Dairymen men step back to go forward Local rugby

IT’S that time of the season where things are starting to be decided, however, for Clwb Rygbi Cymry Caerdydd it’s about retaining their Division Two status rather than fighting for silverware.

The club are locked in a relegation battle for the second consecutive season and hold a narrow three-point advantage over Penarth with three games left to play following Saturday’s 20-12 defeat to Cambrian Welfare.

Head coach Gareth Williams insists the league is hard to predict and incredibly competitive, which is evidenced by the seven losing bonus points they’ve collected from their 13 league defeats, and that is likely to set up a tense and entertaining final few weeks.

“This is a very hard league,” he said.

“Any team can beat any team on their day and it’s always been like that.

“Last year Pontyclun got relegated on 40 points, we’ve been in this league for three years and it doesn’t get any easier.

“The two teams that came down last year, which were Llantwit Fardre and Cardiff Quins, are in the bottom half of the league because it’s hard.

“The two sides that came up from Division Three last year, in Cilfynydd and Cambrian [Welfare], look like the two sides that are going to go straight through the league and up.

“It’s a reflection of the league that with three games to go the top is not clear and the bottom is not clear. That tells you it’s a very competitive league.

“There are no easy games so if you don’t get your best side out every week you’re at risk of losing that game.

“So the challenge is both on the field, in terms of physicality, but also off the field, in terms of player consistency and how often they are able to do it.

“Ultimately we are amateur clubs and players have other things going on in their lives so it’s not always easy to have that consistency.”

Clwb Rygbi’s final three games puts them up against mid-table St Peter’s on Saturday before trips to basement boys Abercynon (April 21) and third-placed Gilfach Goch (May 2).

And Williams believes their penultimate game against Abercynon, who are nine points below them, could prove crucial.

“The thing with Abercynon is we beat them recently but they are a different animal at home,” he added.

“We’ve always found it quite hard there and you could see on Saturday when they played Penarth at home.

“Everyone thinks Abercynon are doomed but they beat Penarth, so they are a club that never gives up.

“So when we go there we know they will play as hard as they can, we won’t be taking that as anything other than a very difficult game.

“I’m pretty confident we’re as strong as we can be at this time so there will be no excuses from us.

“It’s in our own hands so if we go and win those games we will stay up and that’s all you really want.

“If you don’t win those games you don’t deserve to stay up so we’re pretty realistic about that.” SOMETIMES you have to go back to go forward and Llanharan certainly fit that description.

A proud club that enjoyed a year in the Principality Premiership in the mid-2000s and, who only two seasons ago, were plying their trade in the National Championship.

But, fast forward to the present day, and the Dairymen are fighting for their lives in One East Central and facing the real possibility of beginning next season in Division Two.

The club that helped produce the likes of former Wales internationals Garfield Owen and Gareth Llewellyn are most certainly now a club in transition.

Llanharan have struggled on the field for the past four seasons, just beating the drop from the Championship in 2015 before they did succumb the following year.

The team then just managed to keep their heads above water in One East Central last season and this term have won just five of their 19 league matches.

It leaves them in the bottom two with three games left to save themselves from the dreaded drop.

“It’s looking like we’ll need to win at least two or maybe even all three of those games,” said chairman Wayne Merry – a Llanharan man through and through.

“We just about held on last year and going back to before the start of the season we thought we were looking good for this year.

“Player availability and some bad luck along the way has gone against us.

“We had a big turnover of players a year or two back and, while we’ve always done well in the minis and juniors, we’ve have really struggled the last couple of seasons by not having the youth.

“Luckily now this year we’ve managed to get that going again and we’ve got a good youth team – but they’re all just turning 17.

“So it’s a case of trying to hold on now, staying as high as we can for the next year or so waiting for them to start coming through into the seniors.”

Although it weakened them, Llanharan were pleased to see second row forward Kieran Martin get his chance with Premiership outfit Bridgend – while his performances for the Ravens also caught they eye of the Ospreys who drafted him into their Select side for the British & Irish Cup.

Prop Rhys Taylor, meanwhile, also departed to play in the Championship with Tata Steel.

There have, though, been signs for Llanharan.

They won their first two games of the campaign against Rumney and then at Heol y Cyw while also ran title chasing powerhouses Glamorgan Wanderers mighty close at the Dairyfield back in September – only losing narrowly 18-17 with the last kick of the match.

Chairman Merry also paid tribute to No.8 and skipper Huw Thomas who he said “puts his body on the line every week.”

The Dairymen have lost their last five, including a 62-5 hammering in the return fixture with the Wanderers on March 31.

That was their last outing, with the scheduled home fixture with St Joseph’s on Saturday postponed due to the weather.

Once that is rearranged the final three games see Llanharan face St Joseph’s home and away, while they also have to go to Porth Harlequins – who are also battling down there.

Llanharan are in the drop zone and a point from safety although the two sides immediately above them, Rumney and Porth, both have two games in hand.

It leaves the Dairymen needing a perfect storm between now and the end of the season.

But it’s certainly not all doom and gloom – particularly with some promising youngsters coming through.

And, for a club who celebrated 125 years of rugby in 2016/17, going down to come back up may not be the worst thing in the world.