Bravo to WRU for giving grassroots day in the sun
It has been open season on the Welsh Rugby Union recently, and quite rightly in many instances, but sometimes you have to give credit where credit is due. Their series of finals at Principality Stadium has been a huge success. was among the 6,000-strong crowd who saw Neath beat Bargoed in the Championship Cup final and was delighted to see my old club win some silverware at long last.
I played in two finals at the same venue for Neath, a WRU Challenge Cup final against Newport and a Celtic Cup final against Munster, and lost them both. There was an element of relief for me as I saw Aaron Bramwell get his team across the line and into a winning position.
His side will go down in the club record books alongside the great teams of the past that won league titles and cups. And that’s the thing. Rugby has changed, Neath are playing at a different level now to when I was at the club, but the aspirations remain the same – get to a final and win a trophy. Having the carrot of playing at the home of Welsh rugby just makes the occasion bigger and more special.
So much effort goes into promoting the thin band of professional rugby that the grassroots too often gets ignored. So, well done to the WRU for not forgetting that the base of their increasing, yet still very small, playing pyramid needs investment and support.
The tries scored by players as young as 10, all the way through to veterans like Bramwell, have been watched by tens of thousands of people and a rather special effort by the Stanwell School outside-half Rhys Mottram has had many people marvelling at his length of the field score in one of the U18 finals – 60,000 views online so far! That is a moment he will never forget as long as he lives.
Sport, and rugby in particular, is about making memories with your teammates and where better to do that than at the ground where their ultimate rugby heroes strut their stuff. Sometimes the professional players can take for granted the fact they are playing in front of a packed house at an amazing venue. You often try to blank out the crowd and try to imagine you are playing somewhere else to ease the pressure. But for every player in every final over the past eight days it has been all about playing at the home of Welsh rugby.
While the community game was enjoying its big days out, the professionals in the women’s game were completing their Six Nations campaign ‘next door’ at the Arms Park. The Welsh team got off to a flying start with back-to-back wins over Ireland and Scotland. If the result against England and France were predictable, the performances showed the progression that has been made.
I’d have like to have seen the ball get into the hands of Jazz Joyce a little more often throughout the championship, but at least the women’s game in Wales look to be back on track. With another five months of hard training behind them they should be able to go to the World Cup in New Zealand in October and give an even better account of themselves.
It is that time of the year when the trophies are handed out, but who on earth is going to win the Gallagher Premiership? Northampton Saints’ 32-31 home win over reigning champions Harlequins on Friday in what was an incredible feast of free-flowing rugby ensured the make-up of the final four is going to remain in the balance.
Harlequins never know when they are beaten, but they always allow you a chance to score against them. Montpellier pipped them over two legs in the Round of 16 in the Heineken Champions Cup and now the Saints have done them at the death. Even so, none of the other teams who finish in the play-off places are going to want to play against Quins. Their brand of rugby is putting plenty of bums on seats and is getting people out of those same seats because of the excitement they are creating.
It’s a similar story in the URC, where the South African sides are starting to make a big impact.
Leinster and Munster could have their hands full in the play-offs trying to keep the trophy in Ireland. Ulster are in the mix as well, but the Bulls, Stormers and Sharks are just waiting to make their mark. No South African side has won the Super Rugby title since the Bulls won in 2010. They’d love to come up with another title in their first season in the URC tournament.
None of the Welsh regions are in the running this season, but there have been signs of late that some of them have been getting their act together.
The Dragons were excellent in their win over the Scarlets, and then pushed them to the brink in the return, while the Ospreys were too good for Cardiff. Too little, too late, maybe, but at least there is some momentum building ahead of the Welsh tour to South Africa in July. George North was back on the bench for the Ospreys yesterday, Alun Wyn Jones is playing again and the younger players like Taine Basham, Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan are maintaining their fine form.
I just hope that when Wayne Pivac announces his squad to take on the Springboks in the three Tests this summer, he picks the strongest possible squad available. We need to build from July through to the World Cup in France next year. It is not a time for rest!
“Where better to make memories than at the ground where their heroes strut their stuff”