Category Archives: Ebbw Vale Rugby

Ebbw will play Merthyr at Eugene Cross Park in the quarterfinals of the National Cup. The draw in full is:

Cross Keys RFC v Pontypool RFC
RGC1404 v Llandovery RFC
Ebbw Vale RFC v Merthyr RFC
Carmarthen RFC v Pontypridd RFC

Ties will be played on the weekend of March 4th, with our game kicking off ar 2:30pm on the 4th.

The Addicts will be running a bus to Carmarthen Quins on Friday.
The bus will leave the rugby club at 5.30pm. There are still a number of seats available.

Seats can be booked by:
Email: ebbwaddicts@mail.com
Phone: 07766490358

Also deposits of £40 for RGC trip should be paid asap.
There are still places left on the trip.
Fur further information use the contact details above.

It was with great sadness that we heard of the recent sudden and untimely passing of Paul Sturdy, Vice President and ex-committee member.
Paul served formally on the committee at Ebbw Vale RFC in the early ‘noughties’ and was a passionate supporter for over 20 years. He was also actively involved supporting his son’s coaching career along with watching and helping his twin daughters’ play rugby, most recently with the Jesters.
A generous man, Paul was at a rugby fundraiser with family and friends the day before he died and donations to Velindre in Paul’s memory are welcomed by the family.
The funeral will be at St David’s Church, Beaufort on Monday 20th February at 11:30am with burial then at Cefn Golau Cemetery. Mourners are asked to wear red rugby jerseys or other red items.
Our thoughts are with Paul’s wife, Vicky, and their children Stacey, Luke, Scott, Rhian and Alex.

The club was deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the sudden death of former player and current serving Police Officer Mark Dicks at the tragically young age of 53.

Mark, known to all as Dicksy was a native of Rassau and joined the Steelmen following advice from his work colleague at Marine Colliery and Ebbw Vale stalwart Malcolm Sibthorpe after starting his senior career at the RTB club. Dicksy was a great performer in the 2nd row and only left his hometown club when he joined South Wales Police, switching to the star studded police team that contained many current Welsh internationals.

Dicksy also spent several seasons in a very strong Pontypridd team where he alternated between the second and back rows. He dropped down from what was then known as First Class Rugby and joined Merthyr where he now lived and captained the club as they climbed the leagues. He ended his career as a player coach at Dowlais RFC after which he switched all of his attention to motocross, a major love for Dicksy from a young age

Dicksy was an imposing figure, as gentle off the field as he was tough on it with a wonderful sense of humour, often self deprecating, and could be relied upon to provide some fun at anytime.

As someone who knew him very well from the age of 4, he was a wonderful person to grow up with and a great friend to many, myself included and in the last few days many Dicksy stories have come back to me and they have all, without fail, made me smile.

Our deepest condolences and thoughts are with his wife and family.

As a mark of respect a minute silence will be held prior to this Saturday’s Bedwas game

Chairman

Jon Jones

Ebbw Vale will make a welcome return to Beddau RFC in Round 2 of the National Cup, on February 18th. This was always one of the best away fixtures when we were in Division One East and the Championship, with a warm welcome off the field and hard games on it.

The draw in full is:

Narberth RFC v Carmarthen RFC
Pontypridd RFC v Newport RFC
Bedwas RFC v Merthyr RFC
Bridgend RFC v RGC 1404
Cardiff RFC v Pontypool RFC
Cross Keys RFC v Neath RFC
Beddau RFC v Ebbw Vale RFC
Llandovery RFC v Bargoed RFC

Three Premiership games scheduled for Saturdays have now been moved to Friday nights to avoid clashing with Wales’ Six Nations fixtures. The changes are as follows:

Ebbw Vale v Aberavon now Friday, February 10th, 7:30pm
Carmarthen v Ebbw Vale now Friday, February 24th, 7:15pm
Ebbw Vale v Pontypridd now Friday, March 17th, 7:15pm

The second half of the season coincides with the January 31st transfer deadline leading to a hectic few days for club officials!

The club has signed the following players:

The Lewis twins return to the club after 10 years playing professional rugby mainly at London Welsh. Scrum Half Rob and Centre / Wing James, victims of the sad circumstances at London Welsh, are back at the club where they started their senior career and continue the long history the Lewis family has with the Steelmen, their late grandfather being a star performer at outside half, father Steve a record points holder at scrum half and cousin Iestyn a highly talented centre, all gracing Eugene Cross Park over the last 5 decades. Welcome back to two highly talented individuals who have always expressed a desire to return to the club!

The return of the twins sees 2 sets of twins in the squad and it will be interesting when they are on the field the same time as the Franchi twins. This is highly unusual and it would be interesting to know if another club has 2 sets of twins in the squad.

23 year old second row Lance Randall joins the club after being out injured for a long period with a knee injury. He is a product of the Dragons Academy where he played alongside several of the current Steelmen Squad. Lance is a Welsh U18 international and has played senior rugby at Newport and several seasons at Cinderford. He has worked hard over the last 8 weeks with the clubs medical team to return to action and has impressed coaches in training and all believe he will add to the already strong Steelmen pack

The club are also delighted to see centre Dom Franchi return to the playing squad after a long period out with a knee ligament injury sustained at Pontyprid on World Cup Final day in 2015. Dom had established himself as a favourite of the Ebbw Addicts with his strong ball carting and destructive tackling. Dom has worked diligently on his rehabilitation at all times and deserves to enjoy the warm welcome he will receive when he takes the field

Centre Adam Jones has suffered a setback as he battles a groin strain and will be reassessed by medical staff in the next few weeks

Further updates on squad and injuries will follow next week.

We are all sorry to learn that one of our legendary players of the 1950s and 1960s, the great Albert ‘Albie’ Jackson (of Blaina), has died. Albert was a key figure in two Championship sides and Roy Lewis, who saw him play many times, recalls the final game of the 1951-52 season, at home to Neath when, in front of 10000 speactators, Jackson chased a cross kick, which he caught to score under the posts. Great skill for a threequarter – but Albie was a hooker! No wonder Roy describes him as the ‘Chunky’ of his day.

The funeral will take place on Monday 6th February at 12 noon at the Wesleyan Chapel, Nantyglo, followed by cremation at Croesyceiliog.

The club will hold a minute’s silence before Saturday’s National Cup tie with Skewen RFC.

Naturally, our condolences go out to Albie’s loved ones.

The WRU have released the Premiership fixtures for the second section of the season, and Ebbw’s programme looks like this:

February 4th Bedwas (h)
February 11th Aberavon (h)
February 25th Carmarthen (a)
March 18th Pontypridd (h)
April 8th RGC (a)
April 29th Llandovery (a)
May 6th Merthyr (h)

The matches against Aberavon, Carmarthen and Pontypridd clash with Wales 6 Nations games, so will have earlier kick off times, or be played on other dates, subject to agreement between clubs and the WRU.

The family of long-time Steelmen supporter, Howard Thomas, have asked us to include the following information regarding his funeral:

“The funeral for Howard Thomas will be on Tuesday 24th January, with an 11:45am service at Christchurch, Ebbw Vale (conducted by club chaplain Rev Geoff Waggett) followed by cremation at Llwydcoed crematorium, Aberdare.”

If you’re wondering exactly what happens next, our club secretary Ian James has put together this message, which tells you as much as we know.

“The WRU’s Premiership team starts working on fixtures today, January 9th.  The WRU and Premiership clubs will then meet on Monday 16th January when we’d hope to agree the format and publish the fixtures soon afterwards.
The prime criterion is to try and ensure that all clubs get the same home/away balance over the whole season i.e. 11 home, 11 away. This will mean that teams who have had 7 home and 8 away fixtures in the first section of the season (as we have) will have 4 home and 3 away fixtures in the second section.
Of the 7 other teams in the Top 8 Ebbw have played 5 away, but will only have 4 home games to “get the balance right”. This means a second away trip to one team we’ve already visited. RGC again, anyone?
Over the longer term the ‘home or away’ basis of the first section (rounds that finished yesterday) will be reversed on a two year cycle, so all the teams we played at home in the first half this year, we’ll play away next year.
Please note, this is all subject to change or tomy misinterpretation!
I’d be grateful for any constructive thoughts or comments, so please contact me if you have any: clubsecretary@evrfc.co.uk “

Everyone associated with Ebbw Vale RFC is devastated to learn of the death of long time supporter Howard Thomas, in the early hours of Sunday morning. We send our heartfelt condolences to all those who hold him dear.

This is the Steelmen squad to take on Cross Keys at Eugene Cross Park tomorrow (Saturday January 7th):

Dan Haymond, Nathan Preece, Gareth Maule, Dai Langdon, Craig Duncan; Josh Lewis, Dai Jones; Ross Jones, Joe Franchi, Gethin Robinson; Jaonathan Davies, Damien Hudd (capt); Rhys Clarke, Ronny Kynes, Harrison Keddie.

Subs: Jonny Bowen, Ian George, Rob Sevenoaks, Max Williams, Dawid Rubasniak, Chris Thomas, Ryan Gardner, Srdan Majkic.

With the Premiership about to be cloven in twain, a win for Ebbw will mean a ‘top eight’ place. Any other result will mean that the final split will depend on the outcome of Cardiff’s match at home to Bedwas. If Cardiff lose, Ebbw will be in the top half regardless.

To add to the excitement, S4C will be covering the game live on TV and streamed via their facebook page. Look out for a link from our twitter account tomorrow afternoon.

Ebbw Vale RFC have secured the services of  former Scarlets and Bristol centre Gareth Maule in a player coach role.

Maule, 29, returns to where he started his career having gone on to represent Newport Gwent Dragons, and Scarlets for whom he made 115 appearances before joining Aviva Premiership giants Bristol.

“We are absolutely delighted to be able to secure someone of Gareth’s calibre. He’s got a wealth of Heineken Cup and Pro12 experience and is a consummate professional. We are confident he will bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and professionalism to the club which will no doubt improve and enthuse the current squad” said Ebbw Vale Chairman Jon Jones.

Head Coach Nigel Davies said, “As a player Gareth brings physicality and both an attacking and defensive edge which he has displayed time and time again at the top level.  He’s a talented individual with a mass of experience, he’s shown during his time with me at the Scarlets and at Bristol. We are excited to have him here.”

On signing Gareth said  “It’s great to be involved again with Ebbw Vale, where I gained my first taste of senior rugby.  They are a friendly but ambitious club and the opportunity to work alongside Nigel Davies in my home region is one which I look forward to.”

The club are also delighted to secure the services of back 5 forward Jonathan Davies from Ynsyddu RFC. The 23 year old has impressed in training, Fosters Cup matches and in a 20 minute cameo from the bench at Bedwas on Boxing Day with abrasive and skilled performances. Jonathan’s development has been held back by injuries in the last few years but, now coming back to full fitness, he is delighted to get the opportunity to develop his career further with the Steelmen.

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Ebbw Vale have named a large squad for this evening’s friendly match at Hafodyrynys. The game, which helps Hafodyrynys celebrate their centenary.

Will Holley
Craig Duncan
Srdan Majkic
Dai Langdon
Chris Levesley
Liam Jones
Chris Thomas
Jack Goodey
Ronny Kynes
Rhys Clarke
Rhodri Dicks
Damien Hudd
Rob Sevenoaks
Joe Franchi
Ross Jones
Ryan Gardner
Dale Tucker
Jordan Howells
Dai Jones
Mike Preece
John Dawe
Dawid Rubnasiak
Max Williams
Joe Bartlett
Gethin Robinson
Jonny Bowen
Ian George

This is a reminder that the club shop will be open on Thursday evening between 6.30pm and 8.00pm.
There are a still a few Childs Replica shirt orders to be collected as well aa several pre-ordered Christmas mugs.
There are a few extra mugs available as well as Replica kits and a variety of leisure wear items.

This is the Last chance to buy some Steelmen merchandise for Christmas!

Club Statement

The club has this week parted company with back 5 forward Josh Jacas following availability issues over the last five weeks. It is not a step that the club has taken lightly as Josh is a likeable and talented rugby player. To sustain the growth of the club over the last six years and develop further requires an ever-increasing commitment from the playing squad. The coaches have a limited amount of contact time with the playing group and maximising this is crucial to improving individual and team performance. Where this required commitment is not being met, the officers and coaching staff will continue to take action for the benefit of all associated with Ebbw Vale RFC.

The great strength of the club in recent years has been its unity as a complete entity, from officials to coaches, players, supporters and sponsors. This key component in our success will be safeguarded with a zero tolerance approach to anything that challenges this important element of our ethos.

The officials and coaching staff would also like to take the opportunity to outline our approach to the Fosters Challenge Cup. As a group, we decided that this would be the vehicle to give valuable game time and experience to the young talented players at surrounding clubs. As a group we are sure that this will assist in discovering players who will come into our squad quickly, but also ensure there is a development pipeline of talent that will secure our future as a leading Premiership club in the coming seasons. In some cases this will result in games being lost but the longer-term gain, we feel, is of significant importance to us as an organisation. I would like to thank Darren Venn, who has recently joined the club as Team Analyst with responsibilities for recruitment, along with Team Manager Martyn Cooke for driving this policy forward.

Jon Jones
Chairman

There is some good news for us all on the injury front: outside half Josh Lewis, voted October’s Principality Player of the Month, has been confirmed as targeting a Boxing Day return at Bedwas.
There’s bad news about Rory Pitman though as the burly number 8, who limped off during the game against Bargoed, has injured a posterior cruciate ligament and is ruled out for the rest of the season.
A further squad departure sees Ben Ellis, scrum half, leave the squad – but look out for a large number of new faces in the upcoming Fosters Cup games.

Ebbw Vale will host Merthyr in the next round of Fosters Challenge CUp matches this Wednesday evening, kicking off at 7:30.

Ebbw include new signing Jack Goodey in the starting line up to play RGC 1404 at Parc Eirias on Saturday afternoon. Jack joins from Newport to fill the gap left in the squad by Ethan Doyle’s departure. The 22 year old is the son of former Welsh international Richard and, in the mould of his father, is a powerful ball carrier. He comes straight in for a debut with Rory Pitman awaiting scan results from the knee injury sustained in the first quarter of Bargoed game.

The team is:
15 Dan Haymond
14 Craig Duncan
13 Srdan Majkic
12 Nathan Preece
11 Chris Levesley
10 Dai Langdon
9 Dai Jones
8 Jack Goodey
7 Ronny Kynes
6 Rhys Clarke
5 Max Williams
4 Damien Hudd (capt)
3 Gethin Robinson
2 Joe Franchi
1 Ross Jones

Substitutes
16 Jonny Bowen
17 Ian George
18 Josh James
19 Joe Bartlett
20 Rhodri Dicks
21 Chris Thomas
22 Jordan Howells
23 Ryan Gardner

Ebbw’s away game at Bedwas on December 26th will have a later kick off than originally advertised. The match will start at 16:45 and will be shown live by S4C.

The home game with Cardiff on New Year’s Eve will kick off early, at 13:30.

Finally, Ebbw will pay a friendly fixture at Hafodyrynys RFC on December 21st, kicking off at 7:15pm. Hafodyrynys mark their centenary this season and have invited the Steelmen, as Premiership Champions, to help with the celebrations. Congratulations to them, and we look forward to seeing them in a few weeks.

Monumental mason, Ebbw Vale outside half Josh Lewis has been awarded the second Principality Premiership Player of the Month accolade of the season.

Lewis, having played at Ebbw Vale early in his career, spent the last three years at Llanelli and the Scarlets before returning to Eugene Cross Park in the summer.

Having spent his younger days playing football for Cynon Valley, Josh was a latecomer to the oval ball, first playing rugby for Merthyr Youth before a first senior season at Mountain Ash.

Ebbw Vale head coach Nigel Davies said, “Josh is a natural athlete. He’s a high quality player who is eager to learn and could certainly step up to regional rugby. Due to injuries while at the Scarlets, he didn’t have a huge opportunity to show what he can do and the big thing this season was for him to enjoy his rugby again.

“We haven’t played to our potential yet, we’ve had to adapt due to injuries to key players, but that has helped to increase our strength in depth  and give players exposure and game time. We’ve got some important wins under our belt recently, especially with some away wins over top eight contenders, but we’ve still got to improve our level of consistency.”

Josh Lewis said, “There’s a good environment here at Ebbw Vale and I’m certainly enjoying my rugby this season. We had a blip at the start of the season but we’ve gelled well now. They are all key games from now on but we are determined to make the top eight and go onto retain the title.”

Principality Building Society’s Ebbw Vale branch manager Natalie Stevens said: “Josh has already won a Principality Premiership Try of the Week  award so to pick up the player of the month award shows what a wonderful season he’s having. Everyone here at the Ebbw Vale branch is proud of his and the team’s achievements and wish them the best of luck for the rest of the season.”

Squad Updates

As all are aware, the squad has experienced a very difficult period with various injuries and availability issues since the beginning of the season. The following changes have now been made.

Arrivals

Former Steelman Jonny Bowen has returned to the club from Brecon RFC to fill the gap created by an injury to Mathew Williams. The 27-year-old Bowen’s previous spell was blighted by a serious ankle injury, but he is a powerful performer with an accurate arm at lineout time and he returns injury-free and off the back of a season where he was Newbridge’s Player of the Year. The club would like to acknowledge the assistance of Brecon RFC in making the process an efficient one.

Josh James, a 20-year-old prop who can play both sides of the scrum, has joined after impressing coaches in the first round of Fosters Cup games. He is well known to forwards coach Lee Davies being a product of the highly rated Coleg Y Cwmoedd Rugby Academy system

Another former Steelman returning to the fold after an absence of 9 seasons is back 5 forward Rhodri Dicks. A native of Ebbw Vale, Rhodri has spent a large part of his working career travelling the world in his role as a Security Specialist (he can be spotted with the players on the last Lions tour footage). A product of the RTB club, he is an uncompromising forward who will add experience and size.

The Back division is reinforced by the arrival of three players: David Jones, Liam Jones and Srdan Majkic.

27 year old scrum half Dai is well known and hugely popular within the squad and with the supporters as he played a key role in Ebbw Vale’s 4 title wins and 2^nd place finish in the return to the premiership. David will add his unique character and competitive edge in a battle for the 9 shirt with the other scrum halves in the squad.

Liam Jones is a 21-year-old centre and is a product of Merthyr RFC and the Blues Academy. He has had previous experience in the Premiership as an Outside Half with Bridgend and joins the club from Bedlinog after impressing in the pre-season game and at training over the last few months. Liam adds versatility, as he is also able to play at 15, the position from which he scored a cup-winning drop goal in injury time to win the Swalec Plate for Bedlinog in a superb contest with Penallta at the Principality Stadium.

The final arrival is another centre in Srdan Majkic, the 23 year old joins from Newbridge having impressed coaches in his Fosters Cup performances last season whilst on permit from Rogerstone RFC. Srdan arrives fresh from playing for Croatia.

Departures

The following players have moved on from the Steelmen and we would like to thank them for their services

Number 8 Ethan Doyle a native of Newport, has decided to step down due to work commitments and the travel difficulties in commuting from Bristol where he is based with his work. Ethan has been a great clubman and his uncompromising style, pace and power made him a firm favourite with the Vale faithful. We wish him well in his future business and rugby career

Utility back Tom Watkins leaves for Nantyglo after a second stint at the club . The popular Tom will always be welcome at the club following his commitment and playing skills in our promotion season.

Scrum Half Tom Edwards is also stepping down to local club, Blaina, due to family commitments. Tom played a vital part in last year’s League winning campaign and will doubtless help to develop his local club

The final departure is prop Lloyd Bridges who returns to parent club Penallta RFC to gain more game time

Injury Update

In what is resembling a particularly busy episode of Casualty, our medical team is being overworked as never before. The current list is as follows:

Dom Franchi – after a serious ACL injury sustained in last year’s October victory at Sardis Road, and a few set backs during the rehabilitation stage, Dom is now running and expected to return to action in January.

Adam Jones is recovering from a groin problem that troubled him throughout last season. This type of injury is very difficult to treat and recover from, but Adam is now making progress and is hoping to return in December or January at the latest.

Mathew Williams is facing a long period of inactivity and an operation to his shoulder that will sideline him until April or, as is more likely, the start of next season. Do not rule out an earlier than predicted return, though, as all who know him will not underestimate his desire to pull on the Ebbw shirt again in the shortest possible time!

New signing Number 8 Rory Pitman suffered a thumb injury in late September that required an operation. The burly Pitman is expected to make his return possibly this coming weekend, but will almost definitely be available for the RGC away match.

Outside Half Josh Lewis is due a scan on the knee injury that forced his early departure in our last home fixture with Carmarthen Quins. The scan will allow the medical team to ascertain the seriousness of the injury and decide on a course of action that will enable Josh to return to the field as soon as possible

One of the latest to be sidelined is second row Joe Bartlett who has a hamstring injury that is likely to result in him being out for around 4 weeks. This is hugely frustrating for Joe who has worked hard in gaining regular starting role in the boiler house.

We have also suffered injuries to our Dragons players,

Ashley Sweet who injured a chest muscle at Merthyr in early October has had an operation and is looking at a return in January. The hugely popular Sweet is determined to return better than ever for the Steelmen and earn a Dragons starting spot.

Last Friday’s game at Aberavon also claimed young full back / winger Will Talbot Davies as an injury victim. Will sustained a thumb injury that will be assessed by the Dragons medical team this week.

Congratulations

Dragons Academy wing prospect Jarred Rosser, having been in impressive early season form for the Steelmen, was called in to train with the Welsh 7’s squad and is likely to representing Wales in tournaments during December. He will then be likely to be in action for Wales Under 20’s in the 6 Nations tournament.

Ebbw Fawr and Coleg Gwent product Joel Harries was called up for Under 20’s training during early November. The loose head prop, who turns 19 in mid December, made a favourable impression and will hopefully make the squad for the 6 Nations. Joel has been in impressive form for Bedlinog in the Championship and certainly impressed in his debut appearance against Newport and in the Fosters Cup games

Read REL’s moving tribute to David Nash, which appeared in last Saturday’s match programme. You can find it on REL’s page, here.

Bedwas and Ebbw Vale have agreed to move their Christmas fixture from the 24th to the 26th of December, with a 2:30 kick off at Bridge Field. This has been approved by the WRU.