Pembroke RFC First XV travelled to St Davids last Saturday in really bad weather, with pitch conditions very heavy after days of incessant rain.
The Willington Slate trophy was also at stake, with The Saints five points up prior to kick off. In a marvellous gesture to the Willington family the RNLI crews from Angle and St Davids brought the match ball from Angle to the ground, where St Davids RNLI member Will Chant presented the ball to The Saints skipper prior to kick off (See back page). Both teams were confident that they could claim the trophy despite the conditions legislating against the speedy, skilful Saints backline.
The match turned out to be a very keenly contested affair, with both sides willing to move the slippery ball wide. However, the inevitable handling errors and slippery conditions undermined a number of attacks for both sides. The Saints struck first and held the whip hand for most of the first half, putting the visitors under constant pressure, whilst Saints also had to defend resolutely at times. Having built a good lead, Pembroke showed a lot of resilience and scored some very good tries, narrowing the gap late on through some excellent combined play to raise the tension. Eventually the home side’s defence held, paving the way to a well deserved win by 31-27 in what was a very entertaining match.
One of the key elements of the day was to raise funds for the Fishermans Mission and the local RNLI, and through donations, raffle and an auction a magnificent £1,250 was donated to the charities and after a few speeches the jubilant Saints skipper was presented with the trophy.
The Panthers were away to Tondu, but their match fell foul of the awful weather being stopped after forty minutes, with them awarded the result as they lead by 14-36.
The Youth played H’West at home and their match too was halted only a short way into the second half as the weather deteriorated and the referee called a halt, with Pembroke awarded the result as they were leading by 21-3, which keeps them at the top of the District League Table.
The ecstatic U12s won their semi-final match away in Cardigan last Sunday morning and now appear in this year’s County Junior Finals day. Most junior matches were cancelled due to pitches being unplayable.
The next fixtures include, First XV Friday Feb 23, KO 7pm against Aberaeron at home in the semi-final of the Pembs KO Cup. The Panthers are due to play Porthcawl at home on March 3, KO 2.30pm. Youth are due to travel to Aberystwyth on March 16.
The club’s Thursday coffee mornings (10am-12 midday) that started a couple of weeks ago have proved very popular and anyone living in and around the club are welcome.
March 28 sees a children’s Easter Egg hunt at the club, all interested should turn up at 4pm.