Bargoed RFC

The final game of the season takes place this week with the 1st XV facing Treorchy in the Final of the Mid District Cup on Wednesday 23rd May at Sardis Road, Pontypridd. Kick off is at 7.00 p.m. This will be the third encounter between these two sides this season as they have already met twice in Division One East fixtures. Indeed Treorchy are one of only three teams to have lowered the colours of the Blues in the league this season.

The men from the Rhondda took the spoils at home in October with a hard fought 21-17 victory with Bargoed playing most of the second half with fourteen men after receiving a red card. Bargoed managed to equal things up in the return match at home in April with a bonus point 44-23 victory. The Players, Coaches and Management know that this will be a tough assignment against a side with a reputation for making things difficult for opponents.

It's hoped that there will be a big crowd there with all the Mini and Junior Section invited to watch the match and see the Triple Crown on display. Get down there and support the Blues as they look to win the title again as they did a few years ago when they defeated Caerphilly in the final in 2009 at Beddau.

The Warriors played their final game of the season on Saturday when they travelled down and faced an enterprising Loughor outfit who had a mix of 1st and 2nd XV players. The game was the swansong of two legends of Bargoed rugby in Phil Smith and Stuart Jones. The Warriors came out on top by 45-39 with a feast of running rugby and numerous tries scored. It was good to see some old faces and ex players 'guesting' for Bargoed as they wanted to play with Stu and Smicko for the last time. Paul 'Lama' Smith, Owen Swift, Jamie Howells, and Gareth Richards all featured. It was also good to see Jeremy Lovell returning to the field after a long lay off through injury, and Mike Hill and Toby Richards lacing up their boots again. They were joined by some of the new wave of talent coming through with promising youth team players Ryan Williams and Craig Owen also figuring in the line up.

Smicko and Stu enjoyed their old school preparation with a couple of pints of lager before the game as part of the warm up, and the team generally abided by the game plan of not kicking outisde the 22 with soem superb rugby played in great conditions. Smicko even managed to squeeze over for a try when he was on the field (as opposed to his stint in the crowd drinking some Rose Wine while the boys toiled hard on the field !). The dynamic duo were also joined in the back row at one stage by their old team mate full back Ian Jenkins who had also played youth team rugby with the boys some 17 or so years ago.

It was also good to see a couple of people down at Loughor with connections to Bargoed RFC. On the opposition side was Rhys Corcoran who is the son of 80's hooker Brian 'Barney' Corcoran who played in the same front row as Stuart's elder brother Huw. Rhys is now playing in the Loughor 1st XV who go up into Division One West next season. There was also an ex Bargoed player watching the game as well in Colin Williams who played for Bargoed into the 90's before moving on to play for Rhymney, and then moving west. Colin was a product of the Bargoed Youth team and became a permanent fixture in the side as a hard working ,spring heeled second row. Although he's now officially retired he did have a run out for Gorseinon not so long ago and was quite keen to get his boots on again after a couple of pints on Saturday !

JR