These are exciting times at the Pembroke club, the squad will be travelling to take on Pontyberem in a top of the table clash tomorrow (Saturday), KO 2.30pm. At present Pembroke are in second place in the League after a marvellous season, with every chance of securing promotion and maybe even a League title. Meanwhile, the other two teams vying for both accolades were in action last Saturday; leaders Penclawdd won and secured a bonus point, in a tough match at Fishguard, which has confirmed their promotion to Division 1 West for next season, whilst Pontyberem were run very close at Carmarthen Athletic, but eventually came out on top by a very small margin, crucially for Pembroke, without a bonus point. Consequently, this campaign has now reached an intriguing and critical stage for both Pontyberem and Pembroke, with Pont having yet to play both Pembroke (April 13 at home) and Penclawdd (April 27th away) and Pembroke having one other fixture to play on April 27th, which is St Clears away, with St Clears already having been confirmed as relegated. Everyone at the Pembroke club is extremely excited at the prospect of willing the squad on, in their bid to secure a second, consecutive League title and promotion, which would be a monumental achievement for this eager, young side, who have been inspired by the large, loyal travelling support all season. After the match the team will return to the club, where the committee will be laying on a buffet for the players and supporters to celebrate yet another marvellous season.

A list will be put up in the club to gauge the desire for a supporters bus for the St Clears match, anyone wanting to travel on this should sign up by Monday April 22 (or call the steward to add names), when a decision will be taken on its viability; so those on list should check with the steward during the week before the game.

SECOND XV

The “Tigers” are due to play ST DAVIDS away on April 20th, KO 2.30pm, for the first ever playing of the “WILLINGTON SLATE TROPHY”, which is to be played for annually between the clubs, in memory of Pembroke ex-player Gareth “Spike” Willington and his son Daniel, who tragically died whilst fishing professionally in their vessel “THE HARVESTER” in April 2016. We hope to see a large support for the family and friends of the pair on the day. Spike’s mother and sister will be organising a Raffle on the day and all proceeds will be donated to the Fisherman’s Mission (Milford Haven) along with a large donation of £200+ from the St Davids club that has already been collected. The Willington family are extremely grateful to both clubs for their support in agreeing to play this match annually in memory of their loved ones.

The club has been approached by BBC SCRUM V to discuss arrangements, because they have signalled their intention to cover the match.

YOUTH

Pembroke Youth made the short trip to Heywood Lane on Saturday to take on a strong Tenby outfit for their final league fixture of the campaign. Pembroke had several of their regular side missing due to injuries and other commitments.

Tenby began the stronger and after a few basic errors from the young Pembroke side, scored the first try, which was successfully converted. Pembroke tried hard to establish territory but continually lost possession at vital times and that enabled the impressive Tenby 10, Harry Rossiter, to pin them back in their own half, with some excellent kicking from hand. It was from one of these kicks that Tenby regained possession from a lineout close in to crash over for the second, unconverted try of the match. The afternoon got worse for Pembroke, when young right winger, Morgan Owens, was injured in a collision and the team had to reshuffle, moving livewire flanker Tommy John to the wing; allowing young Thomas Cubitt to come on to make his youth debut. Tenby added a further try, when after Pembroke gave away a number of penalties and relaxed too much in defence, resulting in the Tenby scrum half taking a quick tap penalty to ghost over unchallenged; the conversion was successful, leaving the score at 19 – 0 to Tenby. Pembroke responded well from the kick off and were at last able to set up good attacking positions in the Tenby twenty two; from a five metre lineout, a concerted drive resulted in Tommy John coming in at speed from his wing position crashing over; Jared Sherratt was successful with the conversion, to leave the score at half time at 19 – 7 to Tenby.

From the kick off at the start of the second half, Pembroke defended well and eventually broke out of defence, through a number of strong forward runs from props Evan Phillips and Liam Brunton to set up a good position close to the Tenby line; from a further drive powerful hooker Shane Gwyther barged his way over, but the conversion was missed. This gave the visitors a little more confidence. However, from then on the match became a real arm wrestle, with both teams looking to spread the ball wide. Pembroke’s back line of James Allen, Captain JJ Jones, Theo Davies and Joe Watkins all made strong runs deep into the opposition territory, but failed to turn these forays into points. Eventually the Pembroke lads seemed to tire and the Tenby forwards gained momentum scoring two quick, late tries, which were both converted to give them a commanding lead. Pembroke however, never gave up and came back into the game, when good lineout ball was won from their impressive No. 8 Leon Stewart and moved quickly, wide to out flank the Tenby defence with wing Joe Watkins having the simple task of touching down from a short distance out. The conversion was unsuccessful. The ‘last word’ in this very exciting game was with Tenby, when after good work from their forwards they powered over for the final score of the game to leave them fully deserved winners by 40 – 17.

The Pembroke coaches would like to give special praise to the three youngsters, Morgan Owens, Thomas Cubitt and Lewys Reynolds (all U16s players), who stepped came into the squad at very short notice.

The squad are due to play Narberth at home on April 13th in the Pembrokeshire Youth Cup semi-final, KO 2.30pm. Everyone at the club wishes then every success in this final and the U18s squad, who will be in the Griffiths Cup semi-final in the coming weeks.

The Youth section, which includes the U17s and U16s squads will be holding their annual celebration evening at the clubhouse on Friday June 7th, starting at 7pm, when the awards for the season will also be handed out.

JUNIORS

Whilst the season is slowly drawing to a close for the Junior section, a number of the age groups have progressed into the semi-final stages of their respective County Cup competitions, the draw came out during the last week and included the following matches:

U12s Pembroke v Aberaeron (Crymych v H’West), U13s Pembroke V Tenby (St Davids v H’West), U15s Fishguard v Pembroke (Cardigan v Tenby) and U16s Pembroke v Crymych (Aberaeron v Fishguard).

Consequently, the teams will be doing all they can to secure places at the Finals day, which is being hosted by our club on May 5th, so they can showcase their skills in front of their home crowd.

Meanwhile last weekend a number of the age groups were participating in a Scarlets Junior Festival in Whitland; the U9s and U10s enjoyed their day, the U11s had a great day (see the picture), whilst the U13s were winners in their age category (see picture).

Last Sunday afternoon the Pembroke U12s won their semi-final match by the convincing margin of 43-10, to book their place at Finals Day.(see picture)

The UNDER 16s played a Cornish touring side, Wadebridge Camels, at home last Sunday afternoon in cool, dry conditions, on an excellent surface, perfect for running rugby.

The touring side had travelled from North Cornwell; they had played and lost to Pembroke Dock Harlequins the day before and then travelled to Llanelli to watch the Scarlets, where they met and introduced themselves a contingent from the Pembroke club, which included the Pembroke U16s coach. They had arrived at Pembroke RFC in perfect weather, with the playing surface in perfect condition for running rugby. Meanwhile, Pembroke were looking to use this game to build momentum ready for the cup semi-final the following weekend.

Both sides looked to play expansive rugby from the outset, which was well received by the strong support for both teams. Pembroke started well scoring their first try in the opening few minutes followed by a second within the first quarter.  Wadebridge once they settled showed the strength in their backline, hitting back with well worked tries from within their own twenty two metre area. This was to be the pattern of the match,  which was played throughout in great spirit. Pembroke managed to keep the lead and proved the stronger side overall. The match finished with Pembroke the victors by 38-27, after a very exciting match, witnessed by a large appreciative crowd.

Afterwards, the Wadebridge coaches were presented with a Club Pennant and tie, and likewise Wadebridge presented the home coaches with a trophy to mark their visit and expressed their sincere thanks for the warm welcome and excellent hospitality from their hosts.

COUNTY JUNIOR FINALS DAY

The club will be hosting this showpiece Finals Day on Sunday May 5th, when matches six consecutive matches between U11 to U16s teams from around our area will kick off at approximately 11am. The Junior section organisers wish to thank all of those businesses that have pledged sponsorship for the day, as this will assist in providing the excellent hospitality the club is renowned for, for all of the squads, their coaches, supporters and all interested visitors; on the day there will be a BBQ and other food on sale, a bar and other soft refreshments and a Grand Raffle.

Prior to the day, all teams travelling to the Finals will have received detailed information regarding all aspects of the organisation for those participating and we just hope the weather remains dry and warm so that all teams can showcase their talents fully.