The top two teams in their division, Brecon and Penallta were drawn to face each other in the last four after winning their quarter-finals last weekend. Brecon beat Nelson 31-19, while Penallta triumphed 26-17 at Glynneath.
Penallta have been to the final three times before, winning in 2011 and 2017, but the trip to the last four is already a record for Brecon. And the week before they try to reach the Principality Stadium, the club’s youth team will meet Morriston for a place in the WRU National Youth final.
“In spite of a long history, the Club has never previously featured in a National Semi- Final of any kind. This year we are involved in two,” said the Brecon club website.
“There will be all sorts of conjecture as to whether this is a good draw for us or not against Penallta. All we know is that we will now have to face our nearest rivals three times before the end of the season – twice in the league and once in the Plate.
“The first of those matches will be the semi final of the Plate on 30 March. Undoubtedly, these matches will prove to be defining games in terms of our ultimate success over the whole of the season and if we are to attain our ultimate goal then we have to meet them and beat them, so the semi-final is perhaps as good a time as any.
“The Youth team have done exceptionally well to reach this stage of the competition after beating one of the favourites, Pontypridd, in the quarter final.”
There is no date yet for their league encounter, but they are then due to meet on the final league day of the season, 27 April, at Parc de Pugh.
The other semi-final sees Bonymaen tackle Treorchy. Just as with Brecon, neither side had been to the final before.
Treorchy knocked-out reigning champions Brynmawr last weekend with a stunning 27-12 home quarter-final win. They are already into the semi-finals of the Mid District Cup.
Bonymaen, meanwhile, beat Cambrian Welfare 7-3 to reach the semi-finals. Trailing 3-0 as the game entered the final 10 minutes at Parc Mawr, Nathan Eager crashed over for the only try of the match which was converted by Chris Moore to send Bony through.
“It was a difficult day really, we found it hard to get any momentum, but we’re pleased to be in the semi-finals,” said Bony team manager Dai Allen.“You’ve got to beat the best to be the best and, in a cup game, anything can happen. It doesn’t matter who we play, we’ll just focus on ourselves.
“There was a bit of talk about going to the Principality Stadium in the club after we won, but we’ve still got another game to play before we can even start thinking about that. Obviously it’s going to be in the back of the boys’ minds, but we’re just juggling now between the cup and the league.
“Hopefully, the boys will keep going. We’ve got a strong squad and we want to get another couple of good wins to keep momentum going.”
WRU National Plate Semi Finals
Matches to be played on 30 March
Bonymaen v Treorchy
Brecon v Penallta
