Wednesday 22 September 2010

Girls rugby tournament at CBRFC


Sunday 19 September – Girls Rugby Tournament at Colwyn Bay RFC

The rains moved away from Colwyn Bay for the start of the mini tournament of girls rugby.

The kick off had to be delayed and modified to accommodate the many organisational confusions and frustrations of the day. However this did not affect the sprits of the girls who gathered on the field to kick off the new season.
The turnout for the Mermaids was poor. From a possible contingent for the day of 19 only 14 showed up. However those that were there bravely played in positions that were not quite familiar to them and faced up to the teams from across the border. Amongst these were some new additions to the U18 squad. This was to be their baptism of fire.

The Manchester team quite sportingly offered to either drop a player or lend one to match up the squads. However the Mermaids decided to play together as a team of 14, possibly good preparation for the eventuality of such in the future.

U18 Mermaids v Manchester
Mermaid’s captain: Cara Hope
The game was evenly contested. Cara Hope, Becca Broadway and Eloise Dorey carried the ball well, driving way past the gain line and setting up phases of play for the backs to work on. From the base of the scrum Kaya Harding again delivered good ball to Gwen Harries. The backs interacted well with centres Iona Evans and Alaw Hughes, combining well with Rachael Edwards and Emily McMullen in the wings. The first try came when Gwen Harries sidestepped, leaving the defence flat, and ran past clutching hands to open the scoring for the afternoon. Manchester fought back hard and made forays into Mermaids territory time and again but the defence held with Cara Hope leading the team to make the many tackles necessary to stop them. Eurgain Llwyd, quiet today in attack, however played a good positional game at full back and did well to thwart the attacks. However Manchester were rewarded for their enterprise and scored before the second half. At half time the scores were even.

The second half carried on much the same way as the first with both sets of forwards striving to dominate the other. The Mermaids forwards, led well by Cara Hope and lifted by the strong constant presence of Eloise Dorey, held the advantage. The Mermaids backs began to play more adventurously with this domination. Kaya Harding looped around to collect the scrum to break through Manchester backs and released the backs who passed back and forth for Iona Evans to open her scoring for this season. Cara Hope converted to give the Mermaids a 7 point cushion. Despite the valiant attempts of Manchester the Mermaid defence held and the one try was enough to see them through to victory.


The second U18 match of the tournament was a derby away from English soil for Manchester and Tyldesley.
The game again was evenly contested hard fought. Tyldesley however were victorious.

U18 Mermaids v Tyldesley
Mermaid’s captain: Gwen Harries
This set the teams up for a finale of victors to end the day with the Mermaids facing Tyldesley. This game too was a hard fought forwards dominated game. Both teams tried to release the backs out wide but were thwarted by some determined tackling and defence. It was Tyldesley who had the majority of possession and territory throughout the game. Time and again they were right up to the Mermaids try line, staying there for most of the first half. The Mermaids defence was awesome - regrouping again and again and at least on three occasions forced Tyldesley to make mistakes at the try line and kicked the ball into neutral territory and safety. The half time whistle was blown with no score for either side but the Mermaids defence, led by Cara Hope, had bragging rights.
The second half saw a little bit more adventure from the Mermaids. They were attempting to turnover the mistakes of the first half of playing too long in their own half and relinquishing too much possession to Tyldesley’s aggressive play. Again, Cara Hope, Eloise Dorey and Becca Broadway led from the front taking on the physical Tyldesley forwards. They succeeded a few times and the ball was swung wide. One or two good moves brought them up to the Tyldesley try line. One particularly successful foray saw good interplay between backs and forwards with second rower Megan Parry at the end of the move close to the try line. However tired hands and a good defence prevented a score. Iona Evans and Gwen Harries had good games but found the defence too close at hand to clear the ball away. Unable to make headway, Tyldesley were thwarted as well and tried to kick deep into Mermaids territory to break the deadlock. However, Eurgain Llwyd at full back was equal to the task; effectively collecting and clearing the lines to push them back time and again up to the half way line.

The Mermaids were unlucky to have the rub of the green and the decisions not going their way. Tyldesley rode their luck playing the game close to the law at the breakdown and frustrated the Mermaids. The Mermaids briefly let their frustrations rule them and Tyldesley made capital of this and the loss of Elose Dorey through injury for a while reducing their numbers, to score a converted try. The Mermaids regrouped and tried hard to make headway but this was not to be their match. The decisions went against them and Tyldesley held strong to come home the victors of a hard fought encounter.
Well done Tyldesley.

For the Mermaids the 14 who put their hands up did the team and the region proud. Newcomers Catrin Roberts, Megan Parry, Sara Williams, Non Evans, Emily McMullen, Becca Broadway and Eurgain Llwyd played well. Sara Williams and Non Evans played with great maturity. Seniors Kaya Harding, Gwen Harries, Alaw Hughes and Iona Evans played well amongst the backs and Emily McMullen and Rachael Edwards playing with maturity and skill for their first outing at this level. However the forwards Eloise Dorrey and Cara Hope were the cream of the team. The Mermaid’s most experienced player, Kumari Tilakawardane, was unable to play through injury but used her experience to coach from the sidelines.

For her efforts both as Captain and as possibly the hardest working and visionary back rower, Cara Hope is the Mermaids Player of the Tournament.

U15 Mermaids v Manchester

The U15 Mermaids are not yet up to full strength, with many of the team leaving at the end of last season due to age restrictions. However the few that remain, along with some newcomers, invited Manchester to bring their U15s to Colwyn Bay. Nia Ritchie, Nant Conwy girls coach kindly offered to take charge of this match and indeed brought along players from other North Wales clubs to make up a Colwyn Bay team. Her efforts were certainly successful as the Mermaids, led by captain Naomi Turner, won 51-10.

Sunday 19 September 2010

Pics

Pics from today's matches at Colwyn Bay RFC are on www.philreesphotography.co.uk

Scores

Match 1 - U18 Mermaids 12 Manchester 5. Match 2 - U18 Mermaids 0 Tyldesley 7.
U15 Mermaids 51 Manchester 10
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Friday 17 September 2010

Sunday

Meet at Colwyn Bay RFC 1.15pm to be ready for a 2.30 ko.
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Sunday

Meet at Colwyn
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Wednesday 15 September 2010

Farewell Anna

We sadly said au revoir to Anna Parkin, former u18 player and later coach to the u18 Mermaids tonight as she is leaving to study maths at university. We will miss Anna both for her enthusiasm and friendship but wish her all the best for this new phase in her life. Anna is packing her boots and will be looking to join the university rugby team.
See you at Christmas Anna.
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Monday 13 September 2010

U18 Mermaids at the National 10s Llandovery 12 September 2010



Team:

Paige Davies
Hayley Ellis
Eloise Dorey
Swyn Lewis
Rebecca Broadway
Cara Hope
Kaya Harding
Rhian Pritchard
Emily McMullen
Rachael Edwards
Iona Evans (Nant Conwy)
Alaw Hughes (Caernarfon)
Eurgain Llwyd (Nant Conwy)
Elin Royle (Nant Conwy)
Megan Parry (Bro Ffestiniog)
Sara Williams (Nant Conwy)

Head Coach: Louis Tilakawardane
Forwards Coach: Kumari Tilakawardane

Match 1 – vs Cardiff Quins
Captain: Cara Hope
Final Score: Cardiff Quins 22 Mermaids 0

A rusty start by the Mermaids, playing against a well organised team. The absence of match practice and fitness showed. The Mermaids competed for the first 5 minutes but the Quins pulled away with a display of well organised rugby. The Mermaids missed tackles and were frequently caught out of position. However despite the gloomy dawn, rays of light were showing through in Rhian Pritchard, Cara Hope, Hayley Ellis and newcomers Emily McMullen and Becca Broadway. Rhian & Cara in particular excelled in throwing tackle after tackle at the Quins. Swyn Lewis and Sara Williams played very well showing that there was much to hope for in the days to come.


Match 2 – vs Cynon Valley
Captain: Hayley Ellis
Final Score: Cynon Valley 22 Mermaids 0

If the Mermaids were trounced by the well organised game of the Quins, individual performances by Cynon Valley players caused havoc amongst the rusty Mermaids. The second break away try by Cynon Valley was a masterpiece of controlled football with the ball kicked all the way past the grabbing hands of the Mermaids. Tackles were missed; the organisation still not good enough to stop Cynon Valley. However, the Mermaids began to assert some control. They had learned the lesson of playing too often in their territory and attempting a run and pass game which caused the problems of the first fixture. Good tactical kicking by Alaw Hughes and Iona Evans allowed Mermaids to venture closer to the opposition try line. Good leadership by Hayley Ellis showing the way ball in hand made forays into the opposition half but the Mermaids were unable to breach the Cynon Valley defence. Again, Rhian Pritchard, Emily McMullen and Cara Hope put in a sterling performance. Rachael Edwards too started showing promise by making forays, side stepping past the gain line. Eloise Dorey began to punch holes in the opposition defence by a fabulous display of power driving to get past the gain line time and again. Eurgain Llwyd had an excellent game playing at 9. She showed skill and imagination in getting the ball out from the set pieces and when necessary running with purpose. However the rustiness of the Mermaids still showed but the passion and the organisation was beginning to appear.


Match 3 – vs Newport
Captain: Rhian Pritchard
Final Score: Mermaids 12 Newport 0

A lunch break and focussed discussion amongst the team members created a desire to show results for this venture into the south. The team they were up against included some big names of Welsh junior rugby and some whose skill and talent had led them to Welsh national sides.

The Mermaids were led for this last match by Rhian Pritchard. She was given this honour for the indomitable manner in which she played, the way she was fearless in defence and tireless in trying to carve out a platform for attack in the previous two matches. As the game began the team showed some wonderful interactions between players. The leading roles were taken by Cara Hope and Hayley Ellis. Kaya Harding playing at 9 seemed to have woken from a slumber and began to do the things around the scrum that she had done last season. Eurgain Llwyd playing now on the wing showed dazzling speed and linked up with the others. The Mermaids made purposeful moves for the first time that day. The forwards combined well, with Cara, Hayley Eloise, Becca, Swyn, Sara, Megan Parry all picking the ball and driving at the opposition. Iona Evans kicked, Alaw Hughes carried the ball. Emily McMullen controlled and passed the ball with assuredness.
Rachael Edwards however was the first to score for the day, collecting the ball and sidestepping three or four of the Newport backs to break through at the end and score a wonderful try. The second try was a good move with forwards and backs combining well, Kaya Harding looping to link with Eurgain Llwyd who danced through the defence to score under the post. Eurgain converted the try.
This was the signal for the Mermaids to come alive. All 16 players were rotated adroitly by Kumari managing the forwards and Cameron mixing the backs. All played with equal courage and tenacity carving out waves of phased play when attacking and tackling fiercely and effectively in defence. They contained a heavier faster Newport team with determined tackles. Cara Hope was all over the park in defence. However, the moment of the match was yet to come. Finally it seemed Newport had finally broken through and would deprive the Mermaids of a clean sheet. Rhian Pritchard, playing on the left wing, streaked all the way down the pitch to perform a perfect tackle yards from the right corner flag, bringing down the player and knocking the ball forward. The Mermaids won the scrum and again danced back into Newport territory and safety.

The afternoon ended on this happy note. The cobwebs have been partly cleared. The only regret is that had there been greater numbers and commitment to training in the pre season a better display at the tournament would have been possible. As it is we have shown what the Girls from the North are capable of. Let’s hope we live the promise through the remainder of the season.

Player of the tournament: Rhian Pritchard
The U18 Mermaids would like to thank Cameron McMullen for his invaluable help on the day.

Sunday 12 September 2010

National 10s

U18 Mermaids lost to Cardiff Quins 22-0, lost to Cynon Valley 22-0, beat Newport 12-0. Match report later.
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Saturday 11 September 2010

National 10s

Not looking forward to the early start but looking forward to seeing how the new U18 Mermaid squad play.
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Thursday 9 September 2010

Regional girls

The squad list for RGC1404 U18 girls is on the blog - www.northwalesrugby.blogspot.com - 11 Mermaids on the list so far! Well done girls.
I had a quick count of how many girls we have this season - so far we've got 14 - we need a few more so if you know anyone who wants to play tell them to come along to training.

Team for Sunday

Finally got enough girls together to form a squad for Sunday. Let's hope the lack of training by some can be overcome. Still, there's hope for the rest of the season - the U18s now have 14 players so far - a great relief considering we only had 6 last week.
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Tuesday 7 September 2010

It's all coming together

We now have a team for Sunday. Let's hope the weather improves.
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Early birds

Very early start on Sunday I am afraid girls.
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Sunday 5 September 2010

Back to business

First official training of the season today. Just to make it feel like normal rugby, it rained!
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Saturday 4 September 2010

Back to business

First official training tomorrow 11-1 at Colwyn Bay RFC. Yearly subscription due - £25 or £50 family membership.
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Wednesday 18 August 2010

National 10s

The U18s are entered for the National 10s in Llandovery on Sunday September 12. The WRU have kindly offered to organise transport for us. There's not much time for training before then, especially as the official sign on day isn't until September 5 at CBRFC but you are welcome to come along and join in the regional training sessions on Wednesday evenings - 6 to 8pm - at Llandudno RFC. We are not sure yet when we will be starting training at CBRFC.
The National 10s will be a competitive experience but we will have a fun day as well. New team members are always welcome - get in touch if you want to join the Mermaids - WRU Team of the Year for the previous 5 years.

Friday 23 July 2010

Game on

What started as a request for a game to kick start the season has now turned into a girls rugby festival. Sunday 19 September - at present we have 3 U18 teams, 2 or 3 U15 teams and 2 ladies teams converging on Colwyn Bay RFC at 2pm.

Sunday 9 May 2010

End of season presentations for the U18 Mermaids

Anna Parkin, assistant coach for the U18 Mermaids welcomed the girls and their families to the club on a gloriously sunny day. She also introduced special guest Jenny Davies, who has been awarded 43 caps for Wales women.
This season has not been as busy as in the past due to the scarcity of opponents in this area. Nevertheless the Mermaids have carried themselves well despite the difficulties of maintaining girl’s rugby in North Wales. They managed to overcome the absence of teams in North Wales and have carried on with their long relationship with the teams from across the border: Sandbach and Waterloo, who have become regular opponents over the years, and this season they have also played Tyldesley and Glossop. The girls have beaten all the teams they met this year and still remain the unbeaten champions of North Wales.
This year as before they have provided the core of players to form the Gogledd Cymru U18 girls who themselves had a good season; all of the U18 Mermaids were selected and have played for Gogledd Cymru.
Several girls have left the team during this season for various reasons and at present there are only 10 players registered with the club. Amongst them are girls who travel long distances to come to Colwyn Bay to train and to play - from Anglesey, Argoed, Llanfairfechan, Nant Conwy and St Asaph.
Medals were presented to those who have remained with the Mermaids:
Bethan Lloyd Jones, Cara Hope, Chloe Dymond, Elin Royle, Gwen Harries, Kaya Harding, Kumari Tilakawardane, Paige Davies.
Players not present at the ceremony: Laureanna Mc Gee and Hayley Ellis.
For the other awards there were several candidates in each category:
Most improved Player:
Chloe, who played for the first time this season. She announced her presence crash tackling everyone in sight at a development day in Denbigh. She has continued to do this ever since in all our games.
Cara, who joined us from Bangor. Again she showed amazing skills, giving us headache as to find her a definitive place, was she to join the front row- she was good there; was she to be amongst the backs because she could run and kick, or was she to play in the back row because she was fearless in winning the ball on the floor.
Bethan, who again joined us last season from Bangor, having played against us before. She came up here as a shy, retiring, unlikely front row player and has grown in stature. This season she led the front row, for the Mermaids and Gogledd Cymru. Her progress has been so dramatic that she was called by the Elite Development Team at the National Centre of Excellence in Cardiff, without any referrals from the coaches, as is normal, but was head hunted by the Welsh coaches to come up for trials for Wales U20s after they viewed a DVD of one of the regional matches.
After much consideration we thought that the player who has progressed the most this season is Bethan Lloyd Jones.

The second trophy was for Coaches Player:

Kaya, who brought to the team her remarkable natural skills as a scrum half, and commitment to the team by attendance at training over the season,
Elin, our last line of defence and who has held firm match after match, against high balls, against fast wingers and the big girls wanting to breach our try line. It has been a joy this season to see Elin stand firm under charging opponents all by herself, pick up the high ball and dart away from clutching hands to take the ball away from danger to attacking positions.
Gwen, who has managed to translate the visions of game plans that the coaches had put together, and make them work on the field.
After much discussion and consideration it was eventually decided the Coaches Player for this season is Elin Royle.

The Third Trophy was for the Player of the Season. We considered the players who have made a contribution to the game and who have become a leader or a role model for other players to follow this season.
We again considered Bethan, who by her hard work and attitude had forced herself into recognition as a player. Bethan is the player we know will be there at every training, at the bottom of every ruck, looking worried and trying to better things she has done well, helping with translating the coaches’ ideas into reality by leading the front row.
Kumari has been at the heart of the team and also the core of the development of the game at Gogledd Cymru. She has brought to the team her knowledge of rugby, the player who can take up matters of rugby law with the referee and puts him under pressure, says the witty comments on the field, neutralising the opposition and helping the team to smile when the going is tough. She is the natural leader of the forwards and the senior figure of the team. She has also contributed to the game off the field. She has completed Level 1 as a referee, Level 1 as a coach and is a player/coach for the Mermaids and Gogledd Cymru. She has become the regular author of the team reports after each of the matches. Her talents in this regard have been recognised and she has now been invited to become the official reporter for the RGC 1404 Senior Team.

We thought hard about the contributions each had made to the image of the game and the team this season.
It was decided that the player of the season is Kumari Tilakawardane.

Flowers were then presented to Ann for her hard work as manager this season.

Kumari then stepped forward to thank Anna for her hard work as assistant coach this season. Anna is leaving the team and club to take up a university place after taking a gap year. She was presented with an engraved glass trophy – a dodgy move as Anna is sometimes rather accident prone!

Several of the team then went out for a well deserved and delicious Sunday lunch. We now look forward to the coming season.

Presentations

Most Improved Player: Bethan Lloyd Jones
Coaches Player: Elin Royle
Player of the Year: Kumari Tilakawardane

Friday 9 April 2010

Canadian game

For match report of Canadian game go to www.northwalesgirlsrugby.blogspot.com

Thursday 25 March 2010

Team List for Sunday 28 March

Team list for Sunday's match V Winston Churchill High School

1 Amelia Stubbs - Gogledd Cymru
2 Paige Davies - Gogledd Cymru/Mermaids
3 Eloise Dorey - Blaenau
4 Catrin Roberts - Blaenau
5 Catrin Williams - Gogledd Cymru
6 Chloe Dymond - Gogledd Cymru/Mermaids
7 Cara Hope - Gogledd Cymru/Mermaids
8 Kumari Tilakawardane - Gogledd Cymru/Mermaids
9 Kaya Harding - Gogledd Cymru/Mermaids
10 Gwen Harries - Gogledd Cymru/Mermaids - Captain
11 Rhian Pritchard - Gogledd Cymru
12 Iona Evans - Gogledd Cymru/Nant
13 Alaw Hughes - Gogledd Cymru/Caernarfon
14 Nicola Williams - Llangollen
15 Elin Royle - Gogledd Cymru/Mermaids
16 Swyn Lewis - Gogledd Cymru
17 Ellie Jones - Oswestry
18 Nicola Jones - Blaenau
19 Cari Hicks - Blaenau

Sunday 14 March 2010

Tyldesley 5 - Mermaids 20

The U18 Mermaids travelled over the border to Liverpool St Helens RUFC after Tyldesley's original opponents cancelled their planned match. It was the first time the girls had pulled on the famous pink shirts for 23 weeks and indeed 19 weeks since they had played any competitive rugby at regional or club level. At such short notice only 11 players were available, with one rising from her sickbed to travel with her compatriots. Loz McGee was Captain for this encounter, with Gwen Harries as Vice Captain.
From the first whistle it was clear the girls had lost none of their flair or competitive edge. In fact Tyldesley were put immediately under the cosh as Bay attacked relentelessly with some excellent link play between the backs and with excellent support play from the forwards. The first try was scored by Gwen Harries under the posts and from then on the Mermaids managed to score three more adventurously constructed and perfectly executed tries - a second from Harries and a further two by Cara Hope (though Paige Davies also had her hands on the ball) and scrum half Kaya Harding.
As the game progressed the Colwyn Bay girls grew more and more adventurous and began putting together some advanced and intricate moves that time and again allowed them to break the gain line. Towards the end of the game Tyldesley began putting some phases together and were richly rewarded with a try of their own by Jenny Carney.
Colwyn Bay Mermaids overcame their long absence from the game with a fantastic display of attacking, defensive and support play. The coaching team were so impressed with the entire team display that each and every player was awarded the player of the match award.
Todays team:
Loz McGee (Captain)
Gwen Harries (Vice Captain)
Kumari Tilakawardane
Kaya Harding
Paige Davies
Cara Hope
Bethan Lloyd Jones
Elin Royle
Amelia Stubbs
Alaw Hughes
Iona Evans

Friday 19 February 2010

Sunday 22 February

We have been invited to Nant Conwy RFC on Sunday afternoon to take part in a tournament.

Monday 15 February 2010

Latest

The proposed match v Winston Churchill High School, Canada will now take place at Eirias Arena on Sunday 28 March at 2pm due to a pitch space problem. Many thanks to Kenton Morgan and the staff at Eirias.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Festival

The festival scheduled for Sunday 10 January has been postponed due to the atrocious weather.