Their recent run of victories has helped to erase their horrendous start to the season, when they found themselves propping up the table. Olly Golden’s try two minutes from time saw the Squirrel’s snatch a 31-28 win over St Peter’s as they signed off for the month in style.
No sooner had they savoured their latest success than the WRU closed down the game for the rest of the month due to the Coronavirus. Chris Williams and James Griffiths were the other home scorers, while Dave Gilbert kicked four penalties and a conversion. Griffiths added another conversion to complete the scoring.
Rhiwbina now find themselves 18 points off the bottom of the table and looking upwards towards the top three clubs – Treorchy, Rhydyfelin and Rumney. It is a totally different story to the first half of the season, when they were flirting with relegation.
“We had an unbelievable amount of injuries and unavailabilities with a back line in the early months of the season. In one game we fielded four scrum halves,” explained team manager David Hobbs.
“That problem turned around last weekend when we were missing four of our top front row players, but we battled on and came up with a good win over one of our local rivals.
“It was a really tough start for our new coaching team of Dai Pattison and Jon Bryant, but since Christmas we’ve found a bit of form. We knew this was going to be a bit of a transitional season for us having had a number of players retire last year.”
Luckily for the new coaching team they had a vibrant 2nd and 3rd XV to utilise when they were down on numbers and the strength in depth at the club helped in the tough times in the first half of the season.
Having reached Division 1 status at the end of a wonderful 2013/14 campaign, when they won the Division 2 East title and reached the final of the WRU National Bowl, Rhiwbina have established themselves as a top half of the table side. They were runners-up in Division 1 East the season after their promotion and have since been battling for promotion in Division 1 East Central.
They were fifth in 2015/16, improved to third the next winter and were fourth in 2017/18. Last season they finished fifth and are currently on course to at least match that achievement.
“We pride ourselves on not paying our players. In the past that has come back to bite us, but when you look at some of the financial difficulties some clubs are facing this season after the flooding and the virus, it looks like being a very good decision for us,” added Hobbs.
“It is a shame that our recent run of good form will have to come to a temporary halt because of the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves. We’ve got a meeting this week to discuss what we can do and what is likely to happen next for us.
“We all just hope that there is a chance of playing some more rugby before the season ends completely.”
In Division 1 West Central, Glynneath missed the chance to go level on points with leaders Bonymaen after they drew 3-3 at Kenfig Hill. Jack O’Reilly’s penalty for Glynneath was cancelled out by Nick Giles for Kenfig Hill and ends the former’s eight-match winning league run.
The result means Glynneath stay third and are now three points behind Bony. A bonus point win would have taken them joint top. The two points earned by Kenfig Hill means they are now nine above the danger zone.
Builth Wells are now 11 points behind leaders Aberavon Quins with two games in hand after their 18-14 win at Heol y Cyw while, in Division 3 West A, Tregaron were 18-10 victors’ at Llanybydder.
In Division 3 West B, Tumble moved level on points with Amman United at the top of the table following their 19-3 defeat of New Dock Stars. Nathan Willard, Tom Miles and Rhys Lewis grabbed the tries, two of which were converted by Steve Hewitt.
Laugharne set up a Towergate West Wales Plate final showdown with Vardre after edging out South Gower 8-6 in their semi-final at Llangennech. Steff Davies kicked a penalty and Mike Williams scored the all-important try for Laugharne, with Ross Greenwood sending over two penalties for Gower.
Elsewhere, Bonymaen booked their spot in the semi-finals of the Glamorgan County Silver Ball after seeing off Vardre 22-7 in their last eight clash at Tata Steel. Chris Moore, Connor Slater and Gareth Andrew also crossed the whitewash for Bony with Laurence Thomas kicking the rest. Josh Davies improved Daniel Llewellyn’s try for Vardre.
Bony join Aberavon Green Stars in the semis, while the other two quarter-finals, involving Glyncorrwg, Maesteg Celtic, Aberavon Quins and Bryncethin, originally scheduled for this week and next, have been postponed under the community rugby suspension.