WHEN THE EMPIRE OCCUPIED THE ARMS PARK
In April 1957 Ebbw Vale were heading for a third Welsh Championship and celebrating the selection of centre Graham Powell to play for Wales against Ireland, the first Ebbw Vale player to be capped and certainly the first from Waunlwyd a suburb once known for staging international quoits matches. It was well deserved at a time when selection for Wales seemed to depend on who you played for and not how good you were. The Union held trial matches and in the last in January 1957 two former pupils of Ebbw Vale County Grammar School took part, Graham Powell (Ebbw Vale) and full-back Arthur Edwards (Army & London Welsh) already an international.
In those days clubs played on international match afternoons and on Saturday 6th April 1957 while we were playing Pontypridd, a match we won 6-3, there was a big game at Cardiff Arms Park where the Empire and Commonwealth Games would be staged the following year. In aid of the Empire Games Fund a Welsh team played an International XV full of great players including wings Arthur Smith (Scotland) and Tony O’Reilly (Ireland) and half-backs Jackie Kyle (Ireland) and Dickie Jeeps (England) all shining stars of their time.
The Welsh team won 17-16 and the Games fund received £13,000 from the gate takings which is worth £350,000 today. The Games were a great success, instead of rugby and greyhound racing some of the world’s greatest track and field athletes took over the Arms Park while nearby in the new Empire Pool swimmers played water polo, dived and generally made a splash. Wales’s only gold medal was won by bantamweight boxer Howard Winstone of Merthyr Tydfil and the Queen’s Baton was carried into the stadium by Ken Jones one of our greatest wings who had won a silver medal in the 1948 Olympics 4 x 100 metres relay.
Ebbw Vale was a busy town in the Fifties, a hive of heavy industry and the social life that went with it. Those who spoke Welsh eagerly awaited the National Eisteddfod which was coming to the town in 1958. Other visitors that year were the Duke of Edinburgh who had lunch with local big-wigs in Glyncoed School and the famous singer Paul Robeson who sang in the Eisteddfod but with respect to both it was rugby that made the headlines.
Our 1958/59 season began with a match against a Ken Jones International XV to mark the official opening of the ‘New Stand’ which in fact was an enclosure where people stood. It was behind our first clubhouse, which was opened by one of Wales’s greatest all-round sportsmen Wilfred Wooller who had played for Glamorgan many times on our ground.
Ken Jones’s XV included six Welsh, two English, one Irish and two Scottish internationals and they played a side captained by lock Malcolm Collins that included Ebbw Vale legends Graham Powell, Wilf Hunt, Roy Evans, Len Dimmick and Denzil Williams. We won 9-6, all tries, everyone was happy and Webbs Brewery in Aberbeeg announced a profit.
When the flags were stowed away for the next Royal visit and the Eisteddfod visitors stopped singing, the excitement was not over for rugby enthusiasts in Ebbw Vale which at that time meant almost every human from Beaufort to Cwm. The 1958/59 season was another successful one, we won 76% of our games and the last at home was rather special and another excuse for a party. We defeated Abertillery 9-6 and the new main gates were officially opened. Through those gates have walked the game’s greatest and generations of Ebbw Vale players who wore the jersey with pride and still do. The influence of captains has been apparent in the past ten seasons and now we have the first called Joe to lead us. He faces a challenge but at least will not have to face the ultimate responsibility, being captain on a Cornish tour.

THE TROPHY THAT DIDN’T MATTER AND THE CUP THAT DID
The late 1990s were eventful for Ebbw Vale and Welsh rugby generally. In 1998/9 there were only eight clubs in the Premiership so Head Office added more games by creating a Welsh Challenge Trophy and flew in teams from overseas to wintry Wales, not the ideal time of year for those from sunnier climes in South America and South Africa.
To say the competition, which only lasted two seasons, failed to fuel the imagination of the rugby public is the under-statement of the decade. It was even described as a Mickey Mouse event which was unfair to Mickey who never failed to please. Adding to the novelty was Ebbw Vale’s idea to create “a taste of first class rugby to a far wider audience in Western Gwent” by playing games at Cwmbran Stadium.
The first would be a Welsh Challenge Trophy game with Gauteng Falcons from South Africa and it was decided to play it at Cwmbran but unfortunately for that wider audience the Stadium pitch was unplayable and it was played at Eugene Cross Park after all. We won 25-19 and also beat Namibia, now a country that plays in the World Cup but at the time mere rugby fledglings as the result shows, we won 75-7.
The 1998 Five Nations results were a mixed bag for Wales; we beat Scotland at Wembley and Ireland in Dublin but, like the old Arms Park, were demolished at Twickenham 60-26 and 51-0 to France at Wembley. Following that, a below strength Wales went to South Africa and there was criticism of the eighteen frontline players who for some reason did not go, the end result being a 96-13 defeat by the ‘Boks. Four days before the Test match Wales lost 39-37 to the Gauteng Falcons eight of whom played at Ebbw Vale six months later.
In 1997/8 we played two memorable Cup games. After beating Cardiff 24-9 in the quarter-final we reached a semi-final everyone expected to be close, a Gwent Derby with Newport at Sardis Road. It didn’t turn out that way, Josh Taumalola at full-back set the tone with three tries, Lennie Woodard got two and Byron Hayward kicked 19 points. We won 44-10 and reached our first Cup Final but it was in England not Wales.
We faced regular Cup finalists Llanelli at Ashton Gate, Bristol and they fielded an almost complete international side but it was their prop Martyn Madden on loan from Penzance who decided the result with a try following an off-load by Rupert Moon. Llanelli won 19-12, Kingsley Jones commented “We had 70% of the ball but Llanelli took their chances.”
Despite losing we had played well and a reminder of our Cup squad shows how fortunate we were to have such a group – Siua Taumalolo; Alun Harries, Jonathan Hawker, John Funnel, Lennie Woodard; Byron Hayward, David Llewellyn; Alun Phillips, Leighton Phillips, Mike Wilson; Chay Billen, Kuli Faletau; Richie Collins, Mark Jones, Kingsley Jones (capt). Replacements – Jason Strange (for Jonathan Hawker) and Steve Jones (for Leighton Phillips).

THE COLLEGE THAT LAUNCHED RUGBY’S GREATS
The Duke of Wellington said the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. In Welsh rugby circles there are many who say international matches were won on the playing fields of Cyncoed. It was there that the talent flowed from Cardiff Training College, later renamed South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education, the University of Wales Institute Cardiff and now Cardiff Metropolitan University. It was in Cyncoed that some of Wales’s greatest rugby players served their apprenticeship coached by Leighton Davies who, on his recent death, was described as an unsung hero of Welsh rugby. His 1st XV had regular fixtures with the top sides in Wales and had great success in University rugby. Their annual game at Ebbw Vale was one of the highlights of our season.

Among the many past students at Cyncoed who were capped by Wales are Gareth Edwards who once played for the College against Ebbw Vale; a former Hafod-y-Ddol Grammar schoolboy David Nash; and one of the greatest Wales and Lions wings, John Bevan who, with J J Williams, was in the Cardiff Training College side that played at Ebbw Vale in September 1969. We won a fast moving game and scored eight tries, five by the forwards, but what impressed the crowd were three gems by John Bevan. Six years ago the successful Ebbw Fawr Learning Community Under 15s played Monmouth School at Eugene Cross Park and won 24-14. In our side were Joel Harries, Ethan Phillips and Dawid Rubasnaik and to complete a splendid evening John Bevan, Monmouth’s Director of Coaching, came with his team.

Rhys Shorney studied at Cyncoed and played for UWIC in a tough Division Two against the likes of Llandovery, Cross Keys, Pontypool, Abertillery and Maesteg. He scored 18 tries in 1996/7 and staged a one man assault on Abercynon who were beaten 37-34 thanks to a very late and third try by Rhys who then got three out of fifteen in the return game won by UWIC 85-14. He then joined Pontypridd and scored seven tries in a match against Aberavon and kept scoring when he moved to Ebbw Vale. Rhys graduated with a BSc in Physiotherapy and can be described as the club’s Head Physiotherapist but does this fully describe the duties and responsibility involved? When asked to suggest another title, someone close to the squad suggested Miracle Worker! Many players will agree with that.

Neil Robinson was another graduate of UWIC, a wing forward of merit who joined us in the 80s and captained the side for four seasons. After a long illness Neil died in April but will always be remembered by those he played with and club members who met and admired him as a player and a gentleman.

Dawid Rubasniak is now at Cardiff Met sixteen years after he came from Poland with his family to Ebbw Vale. He had never seen or heard of rugby until then but now the game has certainly heard of him. He started playing in Tredegar then attended Glyncoed School and Ebbw Fawr Learning Community where rugby was pre-dominant. He went through several age groups with the region, got his A levels and is studying for a Masters degree in Strength and Conditioning.

Dawid first played for Ebbw Vale in the Foster’s Challenge Cup and after playing Sevens for Poland was capped to play against the Netherlands who won 7-6, a result which would have been reversed if our Addicts had been there to support him. We have had a Dutch international, many South Seas Islanders, Kiwis and South Africans two of whom became Springboks, but Dawid is the first Pole to become a Steelman. ‘Dobra roboto Dawid.’

MAKING THE RIGHT MOVES
This a tale of two players of different eras who will be remembered not only for their brilliance as players but also for moves they created and which were named after them. One reached the summit of the game and became a Lion and captained Wales, a centre whose perfectly timed passes set up tries, and the other scored more tries from lineouts than anyone else ever has or possibly will.
Arthur Lewis was a world class centre and what became known as the ‘Arthur’ move was a class act. It began with his perfectly timed pass to full-back Mostyn Richards coming through at speed who fed wing Neil Collins who invariably scored a try. It was perfectly performed at Swansea in March 1976 when we played Llanelli in our first Cup semi-final. There was only one article in the programme but it was written by Carwyn James, the best coach Wales never had, and entitled “An Appreciation of Arthur Lewis”. He had coached Arthur on the 1971 Lions tour and wrote of him that he has “the ability to impart those little touches which is the making of a back division.

We lost 10-4 against a side with Phil Bennett, JJ Williams, Derek Quinnell, Phil May and other notables in it but even they couldn’t handle the ‘Arthur’ move as described by John Billot:
“A 20,000 crowd saw Ebbw Vale steal the lead with a try by wing Neil Collins following probing approach work by centre Arthur Lewis and full-back Mostyn Richards.”
Six months later, at Netherdale inthe Scottish borders, the move out-witted Gala in our 33-12 win and the report in the local paper was headed “Richards Rips Gala Apart”.

Many years later we benefited from another ‘move’, not involving the backs but the lineout, a set piece Bill McLaren once described as ‘a den of iniquity’. In the four seasons we were in the 1st Division and the Championship we only lost eight League games and continued our lineout supremacy in the Premiership thanks to Ashley Sweet who not only dominated opponents but forced them into early retirement. England and New Zealand benefited from ‘pouncers’ like Neil Back and Richie McCaw, and Ronny Kynes did the same job for us so often that the move was called the “Catch’n’Kynes”. It all depended on an accurate throw-in, which cannot be guaranteed even at the highest level; the 2005 Lions lost eight of their throws in the first Test in New Zealand! Wings once did the job, then French scrum-halves tried it but since the 70s hookers have taken it on. Some have added captaincy to hooking and throwing, Rory Best of Ulster and Ireland is the most famous in recent years and next season Joe Franchi will be another, a pharmacist off the field and, as Ashley Sweet has said, a ‘hell of a leader’ on it.
One throw-in by an Ebbw Vale hooker will never be forgotten. On the 6th February 1988 at Twickenham, Ian Watkins won the first of his ten caps when he replaced Kevin Phillips and immediately had to throw in at a lineout. Ian, as cool as if he was training on Cae Canol, picked up the ball, threw it accurately to Robert Norster and began a partnership Wales thrived on. It is no coincidence that both were born in Ebbw Vale. Wales won 11-3 then beat Scotland and Ireland to win their first Triple Crown since 1979. Ian, who scored a try in the Scottish match, settled down quickly to international rugby but it was a tough baptism. He went head to head in the England match with Brian Moore, alias the Pit-bull and, four Welsh games later in New Zealand, went face to face with Sean Fitzpatrick!

A TASTE OF SCOTCH (14/04/20)
The 2019/2020 season was to end for six Welsh Premiership clubs with a Cross Border competition against six of Scotland’s ‘elite,’ an end-of-season adventure rather different to the fondly remembered Cornwall tours of pre-League days. The first Scottish side we would have played at Ebbw Vale were the Southern Knights alias Melrose where in 1883 a butcher’s apprentice named Ned Haig raising funds for the club suggested that a tournament with only seven players in each team would attract a crowd. It did, Sevens rugby began, Ned got the credit and went back to selling haggis never dreaming he would be famous one day.
Regarded as the pioneer of Sevens Ned’s name was added to the Scottish Rugby Hall of Fame ten years ago along with Scottish greats Sandy Carmichael, Andy Irvine, Finlay Calder, Gavin Hastings, Ian McGeechan, Gordon Brown and Bill McLaren the greatest rugby commentator whose roots were in Hawick in the Borders.
Bill spent the evening before a televised match studying every detail of the players and the number of caps they had. Comparing player’s records in Bill’s day to those of today can be misleading because there are many more international matches now. Denzil Williams of Ebbw Vale played thirty-six times for Wales and Jim Telfer of Melrose twenty-five for Scotland, today a hundred appearances is not unusual.
The last Scottish side we played was in 2002 when a short lived competition called the Celtic League brought Edinburgh here but the last Scottish club we entertained was Watsonians who toured in South Wales over Christmas as a warm-up for the more strenuous Hogmanay at home. Never has Highland dancing rocked so much and never did it take so long to recover after they left. Thankfully they didn’t bring their bagpipes, an inspiring instrument but not when blowing reveille.
The other two Scottish sides due to play at Ebbw Vale were the Ayreshire Bulls and the more famous Heriots who produced two full-backs of note. Ken Scotland, one of the first attacking full-backs, played 27 times for Scotland and Andy Irvine who surely is Scottish rugby’s greatest. He played 51 times for his country fifteen as captain, played on three Lions tour, managed another and ended as President of the Scottish Rugby Union. And it all began in a little town in the Borders.
Three Scottish internationals have represented Welsh clubs, the one we still remember with pride is of course a wing described by Bill McLaren as the Flying Scotsman, Arthur Smith. In March 1960 Wales with eight Gwent based players, beat Scotland 8-0. To our delight the Scottish side were captained by A.R. Smith (Ebbw Vale). In the 20s a GP at the top of the Western Valley, Dr Earnest Fahmy represented Abertillery in the Scottish team and between 1969 and 1977 flanker Wilson Lauder of Neath played eighteen times for the Scots twice marking his club mate Dai Morris but never catching him.
When the Cross Borders tournament was announced a friend in Edinburgh said how pleased he was that we were involved as “Ebbw Vale is highly thought of in Scotland because it was Arthur Smith’s club.” We didn’t know that did we? But it’s something to be proud of.

A PAST UNSIGHED FOR AND THE FUTURE ASSURED (07/04/20)
The words of Wordsworth are fitting when reading Greg Woods’ report on the 2019/20 season for it is more than a summary of what happened, or could have happened, it is a timely reminder of where we stand, what has been achieved and our duty to the club. Hisreport was optimistic and above all honest and just what we needed at this worrying time. Greg also rightly praised our back room and medical staff the latter now engaged on a more important task. He looks ahead as we should all do for rugby will return and we must be ready for it.

He ended his report on a bright and positive note when he announced that the first fixture next season (“whenever that will be”) will be a celebration/testimonial match between a Ross Jones XV and a Rob Sevenoaks XV, a perfect opener to a new era. What a good idea, well done that man!

It’s a long time since we had one of those special matches and by sheer coincidence, believe it or not and most readers will not, while isolated and wishing I had kept my Meccano Set, I sorted out a mass of match programmes and came across one for Monday 11th April 1960 for a Past versus Present game. It was played as season 1959/60 was drawing to a splendid finale for we finished top of the Welsh Club Championship with 32 wins, 2 draws and seven defeats, an average of 82.93%.

The Past XV was Ieuan Sheen; John Pugh, Harry Morgan, Graham Powell, Dave Richards; Ernie Lewis, Jack Lawrence; Islwyn Williams, Albie Jackson, Len Coldrick; Malcolm Collins, Ben Edwards; Horace Matthews, Eric Finney and Gwyn Griffiths.

The Present XV was Tommy Carpenter; Mel Williams, Dave Barrett, Ray Knott, Arthur Smith; Wilf Hunt, Roy Evans; Len Dimmick, Martin Preece, Des Winters; Len Harries, John Herrera; Graham Jones, David Nash, Francis Matthews.

Some of the Past side had joined other clubs but all of them had retained their fitness and enthusiasm. The Present XV won 16-6 not that the result mattered, but with a Scottish wing who two years later was Lions captain and a galaxy of local heroes on view the big crowd enjoyed a treat.

There will be a similar atmosphere when Ross and Rob lead their teams out but there is a question, have they ever scrummaged against each other before? Answers on a Webbs beer mat please.

RUPERT OVER THE MOON PLAYING FOR WALES
Extract from RGC programme, 07/03/20
The thoughts of the multitude who “support” Welsh rugby via television are centred on Twickenham today but real rugby folk who support, administer, coach and playfor clubs like ours will focus on a game on their own patch. We play RGC 1404 for the tenth time, the firstwas in 2013/14, a great season ending in promotion and a 96% success rate.

Rupert Moon was there to greet us when we first played at Parc Eirias in September 2013. We knew him as scrum-half for Llanelli and Wales and before reaching those heights when he and his brother came from the Midlands to study in Wales and play for our neighboursAbertillery.

He played 24 times for Wales and made his international debut in 1993 in Paris, a sad afternoon that ended with France winning the Championship and Wales the Wooden Spoon. There followed a string of games in Africa, North America, Japan and Polynesia as well as the Home Nations playing opposite world greats like Joost van der Westhuizen in Johannesburg, relishing the 1995 Championship won by Wales but experiencing the downs as well as the ups in Welsh teams that lost to Canada and Western Samoa.

The 1994 England v Wales game at Twickers was won by England but we received the Championship trophy from the Queen which rather dampened English celebrations. The English scrum-half was Dewi Morris a Welshman and opposing him was Rupert Moon an Englishmen. It was the 100th game between us, today will be the 135th, England having won 63, Wales 59 with twelve drawn.

For sheer enjoyment trips to Edinburgh, Dublin and Paris take some beating whatever the result but Twickenham is about winning. We were used to Wales v England contests at club level and those at Gloucester were the hardest. In 1985 and 1986 we re-balanced the fixture list and went to Kingsholm two years running and won both games which shocked The Shed leading a Gloucester official to say “to us it’s Wales versus England.”

Wales faced an England team at Twickers in January 1950 that contained seven from the Commonwealth studying at Oxford and Cambridge in a game we described as Wales v The United Nations. Under the captaincy of John Gwilliam and with the genius of Lewis Jones we won and went on to win our first Grand Slam since 1911.

Touch-judges were not neutral in those days and the Irish game was decided by one. Malcolm Thomas went over in the corner but was he in touch when he grounded the ball? The Scots referee Beattie consulted the touch-judge who said he was not, the try was awarded and Wales beat Ireland 6-3. The touch-judge bless him was Irish. Losers didn’t whinge in those days, they made no excuses and didn’t publicly criticise referees. Top flight rugby football was a sport in every sense of the word, thankfully it still is – at club level!

TWO GAMES WORTH REMEMBERING
Extract from Pontypridd programme 18/01/20
When we played Pontypridd in September 2000 we were beginning a season of three competitions, a Welsh/Scottish League including games with Edinburgh and Glasgow and the European Shield playing Dax, Harlequins and Perigueux but it was the traditional fixtures with Welsh clubs that still counted and drew the crowds. The first of them that season was at home to Pontypridd when a star-studded cast performed before a large audience.
The Ebbw Vale side was Jonathan Williams; Rhys Shorney, Stephen John, Jonathan Hawker, Andrew Wagstaff; Jason Strange, Richard Smith; Iestyn Thomas, Andrew Peacock, Andrew Metcalfe; Chay Billen, Deiniol Jones; Gareth Green. Tyron Morris, Mark Jones (captain). Replacements were Damien Pensini, Glyn Llewellyn, Alun Phillips, Shaun Connor, Gareth Betts, Rhys Potter and the famous all-rounder A.N.Other.
Pontypridd won 32-23 and fielded Brett Davey; Craig Williams, Sonny Parker, Jason Lewis, Lenny Woodard; Ceri Sweeney, Paul John (captain); Nalu Tau, Faoe Vunipola, Sven Cronk; Brent Cockbain, Robert Sidoli; Matthew Lloyd, Richard Parks, Dale McIntosh. On their bench were Richard Neville, Lee Jarvis, Chris Loader, Ion Evans, Paul Graham, Michael Owen, Gareth Rowlands, John Bryant.
The programme (price £1.50 as it is today) paid tribute to our out-going coach Leigh Jones and his successor Mike Ruddock and the previous season was recalled in which we lost by one point to London Irish in a Shield semi-final and by twelve to Llanelli in the Welsh Cup semi-final. The team list in the programme was a Whos’ Who of Welsh rugby at the time.
One of the most dramatic and exciting games between our clubs was in March 2013 when we were in the Championship. After beating Newbridge 27-5 in the Cup we won at Cardiff 16-13 and were drawn home to Ponty for a contest headlined as a “Tale of Two Tables” played before the biggest crowd of the season.
The Ebbw Vale team was Charlie Simpson; Wes Cunliffe, Polu Uhi. Adam Jones, Luke Davies; Josh Lewis, Dai Jones; Ross Jones, Matthew Williams, Robert Sevenoaks; Damien Hudd (captain), Ashley Sweet; Gareth Williams, Ronny Kynes, Spencer Gibson. Replacements – John Lavender, Jonny Bowen, Rhys Clark, Cameron Regan, Chris Thomas, Dan Haymond and Dan Ajuwa.
The Pontyoridd side was Gareth Wyatt; Owen Williams, Gavin Dacey, Dafydd Lockyear, Matthew Nuthall; Simon Humberstone, Gareth James; Chris Phillips, Huw Dowden, Keiron Jenkins; Craig Locke, Chris Dicomidis (captain); Jake Thomas, Wayne O’Connor, Dan Godfrey. Replacements – Joel Raikes, Dai Flanagan, Gary Williams, Bradley Thyer, Tom Hetherington, Ed Siggery, Scott Roberts, Stuart Williams.
A late try in the corner by the Ponty skipper was converted by Dai Flanagan and Ponty won 23-21. After the thriller Ponty coach Dale Mackintosh was made Freeman of the Borough when he said “I have a huge respect for Ebbw Vale’s tradition and for them as people – they belong up in the Premiership – there’s no doubt about it”. Two seasons later jwe were back where we belonged and in April 2016 won the most important Ebbw v Ponty game of all after which with thirsts temporarily quenched we headed up the A470 as Premier champions.>/p>

TOBY, CARL AND A PROP CALLED OKEY
Extract from Merthyr Programme 03/01/20
South Wales is the heartland of Welsh rugby, always was and always will be. It’s packed with clubs and players who haven’t got far to travel when they change colours and are welcomed back as opponents. Toby Fricker went a little further and crossed the Severn to play for Bristol with our best wishes mixed with disappointment to lose such a player. In his first season with us he won the Welsh Premiership Best Newcomer Award for 2018 which combined with being seen on BBC Wales Friday night games aroused interest in his home city.
Bristol were promoted and have settled well in the Gallagher Premiership with Toby making the big jump from Welsh to English Premiership successfully. He’s now a Bear in a world of Saracens, Tigers, Wasps, Sharks, Chiefs, Saints, Warriors and Quins where every game counts and even international players have to fight for their place. Bristol coach Pat Lam described Toby as “a young Englishman with a positive attitude and a desire to learn” but with a father from Builth Wells and Welsh 7s and Welsh Premiership experience he would fit into a future Wales squad quite comfortably.
Carl Meyer, a back who regularly kicked goals from his own half, made a journey into the unknown when he left Pietermaritzburg and ended up in Pontygof but he quickly settled down and won games for us. Spotted by the Dragons he went south came back to us for a while but last year went west to a city famous for bourbon, Cajun chicken and, literally, all that jazz – New Orleans. Promoting rugby in the US needs experienced players and Carl has plenty of that.
South Africa has produced some great kickers, Percy Montgomery is just one, but hidden away in the list of Springboks is another ace kicker, Okey Geffin of Transvaal a prop forward who came to these shores with the 1951/2 Springboks who are still regarded as the most popular and adventurous side to come from the Republic.
Geffin volunteered for the South African army in the Second World War, fought in the Western Desert and was captured at Tobruk which must have been a problem for his captors. A prop as strong as all Springboks were and are, he kicked five penalty goals against New Zealand to win a Test match in 1949 and kicked 89 points on the 4th Springboks tour to the British Isles and France. They only lost one game but met stern opposition, especially in Wales. Playing against a determined Swansea his kicks won the game but one was bizarre, the ball hit one upright then the other then the crossbar before it went over.
Prop Geffin kicked goals and in recent times so has hooker Matthew Dwyer, a serving Welsh Guards sergeant who has hooked for Merthyr and captained The Army team successfully in the Inter-Services Tournament before a full house at Twickenham. Last season he converted two tries and kicked a penalty goal which sank the Navy and according to a match report having done so turned away “with a smile as big as a Cheshire cat.” A hooker kicking goals is unusual but a sergeant smiling is unbelievable.

THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Extract from the Bridgend programme 14/12/19
There is a vast army of volunteers whose devotion to their clubs is crucial, for without those prepared to give much of their time to undertake tasks pleasant or otherwise, clubs would cease to exist and with them the game nationally. Bridgend have an honours board of such people, among them Durbar Lawrie who was Club Secretary for more than forty years and Derrick King, chairman for 26 years who died in September and, like Durbar, was greatly respected throughout the game. To paraphrase a comment made by a US President speaking of his country, they didn’t ask what their club could do for them but what they could do for their club. Happily there are still many like them.
After today we will be away until January during which time we will send Christmas cards to neighbours we see every day and generally eat, drink and feel anything but merry next morning. At least we have short journeys over the Festive season unlike 1999 when we went to freezing Bucharest and won 43-27 and ten years later when we went north for a Cup tie at Llandudno ruining their Christmas by winning 79-3.
Rugby at Christmas and New Year once meant local games with Abertillery and Tredegar, more Grand Nationals than Derbies, with plenty of obstacles to face and hurdles to jump. We played Tredegar on New Year’s Day which was not as daft as our predecessors who in 1925 played at Aberavon on Christmas Day which shocked the chapels and upset entire families.
Travel in the 40s and 50s wasn’t too bad but in the 1920s it was an adventure for club supporters to even follow their team to Tredegar. On the 23rd December 1922 Ebbw Vale players went like pilgrims to the source of the game – Rugby – and won 8-3 but the Christmas Eve game that will always be remembered by those who endured it was in 1960 and Newport were the visitors.
The ground was packed, thousands filled the terrace and the Great Western Railway brought Newport supporters to the Ebbw Vale station a few minutes walk away. We led 3-0 for most of the game but in the closing minutes the Newport wing forward Brian Creswell crossed for a try in the corner. It was then that Christmas lost its merriment, Norman Morgan the Newport full-back who worked in Ebbw Vale steelworks converted and the visitors won 5-3. Newport supporters had received their Christmas present, Ebbw Valians stopped believing in Santa Claus.
I’m not dreaming of a white Christmas like the ones we used to know, I don’t want the trees to glisten or hear sleigh bells in the snow. May everyone’s Christmas be bright and may the New Year be good for both clubs who take the stage today. But no last minute dramas please!

WHEN CLUBS SUSTAINED WELSH RUGBY
Extract from Seansea programme 07/12/19
On Saturday April 12th 1997 crowds emerged from pubs around Westgate Street in Cardiff and headed to the Arms Park for a rugby treat, a Swalec Cup semi-final between Swansea and Ebbw Vale. They would see top players, some internationals, those who would be and others who should be, which was normal when clubs were the final stepping stones to the Welsh team. Added interest to Ebbw Valians was that both coaches Mike Ruddock and Leigh Jones were from the top of Gwent’s Western Valley.
The Swansea side was Matthew Back; Warren Leech, Mark Taylor, Scott Gibbs, Simon Davies; Aled Williams, Andrew Booth; Ian Buckett, Garin Jenkins (captain), Stuart Evans; Steve Moore, Paul Arnold; Allan Reynolds, Stuart Davies, Rob Appleyard. Replacements – Keith Colclough, Euros Evans, Danzi Niblo, Dean Thomas, Rhodri Jones, Lee Davies.
Ebbw Vale fielded Alun Harries; Ian Jeffreys, Jonathan Hawker, Mike Boys, Sean Marshall; Byron Hayward, David Llewellyn; Alun Phillips, Steve Jones, Duncan Bell; Chay Billen, Jason Lillas; Ben Watkins, Mark Jones, Kingsley Jones (captain). Replacements – Andrew Lamerton, Lee Banks, Gareth Bisp, Dean Jones, John Williams, Cain Price. A great game needed a great referee and we had one – Derek Bevan.
In the 1996/7 quarter finals Swansea won at The Gnoll 32-24 and we beat Bridgend at home 17-16 thanks to four penalty goals by Byron Hayward and a try by hooker Steve “Spike” Jones. A head to head contest between Spike and the Swansea captain Garin Jenkins in the semi-final was worth the entrance money alone and the battle of the minds between the coaches added to the drama. Swansea won 26-15 but lost in the final to Cardiff.
A few weeks earlier the last international on the Arms Park was played and Wales moved temporarily to Wembley Stadium. It was there that one of the greatest Welsh and Lions centres Scott Gibbs scored a famous try, one only he could have scored. In the words of writer and rugby historian Howard Evans, “The ball reached Scott Gibbs, or possibly ‘Gibsy’ reached the ball. He danced better than either Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly and was over amidst titanic roars.” And where did the great Gibbs develop into one of the best in the world? A club.
Blaina, just over the mountain, has produced great players and coaches like Mike Ruddock and now adds a very promising referee whose father is Shaun Connor. Two weeks ago while we were revelling in Colwyn Bay 16 year old Ben refereed a 2nd XV game at Brecon and left a strong impression. Derek Bevan who came from Clydach and Nigel Owens from Mynyddcerrig both refereed World Cup Finals, perhaps one day Ben Connor from Blaina will too.

CUPS GALORE
Extract from Ebbw Vale v Carmarthen programme, 16/11/19
As usual clubs played friendlies in August and in Rugby World Cup year the competing nations trained in camps to test players physically and mentally in harsh surroundings. Our warm-ups were not quite as energetic or mind-challenging, in August we made short journeys to Blaenavon and Nantyglo and a longer one to Brixham where our lads did not repeat their last visit when they camped like boy scouts, a wise decision because being townies the art of pitching tents is beyond them. We went to Devon, Wales went to Switzerland, a country famous for many things like finance, cuckoo clocks, chocolate,watches, Federer, trains that run on time and yodelling but not rugby football. They do have mountains, some even bigger than Domen Fawr, and it was on them that the Welsh squad went through ordeals mentally and physically. The operation was described as “beautiful but brutal,” there was no respite or St. Bernard Dogs carrying mini barrels of brandy to come to the aid of panting props and breathless backs who responded so well they could have won a game on Mount Fuji. Wales also trained in Turkey a country tourists find delightful and the result of all the planning, preparation and playing was a well deserved fourth place in the toughest World Cup ever. Never in the field of sporting conflict have there been more World Cups than in 2019. Men, women, young and middle-aged flew thousands of miles to compete, the rich and officials of the various Unions swelled the coffers of hotels and airlines while the vast majority stayed at home and sensibly recorded games so they could skip adverts and depending on who was on them panels of pundits pontificating prolifically.
It seemed at times as if every sport except dominoes and draughts was staging a World Cup tournament culminating in exciting finals. The Rugby World Cup is named after a junior at Rugby School, an establishment still recovering from former pupils William Webb Ellis and our club president Mark Powell. The 2019 Rugby World Cup was above all a triumph for Japan, whose defeat of the Springboks four years before was engineered by two Jones boys, Eddie once coach of Australia and Leigh once coach of Ebbw Vale.
Last season we defeated Quins twice and lost once and finished in the Premiership top six which qualified us to play in next Spring’s Welsh-Scottish club competition will take us across two borders into a land renowned for haggis, malt whisky and late nights. The last time we played in Scotland was April 2002 in the short lived Welsh-Scottish League when we lost to Edinburgh 31-49 but returned unscathed and determined to do better next time. That will be May 2nd when we return to the Scottish capital to play old friends Watsonians. Haggis and Scotch for breakfast anyone?

AS TIMES GOES BY
Extract from Ebbw Vale v Llanelli programme 26/10/19
You must remember this, tonight is the time for watches and clocks large and small to be put back an hour. Pity the man in charge of Big Ben, the nation’s premier time-piece that has dominated London even longer than rugby has dominated South Wales. When Llanelli were here last season this column related Wales’s 12th international played at Stradey Parc in 1887 but this time we only go back eleven years to November 2008 when the team I still call the Scarlets played here.
The match programme included a spotlight on our 19 year old full-back David Gareth Langdon in his seventh game of the season who when asked his nickname said it was Dai. He modestly mentioned playing for Wales Under 16s, 18s and the Under 19s in a World Cup and the player he most admired was Dan Carter. Nothing unusual so far until when asked his favourite meal he chose spaghetti bolognese and his favourite drink was – strawberry milkshake!
Having survived the comments, some unprintable, in the dressing room when his mates read the programme Dai played full-back against Llanelli behind three-quarters Andrew MacLaughlan, captain Kristian Owen, Shaun Powell and Andrew Bevan. Strangely the game was played on a Tuesday evening but the long journey for Llanelli did not upset them, they won and also the return the following February. Rather disappointing after we had won both fixtures in the previous season.
The tales of games between Ebbw Vale and Llanelli are full of adventurous moves and spectacular tries but one game in April 1957 remains in the memory of the few survivors who saw it. After a Five Nations in which Wales scored just five tries we defeated ‘Llanelly’ 26-3 thus getting the double having won the game at Stradey Parc 5-0 in September 1956. No-one expected us to win even at home by such a margin in an era when scoreboard operators were under-worked and it was the manner in which we did it that was unusual because our three tries came from cross kicks FROM the wings. Nowadays crosskicks are TO the wings.
Like all clubs Llanelli have veterans who talk about the good old days and very late nights when beer was half a crown a pint and no-one slept on tour. There will be a few here today and they have good memories of times past, like the evening game at Stradey when after sampling the best Felinfoel brew we left the Club Secretary behind!
An eventful Rugby World Cup ends a week today, weather permitting the next will be held in France and millions will watch it from armchairs and clubhouse bars. They will be kept well informed by what are now called pundit teams, in other words former rugby greats whose words of wisdom explain things to us. It’s a serious business but so was Bill McLaren’s era yet he made us chuckle many times. One of the hardest, roughest and most unpleasant games he covered was Wales v England in March 1987 at the Arms Park during which Bill described the lineout as a den of iniquity!

STEELMEN, DROVERS, ROMANS AND NIGEL
From Ebbw Vale v Llandovery programme,12/10/19
We first played Llandovery in the 1992/3 season when we were in Division Two and snatched a valuable away win 6-3 thanks to a very late drop goal by Jason Strange. Since then honours are about even in thirty-four League and Cup games between us. In 2015/16 we played the Drovers four times, once in the Cup, the first Premiership game when we suffered a hammering at Church Bank 50-0 and the fourth when we returned for a semi-final play-off which we won 20-16. A week later we beat Pontypridd 38-12 on their own ground and became Premier champions.
The 1992/3 season was a poor one for Wales, we beat England but lost the other Five Nations games leaving us with the Wooden Spoon. The touring Aussies beat Wales comfortably, understandably as they had world greats in their backs like Tim Horan and David Campese. A few days later they comfortably defeated Monmouthshire at Ebbw Vale watched by a big crowd that included Campese who spent the afternoon signing autographs.
Welsh Schools and Youth rugby was still strong in 92/3 and we staged a much better and far more entertaining game when Welsh Schools played Ireland who won 8-0 thus ending Wales’s hopes of a Triple Crown. In the Welsh pack was a young lad born, raised and nurtured in a rugby family, Craig Quinnell representing Llandovery College.
Wales’s first international match was played at Blackheath in February 1881. The captain James Bevan, a Cambridge Blue, was born in Australia and lived in Grosmont near Abergavenny and had to suffer a thirteen try defeat. It was Bevan’s first and last outing as captain, he was replaced by full-back Charles Lewis of Llandovery College an establishment that produced many great players in the formative years of the game in Wales.
Since medieval times a hardy breed of men from places like Llandovery drove livestock to markets in England on established routes, one taking them to south east London where in 1858 the first open rugby club was formed in Blackheath. Resting after their march the drovers might have seen a strange game and brought home news of men engaged in legalised mayhem, scrambling for possession of an oddly shaped ball to throw around, as well as opponents, after which everyone shook hands, changed in the adjoining Princess of Wales pub and stayed until stop tap.
In Japan another hardy breed of men are battling for the 2019 Rugby World Cup named after William Webb Ellis who in Rugby School picked up a ball and ran with it. He was not the first to do so, the Romans were doing that long before except the ‘ball’ was often an opponent’s head. They called it Harpastum and also played Soule which involved fighting, strangling and head breaking, a contest not even Nigel Owens could handle. On second thoughts if Nigel can control New Zealand v South Africa and a West Wales village Derby he would have shown Roman invaders in places like Caerleon that when in Wales you do what Nigel says.
Footnote. With end of season fixtures against Scottish clubs in mind it was very pleasing to hear from an acquaintance in Edinburgh that “Ebbw Vale has a great name in Scottish rugby circles, having been Arthur Smith’s team.” Arthur Smith came to Ebbw Vale to work in the steelworks after gaining a degree in Mathematics at Glasgow University and a Ph.D and four Blues at Cambridge. He captained Scotland and the 1962 Lions in South Africa and was described by Bill Mclaren as the Flying Scotsman, a legend in Scotland – and Ebbw Vale.

FARMERS GO FACE TO FACE
From Ebbw Vale v Narberth programme,14/09/19
In 1982/3 Narberth celebrated their centenary with a Pembrokeshire Cup and championship double and made a strong challenge in the Schweppes Cup, an unlikely title for a competition in a sport closely linked to beer. In the first round Narberth travelled east to Rhymney, famous for rugby and a brewery, and won 22-0. Meanwhile we were home to Ystradgynlais, tough nuts to crack but we won 18-9. Then in December we headed west for our fourth Cup tie in Pembrokeshire this time to Narberth a club we got to know well.
To quote the 1983 Rugby Annual of Wales “Ebbw Vale have experienced some worrying visits to West Wales and once again they encountered the perils of the west as Narberth snatched the lead three times with penalty goals by Geraint Bowen.” But we survived through a try by prop Malcolm Sibthorpe which amazed the Brylcreem boys in the backs. Stuart Lewis converted and added two penalty goals in a close encounter which would have been easier had Des Parry not let the backs down when he lost control of the ball over the Narberth line.
In the Narberth front-row was a young farmer and prop listed in the programme as B. Williams, and opposite him was Colin Williams another farmer from Deri. The ‘B’ was Brian who went on to play for a Neath side that was almost unbeatable and for a Welsh side that rarely beat anybody. Described as being tough as teak, Brian was an outstanding prop forward respected by all who opposed him. Colin Williams, still farming in Deri, remembers his first encounter with Brian and others that followed when Ebbw played Neath and the farmers went face to face.
It was the beginning of a happy relationship with Narberth who were in better form than we were in our first League encounters in 1992/3, beating us soundly home and away 22-9 and 18-10. We then got our act together and won the next seven. Our final game in the 2013/14 season was at Narberth and we travelled there with promotion to the Premiership in the bag and an undefeated run in the Championship at stake.Narberth is not the ground to go to feeling over-confident but the welcome was warm and the home players clapped us on the field which was a nice touch. We were in celebratory mood, Narberth were in winning mood and we suffered our only league defeat of the season, 29-10.
We haven’t played Narberth since and we don’t have a farmer in the pack but thanks to the Cup we meet again today in a competition full of surprises and more banana skins than they have in Tescos. We must be in ‘Cup’ mood as we were two seasons ago when we lost a semi-final to eventual winners Merthyr 6-10 and last season when we lost to them 9-10.
Welcome Narberth, it’s nice to have you back.

CURTAIN UP
From Ebbw Vale v Newport programme, 07/09/19
After a summer of casting, rehearsing and out of town trial runs the curtain rises on another different Premiership planned to end early in April to accommodate a competition with Scottish clubs. When we played in Scotland we travelled by coach which on one occasion broke down twice going to Galashiels and once coming back near Garnlydan. Next Spring twelve Welsh and Scottish squads and supporting staff are set to travel by air, a faster and more comfortable way to get there but much more expensive.
We await details of this unusual and adventurous addition to the fixture list with some apprehension but we have a lot to do before S-Day beginning with the perfect start, a home game against Newport the only other Gwent side in the Premiership. It’s an important fixture and an opportunity, some will say excuse, to recall games and players of yesteryear.
A newcomer to our squad, Carl Sully, has joined from Pill Harriers a club that produced a father and son who hooked for Wales. George Travers won 25 caps before World War One and William ‘Bunner’ Travers a Lion in South Africa in 1938 was capped before and after World War Two, one of only four Welsh players to do so. Despite the war a lot of rugby was played and Bunner played for The Army and Welsh XVs in international charity matches.
George was in the Welsh team that beat the 1905 All-Blacks 3-0, the first of only three victories over them in over a hundred years of trying. Late in his career he joined Newport having played 23 of his 25 games for Wales as a Pill Harrier a club we have played five times, the last in the 1985/6 Cup which we won 27-8, outside-half Colin Watkins contributing 19 points. Our other games with Pill Harriers were in the 1920s a win each and two draws and only thirty nine points scored. Not very exciting for players and spectators but what else was there to do on Saturday afternoons in the Twenties?
George Travers played in a team that beat a major touring side and many years later another Newport international, Brian Jones, had the same experience not once but THREE times. He was in Newport teams that beat Australia in 1957 and New Zealand in 1963 and the Barbarians XV that inflicted the only defeat on the 1961 South Africans who had scraped 3-0 wins over the combined Ebbw Vale & Abertillery side and Newport captained by – Brian Jones!
Brian was here for last season’s game with Newport who won 27-20 after trailing 17-3, a fair result which was reversed later in the season at Rodney Parade where decades before Brian had seen his team-mate John Uzzell drop the goal to beat the All-Blacks. Last March before a much smaller crowd Ebbw’s Rhys Jones dropped one to defeat Newport 31-29 following which the referee ended proceedings and supporters recovered in the customary manner.

REL’S LAST THIS SEASON
NEVER EASY AT THE GNOLL
Extracted from the Neath programme 27-Apr-19
When leagues changed everything in 1990/1 our Merit Table record in the previous three seasons put us in Division Two while Neath were in Division One. Throughout the 80s our results had been poor especially against Neath who we only beat three times and by narrow margins, 4-3 and 18-16 at The Gnoll and 6-3 at home. But not all games with Neath have been close, like one at the Gnoll in November 1956 when we found ourselves committed to two games on the same Saturday.
The side we sent to the Gnoll had only one 1st XV player in it, lock Ron Morgan, and we were beaten 36-6, a heavy defeat at the time. Neath’s wing Keith Maddocks scored six tries and as a result was picked for Wales to play England the following Saturday. In an uneventful game he was judged by the Scottish referee to be offside, England kicked the penalty, won 3-0 and Maddocks didn’t play for Wales again. It would have been fairer if the Welsh selectors had been dropped not him.
The 6-3 win over Neath in March 1984 came a few days after we suffered a rare defeat at South Glamorgan Institute when a young full-back named Paul Thorburn of Hereford Cathedral School made his debut for us kicking four out of five attempts at goal. Two games later he kicked the two penalty goals that beat Neath who he joined the following season. Paul played 37 games for Wales and was one of the few Welsh world class players of the 80s. In 1987 the first World Cup was won by the host country New Zealand. Wales did well and defeatedAustralia in the third place play-off 22-21 thanks to a brilliant touchline conversion by Paul of a 79th minute try by Adrian Hadley. It was not unusual for Paul, a year before he had kicked a goal from 70 yards and eight inches against Scotland.
Among the few English players who joined Welsh clubs wasAlex Codling who went to the Gnoll. He had played for Harlequins and once for England and became rugby’s version of a lifeboat when Marcus Russell brought him to Ebbw Vale at the end of the 2005/06 season as coach. Our ship was sinking, at the end of March we had played 24 Premiership games, losing 16, drawing two and winning six. In April and May we won four out of seven and were rescued.
In 2006/7 Alex made us challengers for the title with 16 league wins, three drawn and seven lost, one by two points against Cardiff, the difference being the inclusion in the Cardiff side of Welsh international Andy Powell. As a result of that we finished runners-up to Neath, but joy was short lived when Alex moved back to England and three years later we were relegated.
The most suitable lyric for our last home game is, “The party’s over, it’s time to call it a day” from the musical Bells Are Ringing. If ever an Ebbw Vale squad deserves the ringing of bells it’s Greg’s Gang. Go back to the first home game which began as a tear-jerker but ended in triumph and a sign of things to come. We were 17-0 down to Aberavon and not even the inimitable Phil Steele could make us smile but there was a happy ending when our new scoreboard finally registered 19-17. Other close calls followed, wins by one or two points that brought relief, smiles and points in a season when they were as valuable as gold.
Thanks for more smiles than tears lads and enjoy your party tonight, you won’t call it a day until tomorrow.

MORE THRILLS THAN SPILLS
Extracted from the Bedwas programme 20-Apr-19
After a winter of content we can describe 2018/19 as a season of more thrills than spills and narrow wins which neutral TV viewers enjoyed but which shattered the nerves of supporters. It has been a season of hard fought League and Cup games, almost every encounter was of the close kind as so much was at stake in a Premiership that was more competitive than ever.
The Premiership consisted of sixteen clubs, twice as many as 1997/8 when there were only Swansea (46 points) who finished top followed by Cardiff (40), Pontypridd (35), Ebbw Vale (27), Neath (23), Llanelli (22), Bridgend (12) and Newport (0). We had a great Cup run, five games and then the final in Bristol and eight European Conference games that included a memorable visit to La Rochelle where we lost by a point having beaten them at Ebbw by two.
To keep us occupied in such a sparse season the WRU decided that with Bridgend, Llanelli and Pontypridd we would play for a Welsh Challenge Trophy. Mid-winter conditions were not welcomed by teams from sunnier climes, Cordoba and Tucuman of Argentina and Nambia, once known as South East Africa. It didn’t attract crowds, the competition lasted for two seasons and must have cost thousands in several currencies. A waste of money perhaps but at least the games were fifteen a side and played in rugby minded communities.
Tours by Springboks, All-Blacks and Wallabies often compensated for dreary Five Nations seasons like 1972/3 which ended in a five-way tie, Wales topping the table on points difference. The New Zealand tour brightened things up and its UK finale against the Barbarians before a packed Arms Park is still regarded as the best game of rugby ever.
When the All-Blacks played Gwent at Ebbw Vale in that tour over 20,000 flooded Pontygof with large contingents from the clubs represented. With Newport playing the tourists on their own the Gwent side consisted of five each from Ebbw Vale and Newbridge, four from Pontypool and one from Bedwas, their centre and skipper Roy Duggan. Terry Maggs of Blaina went on when Ebbw’s Graham Evans, another Blaina boy, was injured.
Ebbw Vale’s jerseys were red, white and green narrow stripes until the Centenary season 1979/80 when the stripes were widened and the club crest added. Players were devoted to the club as the 2018/19 Steelmen are, they wear the same kit but the main difference between then and now is that there are fewer spectators. It’s a great pity, for, thanks to BBC Wales cameras, there has been universal interest and acclaim for club rugby without which there would be no international team.
Our coach and his class of 2018/19 have never let their television fame to go to their heads and despite their stardom keep their feet firmly planted on the ground, except for the lineout leapers who spend Saturdays airborne. The Ronny Kynes fan club were most upset when injury ended his season, but his fame is such that when a forward in a televised match between other Premier teams got a try from a lineout it was described as a Catch ‘n’ Kynes!

TRYING TIMES FOR PROPS
Extracted from the Bargoed programme 13-Apr-19
Fifty years ago Wales played Ireland at an Arms Park partly closed due to reconstruction which kept the crowd to 29,000 plus the new Prince of Wales. It will be remembered for two things, an “incident” involving Brian Price from Deri and Noel Murphy from Cork and a snap try by a prop which was unusual. Since the Second World War only three props, Cliff Davies in 1950, Courtney Meredith in 1955 and Ray Prosser in 1957 had scored tries for Wales. Denzil Williams made it four.
Keith Jarrett’s kicking was deadly and when the Irish were penalised everyone expected him to take a shot at goal. Denzilhad other ideas, he took the ball off Jarrett and sauntered over for a try which turned the tide for Wales who won 24-11 and the Triple Crown. Props scoring tries came as no surprise to Denzil from Trefil, he had once played against a prop from Fiji who scored three!
It was in the Wales XV v Fijian game in 1964 our first sight of a side from the Islands an uncapped match but several Welsh players went on to win full honours. One was John Mantle of Newport who began his rugby career at Bargoed. Capped in both codes he went north and played 433 games for St. Helen’s where on his death last November he was described as one of their greatest.
Denzil Williams played against the 1964 Fijians twice in two weeks, for Monmouthshire/Glamorgan and the Welsh XV when he opposed giant prop Sevaro Walisoliso who was and probably still is the only tighthead to score three tries in a game. There were thirteen in all and everyone agreed that Fiji should have won after playing so well despite losing their huge lock Nalio with a dislocated shoulder after ten minutesthere being no replacements then. Wales won 28-22 but the best side lost.
John Mantle played for Loughborough College, one of two famous rugby academies the other being St. Luke’s at Exeter. His two games for Wales in 1964 were tests of endurance,England at Twickers and South Africa in Durban. The match against England in January 1964 was a 6-6 draw and to show how unexciting international rugby once was the 1962 game ended 0-0. Wales went to South Africa in May lost the Test24-3 and by three tries to nil, the biggest Welsh defeat for 40 years.
When major touring sides played club and combined sides inSouth Wales they got to know the land and its people. Bargoed produced quality coal as well as players and in 1935 welcomed the touring All-Blacks who a few days before playing Cardiff visited Bargoed Colliery and walked to the coal face 650 feet underground. Imagine 21st century international sides doing that!
Our ground has been seen on TV many times this season and was selected by the WRU to stage two semi-finals, Brecon v Penallta in the Plate and Merthyr v Pontypool in the National Cup. Both are major events in the Welsh club calendar and staging them is a privilege, quite rare and a “first” for us. The National Cup semi brought a big crowd, mainly Poolers and the cameras scanned an arena where once world greats in rugby and cricket played. Being a host club calls for a major effort and many thanks are due to those who carried out the many tasks required. Well done everyone.
The only other Cup game on our ground not involving us was in 1971, a controversial tie between Brynmawr and Newport under lights, controversial because it should have been a Saturday home tie for Brynmawr. And therein lies a story.

GREAT CHARACTERS PAST AND PRESENT
Extract from the Llandovery programme, 14-Mar-19
In 2015/16 we made a recovery the RAC and AA would have been proud of and repeated it last season. Words of a 1930’s song sprang to mind, “Pick yourself up, brush yourself off and start all over again,” which we did after a disastrous afternoon in Llandovery in September 2015 where history of the wrong kind was made. The season had started well but we hit the depths at Church Bank in the fourth game where we conceded fifty points without reply.
We had arrived in Llandovery in optimistic mood but to quote another song title we left “Bewitched, bothered and bewildered.” It seemed like the collapse of civilisation as we knew it, but not for long. We won thirteen of the remaining eighteen Premiership games and for the second year running played Pontypridd in the Premiership play-off and won 38-12.
Among the many memories of that afternoon two stand out, two tries by Ronnie Kynes who thereby notched 18 for the season and the finale when Dan Haymond performed a circus act which reminds me of another old song, “He flew through the air with the greatest of ease, the daring young man on the flying trapeze.”
The busiest man on the field is the scrum-half and the older they get the more they amaze us. Our Peter Pan aka Dai Jones follows many Steelmen in that position, among them Jack Lawrence who revelled in the fast moving Ebbw side of the early Fifties when Championships were won and quality rugby was played. Jack was 92 when he died in February which saddened a team-mate who is still with us, Horace Matthews of Cwm. He played blind-side and his duty was clear, stick with Jack Lawrence, he’ll make the breaks, you take the pass, now called an off load, and you score a try. Easier said than done but in the Fifties decade our success rate averaged 75% per season.
Jack Lawrence played rugby into his forties and on Monday 11thApril 1960 was in a Past XV v Present XV game. The Past team was Ieaun Sheen; John Pugh, Harry Morgan, Graham Powell, Ken Richards; Ernie Lewis, Jack Lawrence; Islwyn Williams, Albie Jackson, Len Coldrick; Malcolm Collins, Ben Edwards; Horace Matthews, Eric Finney, Gwyn Griffiths. The Present team was Tommy Carpenter; Mel Williams, David Barrett, Ray Knott, Arthur Smith; Wilf Hunt, Roy Evans; Len Dimmick, Martin Preece, Des Winters; Len Harries, John Herrera; Graham Jones, David Nash, Francis Matthews. The Matthews brothers marked each other, or tried to. All great characters and all Welsh except the great Scottish wing Arthur Smith who captained his country several times as an Ebbw Vale player and was captain of the 1982 Lions team in South Africa that included his former club mate David Nash. A great player and character, Arthur Smith’s death aged 42 was mourned throughout the rugby world and was marked with a special game at Murrayfield in which Gareth Howls represented Ebbw Vale.
Great players and characters of the past, some of them legends, but the present generation are filling their places and are enjoying playing for the same club wearing the same jersey on the same ground. Our matches are expertly recorded on film and in print and we have our own reporter on the web who has a way with words as he showed after the game at Cross Keys last month. Commenting on our hooker’s performance he described him as a ‘human wrecking ball.’ A smashing compliment.

ALL BLACK IN PONTY, ALL BAD IN PRETORIA
Extract from Pontypridd programme Mar 01 2019
On Wednesday November 11th 1997 all roads led to Pontypridd, not unusual in the rugby season but this was a special day for the All-Blacks were in town to play Wales A and among them was Jonah Lomu. It was not his first visit to a Valley club’s ground, on December 4th 1996 he had led an International XV at Eugene Cross Park wearing an Ebbw Vale jersey and finished a memorable day by speaking at the after match dinner. The man who added a new dimension to rugby union around the world found a welcome in our hillside and we considered it a privilege to be in his company.
The 1997 New Zealanders were on a nine game tour and arrived at Sardis Road three days after beating Llanelli 81-3 and by thirteen tries to nil, the biggest score by a touring team in Wales. Llanelli coach Gareth Jenkins said his players “didn’t know what hit them……they just couldn’t live with it.”
The game at Ponty had an added attraction to Ebbw Valiansbecause Byron Hayward was in the Welsh side and Pontypridd supporters were pleased to have four of their players selected, one them Mark Spiller a former Steelman. It was a totally different New Zealand side to the one that demolished the Scarlets but it included twelve internationals, among them Tana Umaga, Walter Little, Anton Oliver and Carlos Spencer, an outside-half who mesmerised opponents.
Facing a mighty challenge Wales A responded defiantly and held the All-Blacks in check for an hour, one tackle by Byron that felled 19 stone Lomu typified their spirit but the inevitable happened and the dam broke. The All-Black second string won 51-8 and a few weeks later the tourists beat Wales 42-7 at Wembley and went home leaving behind them a trail of tired scoreboard operators.
Sardis Road played an important part in our 1997/8 SwalecCup saga for we played a semi-final with Newport there. We won 44-10 and our full-back was described as delightful and dashing, he was of course Siua (Josh) Taumalolo who got a hat-trick of tries then five days later with another SteelmanKuli Faletau played for Tonga against Wales at Swansea. It was a great season for Josh who scored three tries and kicked nine conversions for the Baa-Baas in a 73-19 record win overLeicester.
Wales finished third in the 1998 Five Nations losing 60-26 atTwickenham and 51-0 to France at Wembley. Worse followedwhen Wales went to South Africa with a ghost side well below strength because many “star” players made themselvesunavailable. The 96-13 win by the Springboks in Pretoria typified a tour described as a suicide mission but credit goes to the players who went and