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LLANDOVERY RFC
THE THOUGHTS OF CHAIRMAN REES
Llandovery RFC Chairman Peter Rees reports on the season...
Twelve months ago the Drovers’ News front page headline read ‘Wind of Change Blows In’... as Euros Evans outlined the various changes in the coaching team as well as the on-field personnel.
However confident our loyal supporters might have been in looking forward to the new season with the ‘new team’ none of us could have imagined that season 2015/16 would be the greatest in the Club’s long history! It started well at the end of August with our Sevens squad winning the Fosters’ National 7s Cup at Cardiff Arms Park for
the second consecutive year (it has only been running for three years!) but even then I suspect we were going into the 15-a-side season realistically hoping to get into the top half of the table and a good cup run!
The history books will of course show that we in fact ended up in second spot in the League table and had a fantastic victory in the National Stadium against our old rivals Carmarthen Quins to lift the SWALEC Cup for the second time. What is even more pleasing is that the success came on the back of some sparkling creative and entertaining rugby which has been appreciated by everyone who has had the privilege to watch it and on behalf of the Board of Directors, our loyal supporters and I hope the entire community of Llandovery
and district I would like to thank and congratulate our “new” coaching team and playing squad for their fantastic success.
Whilst the highlight of the season for the first team was of course our SWALEC Cup success in the National Stadium (and few will forget the image of our new President Handel’s delight when we scored the final try against Pontypridd in the Semi Final at St Helens) we must recognise the fantastic achievements across the club with Daf Hughes gaining national honours at Under 20 and Harri Doel at Under 16. It is great to see the Club’s long term commitment to junior rugby paying off. A great reward for all the hard work from the coaches at all levels – Diolch yn fawr i bawb!
Others in this Newsletter will refer to the success of the various teams across the club in 2015/16 but I would like to look forward to 2016/17 in wishing the newly reformed 2nd XV every success and welcoming Marc de Marigny as their coach and Dai "Book" Thomas as Team Manager. I wonder how many teams in Wales can claim to have a Springboks U21 international and 7s captain as their coach? We also welcome Rob Williams as Coach to the Youth XV with the able support of Stuart Doel. The future of rugby in Llandovery
is looking good and if we can eventually
succeed to get the second XV into the National Leagues it will look even better! We have quite a battle on our hands to get this accepted but rest assured we are trying our best as we see it as a vital component of the development of the Club both on and off the field. In the meantime, please support all our teams, coaches and players at every opportunity, you will always see good rugby at the Church Bank ground and long may it last!
Each season it is inevitable that we will see players, coaches and management leaving us for a variety of reasons, some progressing further up the professional ladder, others going away to travel, study or work and some just hanging up the boots. We wish them all the very best of luck and whilst
I will not list them all here, there are a few that must be recognised - Mathew Jacobs, Luke Lewis and Andrew Thomas have all made a significant contribution to the success of our first team and I am sure they will always be welcome at Llandovery in any capacity, even if some might be playing for an opposition team.
Departures create opportunities and we are pleased that Andrew “Cantona” Jones is taking over from Tommo as 1st Team Manager, he has served a “short” apprenticeship with the club over a number of decades so
DROVERS News