Welsh international Gareth Wyatt was in on the ground floor of the last big cross-border development in UK and Irish rugby, the Heineken Cup, and now the 33-year-old wing has gone back to his roots to try to inspire more great days for Pontypridd in the British and Irish Cup.
Wyatt was among the try scorers last weekend as Ponty made it two out of two in Pool D with a 33-12 home win over Ayr – albeit at the rearranged venue of Glamorgan Wanderers RFC – and he is hoping to add to his tally when Birmingham & Solihull travel to Sardis Road on Saturday.
“I played in the British and Irish Cup for Newport last season and it is a brilliant competition for the Welsh clubs. We went to Dublin and beat Leinster A, just lost out to the Cornish Pirates, who eventually won the cup, and had a great time,” admitted Wyatt.
“But I decided to head back to my first club, Pontypridd, this season and it has been great coming home. Paul John and Dale McIntosh keep the standards and enthusiasm high and there are some very talented youngsters at the club.
“There is a similar buzz around the club as when I came out of the youth team back in 1996 and the beauty of the B&I Cup is that it gives us something different to focus on. There is a chance to meet new opposition, for the fans to enjoy some travel and for the players to test themselves against full time professionals.
“There is no doubt that when you are training every day you can play to a higher standard, but I still believe the Welsh clubs can do well in this Cup because they aren’t playing against the English and Irish pros week-in, week-out.
“We got a great start by beating Llandovery away. That was vital because we’ve only got two away games this season and three at home.
“Ayr were a strong side, but we came good in the end. We know a little bit about Birmingham & Solihull having played them in a pre-season friendly and we are expecting a tough and physical challenge.”
Wyatt, a veteran of 45 Heineken Cup ties and 22 Amlin Challenge Cup games, won the Welsh Premier Division title with Ponty in his first season out of youth rugby and then helped them to win the WRU Challenge Cup and reach the final of the European Challenge Cup.
When Regions were formed, he moved on to the Celtic Warriors and then joined Newport Gwent Dragons. Nowadays the ‘senior pro’ at Sardis Road, he has been very impressed at the talent available to the club.
“There is a lot of talent and there is a lot of ambition among the players. Even though we are top of the Principality Premiership we don’t feel we’ve reached a full playing potential yet.
“Every game there is something we know we can improve on and that is a good thing.”
Llanelli made it two away wins from two outings as they picked up a bonus point in beating Esher 33-14 and currently lead Pool 2 by four points from last season’s beaten finalists Munster A. Their first home game of the British and Irish Cup campaign will be against Nottingham, who are lying in sixth place in the English Championship.
The two clubs have only met three times before with the last clash coming 26 years ago when Nottingham ran in eight tries in a 45-3 rout at home. The first meeting was at Stradey Park on 12 April 1887, which the Welshmen won 10-1, while Nottingham’s next visit was on 25 April, 1984, when they were beaten 30-0.
Nottingham opened their B&I account with a 37-25 away victory over Bristol and will provide top quality opposition for Llanelli.
“We were very pleased with the all-round team performance at Esher, but we are under no illusions that we will be facing much stronger opposition this weekend. They are a quality outfit with big ambitions,” said Llanelli’s head of rugby, Anthony Buchanan.
“We have given the side that won at Esher a vote of confidence for this weekend and the only change is at scrum half, where Gareth Davies has been called-up by the Scarlets and has his place taken by Aled Davies.
“We’ve got a proud record at Parc y Scarlets and we think we will learn a lot about our team and players from this weekend’s British and Irish Cup clash. We’ve had a great start, but we want to keep it going.”
Llanelli are unbeaten at Parc y Scarlets since the 31-18 defeat on 2 January to arch-rivals Swansea, in the Principality Premiership. They have won seven on the bounce this season, the last seven home games of the 2009/10 season and had a draw and two further victories prior to that.
In all, it means they have not lost at home in all competitions for 17 games – 16 wins and a draw.
Llandovery captain Cerith Rees led his side to their first competitive cross border victory as they beat Rotherham Titans 34-17 on Saturday in a 19 hour round-trip to Yorkshire.
The west Wales club left Llandovery at 5am and returned at midnight, but the side, coached by Lyndon Lewis and Euros Evans left enough in the tank to sink the English Championship side.
“It was a tough day,” said the fly-half whose former clubs include Swansea, Neath, Grenoble and Doncaster Knights. “But we stayed positive and concentrated on what we wanted to achieve. We did ourselves proud on Saturday and now we want to build on that in our next game at Ayr this weekend.”
Rees slotted five penalties and two conversions at Clifton Lane, while Damien Welch, Nathan Bowen and Matthew Jacobs ran in for tries. Rees added, “The game was won upfront – we knew Rotherham would pose a forward challenge but we met that challenge and dominated the game throughout. Rotherham found it difficult to break down our defence and we scored at the right times. I was happy with my game too. Obviously, the win was the priority but hopefully if I kick well, it gives the boys a bit of extra confidence.”
Rees, who experienced European rugby with Aberavon, Neath, Swansea, Bridgend, Grenoble and Albi enjoyed the cross-border atmosphere. “Rotherham had a good crowd which made it an exciting affair. It was our first competitive cross-border match and I think we may have proved a few people wrong but there will be added expectations of us now.
“Ayr is a game that we can win but we are taking nothing for granted and we are conscious they are a good side and will be playing at home which will make for another big challenge.
“We had a lot of young players in our side on Saturday and they are developing very quickly in this competition. We are hoping the confidence gained in the British and Irish Cup will give us a boost when we return to the Principality Premiership later this month.”
Swanseaare hoping the weather will give them a break this weekend when they travel to Old Deer Park to face London Welshin the second round of the British and Irish Cup.
The All Whites have been frozen out of the action since 20 November and director of rugby Richard Webster wants to get his side back into the thick of things ahead of the hectic Christmas period in the Principality Premiership.
London Welsh let a 16 point interval lead slip at home against Moseley in their first round clash last weekend as they slipped to a 24-21 defeat. Swansea were beaten at home by Ulster A, 33-12, in their first outing in October.
The game will be played a week short of the 125th anniversary of the first meeting of the two clubs at St Helen’s on Christmas Eve, 24 December, 1885, and will be the 99th game between the two old rivals..
“There’s always been a massive rivalry between the two clubs over the years and we want to show people in Wales that London Welsh are an attractive side to watch, with ambition on the field as well as off it,” said former Wales and British Lions back row star John Taylor, who is currently the managing director of London Welsh.
Welsh Clubs in British & Irish Cup action this weekend
Saturday, 18 December
Ayr v Llandovery (3.00 pm)
Llanelli v Nottingham (3.30 pm)
London Welsh v Swansea (1.00 pm)
Pontypridd v Birmingham & Solihull (2.30 pm)
Plymouth Albion v Newport (3.00 pm)
Sunday, 19 December
Neath v Bedford Blues (2.30 pm)
