Their 52-20 defeat in a re-run of last season’s Welsh Schools & College U18 League final seemed to have knocked the reigning champions off-course in their defence of the title. But since then they have been unbeaten in six games, seen off a battling Coleg Gwent in the semi-finals and earned a re-match with Cymoedd.
Tonight (Tuesday, 27 February) the title will be on the line again with Sir Gar in their eighth successive final. Kick-off at Sardis Road is at 7.30pm and the game is live on S4C Chwaraeon Facebook page.
The game has been moved to the 4G pitch at Sardis Road to ensure this season’s final can be played without any problems with the weather, but Sir Gar coach Euros Evans knows his side could be handling a small advantage to Cymoedd.
“Hopefully we have learned from our last visit to Sardis Road and we can be a bit better in the final. We will certainly go there with some confidence having remained unbeaten since then,” said Evans.
“We know what to expect from Cymoedd and we realise that we have to get some quality possession to give our back line the chance to show off their pace and talent. We need to score tries to win.
“I was confident we would reach the semi-finals even though we were beaten by Cymoedd. We came through a very tight game against Coleg Gwent and are now just looking forward to doing our best to hold onto our crown.
“We are pretty much at full strength and our 12 boys who were involved in the Wales Under 18 squad matches are all available.”
Cymoedd lost a massive interval lead in last season’s final to miss out on their chance of making it a hat-trick of titles as they went down 27-23. But they topped the regular league season and overcame Ysgol Glantaf at Sardis Road in their semi-final to set-up the ultimate final showdown.
Coleg Y Cymoedd: Iwan Price-Thomas; Will Clapham, Leon Davies, Ioan Evans, Liam Lloyd; Cavan Slade, Nathan Griffiths; Garyn Phillips, Ieuan Morris, Fraser Hughes, Cian Lewis-Hughes, Mitchell Barnard, Ioan Davies, Callun James, Ieuan Pring
Reps: Garran Williams, Matthew Isles, Iestyn Haskins, Cerith Lloyd, Kyle Evans, Iwan Sheppard, Morgan Price, Mason Thomas
Coleg Sir Gar: Harri Doel; Dean James, Joe Roberts, Osian Knott, Eray Wilson; Llew Smith, Dylan Morgan; Keelan Jewell, Dom Booth, Adam Thomas, Ryan Evans, Jac Price, Cam Lewis, Gethin Davies, Sam Williams
Reps: Josh Bowen, Llew Phillips-Taylor, Dafydd Millward, Joe Scott, Jac Morgan, Jac Howells, Bradley Roderick, Tom Evans
Previous Finals
2010/11: Coleg Sir Gar 20, Coleg Gwent 19
2011/12: Coleg Sir Gar 16, Coleg Gwent 17
2012/13: Coleg Sir Gar 18, Coleg Morgannwg 16
2013/14: Coleg Y Cymoedd (formerly Morgannwg) 22, Coleg Sir Gar 25
2014/15: Coleg Y Cymoedd 13, Coleg Sir Gar 3
2015/16: Coleg Y Cymoedd 44, Coleg Sir Gar 24
2016/17: Coleg Sir Gar 27, Coleg Y Cymoedd 23
