Pen-Y-Bont Crusader

Was at Enfield Saturday. Scorpions were worthy winners and really up for the contest scoring some excellent tries. Skolars not at there best with a number of lapses on our left side defence.
We bombed three tries I think it was through knocking on whilst in the act of grounding the ball.
Still will be there Sunday at Iffley Road .

Fair assessment Spicer. First time this year we have played the full 80 mins. Our kicking game was much improved and movement in offence was far better. Defence was strong and it was visible the confidence that grew in our lads as the game went one.

The bombing of tries by Skolars made the points on the board wider, but speaking to Assistant Coach Marcus Tobin at the end he said we were worthy winners.

Its probably taken us until now to get back to speed - none of realised how tough the season would be after literally being a few hours away from oblivion, but onwards and upwards. !

http://www.walesrugb...-develop-little

The legendary Mr Golden designed this poster attached.

One of our pupils at the Academy Lloyd Lewis, produced the video. It's the first of a series of six posters and videos promoting the games.

https://m.youtube.co...eature=youtu.be

It's a good idea but there has to be a structure
 
The structure in Wales is hinted at as "Academy, Scholarship and National Junior programmes" from which  "a professional feeder system which identifies and develops playing talent in club and school environments as a pathway to the Wales RL Junior National Teams".
 
I wonder just what the set up is in terms of numbers and competitions especially those outside schools. Anybody able to comment?

Academy at Maesteg has 20 lads at present, next year there will be a further cohort from September so approx 40.

Below that is the 16s Academy which at present has approx 35 lads involved as part of the squad.

The National Junior programme is from U14, but as I'm not involved in that I can't give you numbers on that.

Below that is the Champion School competition and the Welsh junior conference set ups. There's about 20 clubs in that off the top of my head.

Crazy change in weather in Maesteg today. Started off cold with a little wind, by lunchtime, the sun was shining brightly and all the windows were open it was so hot.

The club are addressing the full town council meeting tomorrow night to work on ways to promote the town and the club.

Onwards and upwards -oh and a mention on Rhod Gilbert's Radio Wales show on Saturday morning - all positive stuff around the town today regarding yesterday.

The result should stand. Both sets of players worked tirelessly to produce a spectacle which to be fair was pretty good taking into account the conditions.

Massive respect to all at Whitebank for coming down.

Maesteg translated means 'fair field' -today it was anything but.

Correct decision by ref and the score should stand -no need for Oldham to add the expense of what is their longest trip once more.

Joined up thinking? Host a world cup match in Neath and then leave the town without playing another game there? Hope it works out!

Neath got the game in the RLWC not by bidding for it. The interest has never been there. The joined up thinkings in moving them to Maesteg.

Maesteg RFC have knocked back requests from two Welsh Premier League clubs to play games there whilst they await Scorpions to come and open discussions with them.

If that's not evidence enough to say that they need to play out of there I don't know what is.

For any club to turn down guaranteed income in this climate in the hope of getting RL played there is fantastic in terms of the support they are offering and evidence of the promise they see in a link up with the WRL Academy at Maesteg School.

Forgot this till now...

Chappers was waiting for the imminent arrival of the Aussie and England teams on sat in the arrival area of the stadium, but still found time to have his photo taken with two sets of the flag bearers from Maesteg and Mangotsfield Schools on Saturday.

He could easily have said no but without a seconds hesitation he did pics for both sets.

Well played that man!

Your in camp?tour and then go out drinking and sleep in.

 

Been there, done that, but the lads have knocked on my door and tried to get me up, especially knowing Id been out.

 

Cant imagine no-one tried the same for him. Poor showing on his part.

Wales 40 England 10 at Taffs Wll RFC.

Seeing as Boots N All had a big interview with Ben Flower today and spoke about Welshmen at Wigan, I was really surprised they couldn't give this even a mention. A number of the Sky Sports people would have had an email around midday today and they mentioned other news like that Bradford chairman pulling out which happened after this.

In which case, CC, despite my own personal circumstances, I will be emailing once again to that person at Sky, as I really can only assume that the junk filter has been over-zealously applied and that is why there has been no recognition of all those involved in this.

It hasn't been done for that reason but the results of their actions are going to significantly contribute to the sustained and consistent growth of Welsh Rugby League after over a century of huge success but little consolidation. Consequently, the premier RL media channel in the UK and the premier RL programme should be screaming this from the rooftops.

As part of this the Academy has to not only produce outstanding players but also educational opportunities and for my money, a value to the local community that extends beyond the confines of the Academy. From what I have seen at Central Park, they totally deserve their rating.

What do you believe would be the best format for academies in British RL at the moment that would fully capitalise on the young talent we have and improve the structures we have in place.
For me, all SL and championship clubs would run u20 reserves, whilst elite academies would feed into these, those being.
Cumbria, North West, West Yorks, Hull, London, Midlands, Wales.
That would see around 140-160 of the best kids across the country harnessed in a would be higher quality comp than all 37 professional clubs in Britain having their own teams at various ages.

Interesting that you mention this because the new Maesteg Academy actually has an action plan in place to ensure that when it is graded by the RFL, it achieves an outstanding rating. Being part of one of Wales' most effective schools, the school is fully conversant with inspection regimes and will be working tirelessly with the WRL and Wigan to ensure that the Academy achieves this recognition.