Porthcawl are the epitome of what the Welsh Rugby Union is attempting to achieve with teams at every age grade, a women’s side known as the ‘Shegulls’, a men’s first team marketed as the ‘Seagulls’ and a new second XV called the ‘Sky Rats’.
The club’s work has been recognised by becoming a finalist at the WRU Volunteer awards for Connecting Communities Club of the Year. And secretary Tracey Williams reckons the seaside town will be devoid of residents when they clash with Llanharan at the Principality Stadium in in the Division 2 Cup final.
All roads and railway lines will be heading to Cardiff, not just from Porthcawl but from Brean Sands on the other side of the Bristol Channel. Three hundred and sixty-five junior members, accompanied by parents and family members for a total of about 1,000, are taking part in the Brean Rugby Festival while another section of the club is on tour in Belfast.
Club chairman Gareth Morgan and vice-chair Daniel Morgan, who both coach Porthcawl’s U11 team, are among those traveling to the Principality Stadium for the match before heading back to Brean.
“The club has sold 500 tickets directly while other people have bought them from the WRU or will pay on the day. We have five official supporter buses with other people heading to Cardiff by rail, car and in private hire vehicles. It seems virtually the whole town is heading to the capital,” said Williams.
“All of our match-day squad came through our junior section and we are immensely proud of that. Elliot Bennett, who plays on Saturday, was one of our mascots when we played in the 2018 Bowl final at the Principality Stadium.”
Six of the 23 on duty on Saturday took part when Porthcawl beat Pembroke 33-31 thanks to a match-winning kick from Josh White. The outside-half, who rejoined Porthcawl this season, was at it again when he landed the winner during their semi-final with nine crucial points as they defeated West Central counterparts Aberavon Quins 24-14 at Tonmawr.
Bevington, a dynamic prop who was capped 13 times by Wales during a career which took him from Porthcawl to Bridgend, Ospreys, Bristol and Dragons, was appointed head coach three years ago.
Wing or full-back Prydie, who had stints with Ospreys, Wasps, Dragons and Scarlets, was Wales’ youngest international when he made his Test bow. He joined the Porthcawl coaching staff, which also contains Ben Asprea, Jonathan Phillips and Mike Fraser with Graham Court as team manager, this season.
Bevington wants his squad to enjoy Saturday’s final, saying: “We’ll be sat in a pub when we are 50 years old talking about this occasion. Nobody is bigger than the squad and I’ve kept that message drummed in. There’s no egos.
“We work hard and we enjoy it together. We win together and we lose together. I have learnt about community rugby is you don’t have to be the most intelligent, the biggest or the most skilled in the room, it’s just about being a good person.
“It’s important to have respect for each other and that’s what carries our team. We all work hard together, we enjoy it and we stay tight to the point where we all have beers after the game.”
Porthcawl will be underdogs against a Llanharan side who have won 17 games in a row. “We respect Llanharan and know how difficult it will be but this is a one-off cup game and your previous track record means nothing on the day. It’s about who performs and who does their job better on the day,” said Bevington.
