicked.

“When we beat Pentyrch it spurred us on to greater things because we’ve played some fantastic rugby this season but at the beginning of the season we weren’t able to close things off and that was down to confidence and belief.”

Losses at Fairwater and Abercwmboi immediately followed their triumph over Pentyrch but since then they’ve hit a rich vein of form, winning eight and drawing one of their last nine fixtures.

“The belief of the players was there and the ability of the players was there and we were scoring some fantastic tries,” Thomas continued.

“Our defence was a little bit leaky and at key moments our game management wasn’t right.

“We worked on that and put the wrongs right.”

Gwernyfed’s form has seen them rise up to third in the table but Thomas isn’t aiming for the title just yet with leaders Abercwmboi 14 points ahead with three games in hand.

“A top-four finish this season would be lovely because we have played three or four more games than everybody else,” said Thomas.

“Ideally, I would love to finish in third place because I think promotion would be a step too far for us this season but we’ll look to continue our run of good form next season and became champions.

“The boys who were relegated a few years ago were a young team. That young team is now turning into a mature team.

“It’s been a big learning curve that has taken us three years to recover from.”