30th October: Rocks lose to Fairwater – Report by JD

23rd October: Congratulations to St. Peter’s Under 13′s who on the District Cup for the second year running. Well done boys… First team here we come.

22nd October: First XV draw 13 a-piece to Llanishen (Photos) and Report, but Second team overcome Rhiwbina IIs, 16-15 – Report. Apparently Jimmy Ray scored all 18 points…

20th October: Teams for Saturday 22nd October. Here

20th October: Many thanks once again to Vince Nolan who has submitted his October thoughts  for publication in Cardiff East Community Times Magazine.

19th October: 

Fixtures / Results – Two wins.
8th October: Rocks 35 – 18 Tonyrefail – Match Report by JDunleavy. (Report from Tonyrefail) Once again the Harlequins slope is mentioned!!
15th October: Gwernyfed 24-30 Rocks – Match Report by JDunleavy (Report from Gwernyfed)

Petition: We are now up to nearly 170 signatures – please ask friends and family to also sign. Thanks

Congratulations to Paul & Laura Davies (the Lemons) on the birth of their son Harry Rhys Davies last week, Harry weighed in at 8lbs 3 all are doing well and well-done both, I am sure Paul will let us know when he will be allowed back out to play & celebrate the birth of yet another new pebble. 

Rocks Two gang return to our ‘Ancestral Home’ to overcome St. Joseph’s – Report by Paul O\’Brien

The September Players of the month
Senior Player of the month for September, Dan French
Youth Player of the month for September,  Danny Wardle
The senior player of the month was close call between Nick Kelly & Dan French but Frenchy just swung the votes in his favour, Well-done to both players they will each receive 5 pints each and their achievements highlighted on the web site.

1st October: Firsts go down 53-8 to Rhiwbina. Seconds go down 36-24.Report

29th September: Teams for Saturday 1st October. Here

29th September: Training Photos from Thursday night.

29th September: We’ve had a great start to the petition to ‘Allow St. Peter’s RFC to Open Beyond 9pm‘ and we’re already over 100 signatures. Now that you have signed it, it’s time to ask your family to do the same… and friends… and neighbours. Only apathy can be against us.

28th September: In a slight change to the advertised programme, the Seconds will now be playing Kenfig Hill at home on Saturday 1st October rather than Llandaff North.

27th September: Rocks v Pentyrch Match report, and photos by coach and journalist John Dunleavy or… you could read the report as seen by Pentyrch.

25th September: Can you help? Got any Rocks photos from the 70′s or 80′s more

24th September: Good 34-24 win over Pentyrch at the Harlequins for the first team. Four from four with four bonus points so far. Other Div 3SE news; Nelson lose 22-35 to Rhiwbina and Aberdare beat Llanishen 25-13.

23rd September: First and Second Team sheets for Saturday Here. Both teams meet at 1.00pm.

20th September: Many thanks to Coach Dunleavy for supplying the Dowlais Match Report.

18th September: Many congratulations to Don Gallagher on the birth of his latest grandson, Taite David, who was born on 16th September at 4lb 11 oz. Another pebble joins the Rocks!!

17th September: Happy Days! Three wins out of three wins today for our seniors and youth. The firsts traveled to Dowlais in a Division Three South East League fixture and gained their third win in the league and also their third bonus point with tries going to Nicky Kelly, Josh Kelly, Owain Smith and Ed Dobbs. Rocks win 12-27. Also traveling were the seconds to CHSOB where  we returned with the spoils of 17-23. Tries to Gavin Cooper and Ben Foley (2) a conversion and two penalties (one from the other side of Europe) from Jimmy Mullane. It wasn’t pretty however the team with more chutzpah prevailed. The seconds welcomed back Gibbo from his injury last year in his first game. He performed well apart from his throwing in, hooking, kicking, passing, catching and positioning around the park. Nice to see you back Gib. Finally an excellent win for the youth 15-27 over Llanishen. Tries byRob Ryan, Coby Flower and  Danny Wardle (2) who also scored 2 conversions and a penalty. Good performances from Elliot Sebastian Regan and Budgie.

16th September: Teams for Saturday 17th September. Here

15th September:  The Under 7`s are under way. This week the Pebbles (small Rocks) finely became Rocks! After a year of training playing bulldogs and learning how not to pass, it all came good on Sunday. Read the report by Denfa here.

14th Sereptember:  Annual General Meeting – Friday 16th September. 6.30pm in the clubhouse.

11th September: Player Profiles now available.

 

 10th September:  Good wins for both senior teams today. Firsts win two out of two, and both with bonus points beating Penarth at home 28-12. Photos. Report to follow. Meanwhile the seconds beat Llandaff 34-17. The youth narrowly lost 14-10 to New Panteg.

 9th September: Teams announced for Saturday. Contact John or Kevin for access to the members pages.

5th September:

Junior Section International Day

Wales –v- South Africa       Sunday September 11      9.30am kick off

St Peter’s is hosting its first Junior Section International Day on the morning of the Wales –v- South Africa match prior to the morning round of junior games which will kick off at 11am straight after the Welsh match. So wear your Welsh kit or something red until full time then change into your club colours. The clubhouse will be open from 9am so come early to book your places in front of one of the 4 large flatscreen tellies and tuck in to delicious sausage and bacon baps. Coffees and teas also served.

It’s not often the juniors get the chance to take over the club so let’s make some noise! Wear something red! Cymru am byth!

(All adults must be accompanied by a responsible child)

5th September: Notes added to players / members pages. This page is password protected as it is only for Rocks  players/members.See John Dunleavy for the password.

 

 4th September: Rocks win their league opener away to Aberdare. Report and pictures to follow.

30th August: The Youth kicked off their final pre-season match at Rumney and were very unlucky to lose 14-18.  Ringo’s last year’s 16 group blended well with the older youth group and there is a genuine competition for places, good turnouts in training and great anticipation for the season ahead. We hosted a youth 10 a side tournament on Saturday which was well organised by Matthew Sweeney. We hope to make this an annual event.  A couple of late withdrawals meant  the 2 pool format had to be abandoned and all clubs played each other on a round-robin.  We won the tournament being unbeaten throughout and beat:  Rumney, Pontypridd, Rhiwbina, Barry, and a spirited Llantwit Fardre side who struggled for numbers but who did not give up trying.  A great start to the season and the focus is now firmly on playing against the newly reformed Fairwater Youth in the Cardiff and District Cup this coming Saturday.

29th August: WE HAVE A WINNER!!!! Congratulations to G ABRAHAM who scoops a wonderful £7 500 with all four numbers 6 11 15 and 21. Well done also to Smudger, Vince Nolan and Warren who all grab £10 for three numbers. The award of £7 500 will be made to G Abraham next Saturday at 7pm in the Club before next week’s draw. Here we go again with Rocks Lottery 3 starting at £1 000.

28th August: Rocks play well in final trial game at Merthyr, but go down 12-10. Report.

26th August: Further to our request for a fixture on 3rd September… Our seconds are now to face Old Illtydians at the Harlequins on this date.

23rd August: First XV to face Merthyr (Away) on Friday evening, 26th August. Kick off 7.15pm.  22nd August: Match Reports from the preseason games against Llandaff and Pill Harriers.

21st August: St. Peter’s First XV are looking for a fixture on Thursday (25th) or Friday (26th) of this week. If you are able to assist in arranging a fixture please contact Joe on 07821922948.

18th August: Many thanks to Vince Nolan for the latest Cardiff East Editorial. It’s well worth a read!

17th August: Our Under 17’s played Southwell RFC Under 17’s (Nottingham) in a 10-a-side game last night.  A great fixture and 2 evenly matched teams.  We just nicked the result in the final 10 minutes but plenty of promising performances for both sets of coaches to take forward.  Good luck to the Southwell guys for the rest of the season.  Thanks to Phil Dacey for refereering. The youth have trial match a midday on Saturday over at Rumney prior to the Wales game.

16th August: This Saturday… Watch Wales play Argentina at the club  14.30 kick off; and the lottery goes up to £7 400!!!

12th August: Senior 10s on the 20th August is unfortunately cancelled. The Youth 10s on the 27th is definitely on.

4th August: Please note… Saturday’s trial match vs Llandaff kicks off 1.00pm not 2.30pm. This will be followed in the Clubhouse by England v Wales.

1st August: Many thanks to all who turned out for a memorable Presentation Evening at the Club on Saturday night…

27th July: Reminder…The awards Presentation for season 2010-2011 will take place on the 30^th of July 6.00 onwards at the club. There will be professional entertainment laid on after the presentation everyone is welcome.

22nd July: Many thanks to Vince and Vince (Messrs Nolan and Sullivan) for the latest Cardiff East Editorial

22nd July: Big hits as Somoa beat Australia <<video>>

13th July: With Preseason training started on Tuesday, it’s time to take a look at the First XV Fixtures for 2011-12. Here. First league fixture will be against Aberdare – Away on 3rd September.

7th July: Preseason training now starts on Tuesday 12th July 6.30pm at the Harlequins. Please bring trainers and boots.

6th July: Many Congratulations to Conor Nagle, Ben Thomas and Joshua Nolan who have been selected to play for Wales under 12s baseball team to play England on 24th July. This is a double congratulations for Joshua (Patsy’s Boy) as he has recently played for Wales already in East Wales v West Wales  Rugby Match Under 12′s at Ebbw Vale. What a Rock!! Meanwhile John Dunleavy has been picked to play for Wales against England (at the end of the month I believe).  His two boys Josh and Lewis have been picked to play for Wales A in the corresponding fixture.

3rd July: Dates for your diary… 20th August – Senior 10-a-side tournament at the Harlequins. 27th August – Youth 10-a-side tournament at the Harlequins.

23rd June: St. Peter’s feature in this month’s Rugby Club Magazine. Article by Vince – Photos by Kevin.

21st June: Many congratulations to Sian and Brendan Bush who had a 7lb 9oz shrub (baby boy) today at lunch time.

17th June: The awards Presentation for season 2010-2011 will take place on the 30^th of July 6.30-7.00 at the club. There will be professional entertainment laid on after the presentation everyone is welcome. 30th May: St. Peter’s RFC celebrates 125 years with a Dinner / Dance on Saturday June 11th at the President’s Suite, Millennium Stadium. Tickets available now behind the bar or through Tommo. Book early for to avoid disappointment. Further details.

29th May: It has just been confirmed that the Barbarians Rugby squad will be training at Penarth Athletic Club (Penarth Rugby Club ground) this Tuesday, 31^st May 10:45am. The full squad will be there as part of their preparation for the game against Wales next Saturday. It would be great if we could have as many people there as possible to see them, in particular it will be a great event for the kids who can watch the training then pick up autograph’s, photos etc.

26th May:

Mixed Emotions Brings the Curtain Down on a Good Year.

Finally the season came to an end with 2 East District Cup semi-finals. 1^st & 2nds. Without going into to much detail unfortunately both sides lost thier respective Finals.

The 2nds lost on Monday against UWIC 18-3. I am sure everyone will agree it was a massive effort by our genuine 2 Gang against a not so genuine 2^nd team of UWIC. I have to mention Tom Cummings who is still registered to us and played for them. He was our best player anyway? (Why are they even in the competition?).

The 1^st team lost out to Rhiwbina 28-27. We were leading after 80 minutes 27-21, but after 8 minutes of over time and the last play of the game we conceded a try. To be fair everything was so suspect about the try but you can’t take anything away from the young lad from Rhiwbina who kicked the winning score under immense pressure. It was a bitter pill to swallow and a long hurtful night after, but that’s sport. There was consolation with Matthew Murphy receiving the Man of the Match award which was totally deserved. We cannot read too much into this game. We had 3 chances to score but squandered 2 and were over ruled for one by the officials a decision that was a telling factor in the final outcome, I am sure you will agree. We look forward to meeting the Squirrels in the league next season I am sure the pain of Wednesday night will be relieved then.

Nevertheless we, as a club on the field, have made strides forward this season. The youth finishing strongly in their league and 8 of them making 1^st team appearances this year. George Coxall, Lewis & Josh Dunleavy, Ed Dobbs, Josh Burridge, Tom O’Brien, Robbie Ryan, Jonny Jones & Jack Cooke. Well-done guys. There were also a number of the that represented the District this season too. The 2nds had a good year beating league winners Llanishern on 3 occasions and reaching the Final of the East District 2^nd team cup by beating Glamorgan Wanderers Development in the semi Final. The team was Lead by Paul O’Brien but for me a the key man was James Mullane. He played almost every game this season for 2 gang. A big step up after his injury. Jimmy Mullane – a true club man.

The 1^st team finished 3^rd again but the difference this season was that it went down to the End of April to decide the outcome of the league. It was there for us this year, but believe it or not our home form cost us 14 league points – something we need to put right next season as the difference was 10 points for promotion. As a result of good wins in the league it gave us, like last season, another Semi Final in the East District Cup against Llantwit Major where we won 28-20. Another step forward. Unfortunately the final didn’t go to script hopefully the progression next season to win promotion and win the East District Cup.

After losing 13 1^st team players the focus at the beginning of the season was to stay up. My focus was still to compete at the top and progress by bringing players through. We can tick the box on that one.

Well-done to Kris Barry making 19 appearances with Cardiff this season. Also well-done to Luke Reardon getting through his Military Officers Course. Apparently he knows how to use a knife and fork now! Hopefully we will see him back on the field next season. I also have to say well-done Pazza who completed a good solid season with Llanharran Division 1. He learnt a lot apparently. About what I don’t know, but he’s looking bigger and he has not been to the gym??? Hopefully we will benefit from his trip to the trogs next season but rumour has it he is going travelling. Good luck what ever you decide to do.
Congratulations to Nathan Trevett not only for making the Blues, Cardiff & the Crashaw’s but for looking after Bagsy all season. You deserve a cap for that. I would like to thank Club Captains Owen Evans & Tony Johnson for a leading the team through this milestone of a season. What a great job they both did.

This season had challenges mainly with injuries one big loss was Luke Gibson. A hooker come back row, his attitude and competitiveness was second to none. This was something we could not replace and did have an impact. We also lost long serving player Conky through a bad knee injury – another player who led by example and another big loss for the club. Just on the injury front over the last 6 weeks we lost 8 of our 1^st team players through injury and a further 4 in the last week. If it was not for some of the key youth players we wouldn’t have been so competitive over the last few weeks. Take it in the 2 Finals we had 9 youth boys playing, 7 still have another year at youth level. I must also give a special mention to the U11’s through to the U16’s who have made the step up to District honours & winning caps representing for East Wales & Wales  overall the future is looking good with

Monday & Wednesday were disappointing but that’s it – 2 disappointing days out of what I think has been a great year given all the challenges that faced us at the beginning. I, as a Born & Bred Rock, was proud of every one of the players who put the shirt on this year. They gave their all for the club to keep us competitive. We have set a new foundation this year to build on for next season with the talent coming through it looks good for us. The 125^th season of Rocks Rugby will be hopefully be remembered for the achievements through the seniors, Youth, Mini & Juniors this year and not the minor negative things that we managed to overcome.

Next season we have got not only aim for promotion but believe we can get it and gain more success through the club. This can only happen with everyone pulling together and committing to the challenges ahead.

The plan is to get everyone Seniors & Youth to come back Pre-season on Tuesday 19^th & Thursday 21^st of July 6.30 were we will have a bit of football and touch rugby and get back in slowly honest! We will then have 4 -5 weeks solid of prep.

I would like to personally thank everyone who has been involved this season especially Smugger, Gibbo, Mark, Vinnie, Crazy Horse, Crusher, Pastey, Jan, Quincy, Wazza, KOB, (parker) Thomasy & Collette and of course the committee without there help we wouldn’t have got there I hope you will all be on board next year for another chapter in the History of the Rocks see you at the dinner.
WRU Write up…

JD signing off till next season, (when KOB has promised me my own page).

 

25th May: St. Peter’s V Rhiwbina – East District Cup Final 7pm kick-off tonight (25th May) at Glamorgan Wanderers Ground. Many thanks to Gareth norman for sending me this info… (I’m in Spain)

19th May: Rocks earn themselves a final place in the East District Cup with a 27-21 win over Llantwit Major. Details to follow.

16th May: Next Fixture… Thursday 19th May. Llantwit Major in the Semi Final of the East District First Team Cup. Kick of 7.00pm at Rumney Rugby Club.

14th May:

Fun Day at the Harlequins. 15th May 2011. Burgers, Hot Dogs on Sales – bring the Family and Friends.

125^th Anniversary Club Game V Glamorgan County at the Harlequins 2.00 Kick off.

12th May: St. Peter’s RFC celebrates 125 years with a Dinner / Dance on Saturday June 11th at the President’s Suite, Millennium Stadium. Tickets available now behind the bar or through Tommo. Book early for to avoid disappointment. Further details.

12th May: Rocks overcome Wanderers in second team East District Cup 12-7. Now we await the venue for the Final against UWIC.

The 2nds beat Glamorgan Wanderers Development in the Semi Final of the East District Cup on Thursday night at Cardiff High School Old boys 15-7.
What a game, the night did not start to well for us with 4 key players not turning up & 3 others being in the wrong place 20 minutes before kick off but no panic the players who were there were more than capable of getting things going.
We started the game with a bit of a make shift team but the way the guys played you would have thought the team had been selected that way. This was the 2^nd time that the teams had met in a semi final clash the Wanderers winning that last one and then going on to win the final so we knew what to expect.
The game plan was to try and win the forward battle against there monster pack this would disrupt there platform and cut off there front foot ball which hurt us last time out. For the first 20 minutes we were off the pace of the game it was like we had just got off the bus, as a result of the poor start we conceded a try under the posts. This kick started the boys into action by putting a series of phases together creating opportunities as the game broke up. David Mitchell was our most dangerous runner last night his powerful direct running was causing big problems for the Defence. David’s efforts were rewarded after another powerful run with set up a try for Danny Murphy 7-5.
It was becoming more apparent that the game was breaking up which suited us and tied out the portly forwards from the wands. Lewis & Josh Dunleavy playing 6 & 7 worked well with Danny Murphy at 8 in the back row the 3 of them were nuisance value all night as were Archie & Bartle. The Front row of Captain Paul Obrien, Tom Nolan & Simon Colley lead the team up front there contribution was invaluable tackling, carrying & turning ball over the difference between the 2 sides was the work rate up front. More pressure and panic setting in to the Wands game we produced another opportunity to score, Tom Nolan did cross the line but it was ruled out for a questionable forward pass.
We were dealt a blow loosing David Mitchell with a shoulder injury the responsibility was handed over to the hard running sonny Driscoll to become the target man for the forwards. The game was finally balanced into the 2^nd half it was going to go to the wire this forced a few changes up front for the wands. This would give them an advantage as we had no impact off the bench to counter the fresh legs up front, mind you not one of the players asked to come off they could sense an upset was on the cards. The Wanderers sensed the game was slipping away from them which forced them to up the effort; they camped in our 22 for a long period which should have really resulted in a score. The Defence was fantastic every man making tackle after tackle they would not let them through.
After indiscipline from the Wands this brought relief and sent us back up the field a good solid scrum and a good run from Murph brought us the break through we had been waiting for. Sean James who had a great game directed things positively from Scrum Half linked up the forwards and backs who off loaded between them to set an opportunity for Simon Colley just to be brought down 5 metres short, but had the awareness to pop the ball up to supporting back row Josh Dunleavy to score what turned out to be the winning try 15-7.
The Wanderers for the 1^st time were behind with 20 minutes to go the guys were getting tied but would not give up panic and indiscipline from the wands just kept the threat in the right part of the field for us. We were given a yellow card with 15 minutes left but this forced the boys to work harder for each other and keep the Wands out. The last 10 minutes was spent deep in our half but the belief was still there, that the game was there to be won. The boys worked tirelessly in defence shutting down every threat it was real bodies on the line stuff. We were given another yellow card for a professional fowl so we had to finish the game with 14 men it did not matter this just made us work harder.
With 30 seconds left we were awarded a penalty 5 metres from our line relief so we thought? up stepped Sonny Driscoll everyone looked at each other what is he doing?? Only he knew 30 seconds left 5 metres from his line defending a 5 point lead of course tap and go???????????? Thankfully everyone reacted when he got tackled to set up a ruck as a result Sean James kicked into touch game over. Speaking to Sonny after the game he said, I had to buy the 30 seconds but I forgot to tell the boys. Game won 15-7 the Wanderers showed the respect in defeat and took it well. This Game was won up front with Archie, Luke Bartle in the 2^nd row each producing try saving tackles at the death of the game.
This was a great night for the club and true club men who played for the badge producing a heroic performance and deservedly gained a place in the final against UWIC on the 23^rd of May. Given the players who had not turned up and went to ground (no loss) the consideration has to be given to the boys who played in this game for the 1^st team Semi Final next week. Well-done to Vince, Thomasy & Wazza just reward for all the efforts they have put in this year now you can enjoy the day.

The Next Game will be the county on Sunday a 2.00 kick off the side for the Semi Final against Llantwit Major will be picked from that & last nights game. Come along and support the boys.

11th May: This week’s events:
Thursday 12th of May: Rocks second XV v Wanderers Development Cup Semi Final at Cardiff High School Old Boys kick off 6.45.
Sunday 15th of May: 125^th anniversary Club Game V County at the Harlequins 2.00 Kick off
Thursday 19th of May: Rocks V Llantwit Major Cup Semi Final venue TBC.

7th May: Rocks end the League on a solid performance. Coach Dunleavy told the boys to enjoy themselves and throw the ball around. That’s just what they did at Brecon this afternoon taking the spoils 22-35. The Rocks outscored the Brecon Boys five tries to one earning a bonus point on the way. Ardderchog!!

May the Fourth (be with you): Congratulations to the Under 9s and Under 16s for their success at winning the Abergavenny Tournament last weekend. The Under 12s got to the final. Well done to players, coaches and supporters.

1st May: Events for the coming weeks…

1. Under 12s baseball starting Wednesday evening (4th May) 6.00pm at the Harlequins.
2. Sunday 15th May 2.00 kick off. BBQ Day at the Harlequins. First XV v Glamorgan County RFC
3. Two buses travelling to Brecon for the last game of the season Saturday 7th May.

The 74 seater Bus will be leaving the club for Brecon at 12.30 prompt and arriving back at around 9.00-9.30 as stipulated by the bus company, anyone wishing to come along and enjoy our last league game are welcome to travel on board the more the merrier. We will be looking to stop off at a pub on the way back Venue TBC possible Tongwynlias.
The dress code for after the game will be a Vest white or Black with a Mullane made moustache and an open shirt just in case it’s cold?
Get the word around to the 2nds, youth and anyone else who fancies coming on the bus.

1st May (Can you believe it?): After the weekend’s topsy turvy game against a heroic Llandaff North team, the scene was set for the ‘Head to Head’ with in-form promotion favourites Abbercynon, at Y Parc.

We were dealt a few blows with injuries to Captain Tony Johnson, Dave Mitchell, Josh Kelly & Tom O’Brien so selection would be key as Cynon have a very big well drilled pack of forwards. However we were given a lift as Blues Prop Nathan Trevett & Cardiff’s Chris Barry, along with permitted Dan French & Captain Luke Rheidon were all available for selection.

The game plan was to attack their forward platform and hopefully disrupt their go-forward ball. Abercynon also had their share of good fortune with the players selected from (top of the premiership) Pontypridd, half backs Dean Gunter & Kristian Baller.

The game started with Cynon setting out their stall early with Gunter kicking precisely into the corners and forcing short return kicks. The forward power in the loose was ferocious and well organised, but the commitment in defence was spot on. The eagerly awaited first scrum was awarded to us and the intent was shown from 18 year old Ed Dobbs, Tom Nolan & 21 year old Nathan Trevett when they comfortably pushed them backwards. This forced Aber into action. Good phases of play between forwards and backs controlled by Baller & Gunter lead to the first try 7-0.

We re-gathered ourselves and went straight back at Aber from the kick off, forcing them back deep into their own half. The break through came with some good slick hands putting Danny Murphy over in the corner 7-5.

The game was being controlled by Premiership outside half Gunter pushing us back every opportunity. Heroic defence was holding out but eventually something had to give. Unfortunately one of our heroes, Owen Evans, had to go off to Hospital and received 25 stitches in a cut after a collision in a tackle this caused a bit of disruption.

The game was shifting in our favour with Aber starting to show a bit of panic in attack. Now Dan French was starting to control things behind with quality ball from his forwards and bullet passing from Robbie Ryan he guided us into their half where we were awarded a penalty. Danny Evans kicked 7-8. With Half time approaching the game was finely balanced in our favour again. Then the turning point of the game. A clear knock on from the Aber wing and the ball was gathered and moved to Gunter who put the centre through a gap to go on and score under the posts 14-8 HT.

The talk at HT was to keep focused and push them back into their half and keep the pressure on. The second half couldn’t have started worse with a kick to the corner being charged down and turned over. From the resulting ruck scrum half Baller stepped to run 50 metres to score a decisive try 21-8.

This forced the boys into action good guidance from Frenchy and some strong runs from centre Johnny C forced a series of penalties. The call was kick for the corner and give them a taste of their own medicine. As all night our line out leader Baggsy took the ball and set up a driving maul where the ball was driven over for Tom Nolan to pick up his third try in three games 21-13. We unfortunately conceded the fourth try which was the bonus point for Aber 28-13.

With the game more or less over it seemed to lift the guys into playing for a bit of pride. It was noticed that Aber were starting to tire with 20 minutes to go. Dan French, with fantastic service from eighteen year old scrum half Robbie Ryan, started running everything. This resulted in one of the best tries of the night and deservedly went to hard running centre Johnny Coralis 28-18. Now with 3 tries in the bag it lifted the boys to believe the game was there for the taking. Aber lost key player Baller and now with Gunter getting slower service clearly gave us momentum with 15 minutes to go. Abercynon gained a Penalty 31-18. Now with 10 minutes to go, no bonus points it was time to throw everything at Aber. The pressure was starting to tell as they were conceding penalty after penalty. Eventually the ref got the yellow card out and sent the stand in nine off for the remainder of the game. Good control and recycled ball offered a gap to Frenchy to score his debut try & 2 Bonus points and he also converted 31-25.

As much as it seemed all us Aber did miss a 2 kickable penalties late in the game but with 3 minutes left we attacked and were only caught short with the last pass just going down. The end was in sight with seconds left Dan French pushed a ball close to the Aber try line but it just trickled in 5 metres out. Game over Abbercynon 31 The Rocks 25.

It was one of the most heroic performances & entertaining games against clearly the best side in the league that I was privileged to be part of and despite the defeat the quality of both sides shone through. Either team playing like this next season would certainly threaten their respective leagues. Considering the number of injuries and let downs to our back line the guys who stepped in added to the quality of the game. The big positive for me was that we picked up 2 bonus points at a ground were 1 bonus point is a rarity and we would take that all day. The biggest frustration is that we lost 14 league points at home. That’s the difference in our league position.

As quoted by one of the Abercynon faithful ‘Rugby was the Winner on the Night’ and no one could really argue with that. I would like to say on behalf of everyone who where there. Thanks lads for such an entertaining night of Rugby you did the club and yourselves proud, and for the people who were not there – you missed one hell of a night.

Next trip is the final League game at Brecon on the 7^th of May and the aim is to fill two busses and have a club day out. With third place guaranteed, the pressure is off but we still want to go and win, so please come and support the boys. It will be a good day out.

The efforts of the season can be rewarded if we can get past Div 4 Leaders Llantwit Major in the Semi Final of the East District Cup on the 16^th or 18^th of May venue TBC.  Report by John Dunleavy.

28th April: Four tries and two bonus points is a tremendous result at Abercynon, who recently did the double over Pentyrch, scoring 86 points in the head to head. Abercynon however, just like narrowly defeated Llandaff North on Saturday, were not following the same script as the Rocks and spoilt the party. Final score Abercynon 31- 26 St. Peter’s, so it looks like third place again this year - an excellent year’s work. Coach Dunleavy is exceptionally proud of the boys who finished the stronger last night – ‘Bring on the East District Cup’. Just waiting for the WRU to update their site for the full league listing.

27th April: St. Peter’s RFC celebrates 125 years with a Dinner / Dance on Saturday June 11th at the President’s Suite, Millennium Staduim. Tickets available now behind the bar or through Tommo. Book early for to avoid disappointment. Further details.

26th April: On behalf of the committee, players and members of St. Peter’s RFC, we would like to say a tremendous THANK-YOU to Danielle, who has been working behind the bar at St. Peter’s almost since the new clubhouse opened its doors. Danielle has decided to leave her current role at the club. During her time at the club she always has a smile and a joke for anyone who comes to the bar. She is an outstanding bar person and we hope that in the not-to-distant future she will reconsider and return, but for now Danielle, please accept our genuine and heartfelt thanks.

23rd April: Rocks beat Llandaf North 40-30. Photos
22nd April: Many thanks to all who played in today’s friendly match against Touring side Monahan RFC from Ireland – home club of Tommy Bowe. The game was played in a great spirit of entertaining rugby with a shed load of tries from both sides. Well tone to the tourists who won narrowly 43-48. Have a good weekend. Photos

23 April: Rocks beat Llandaf North 40 – 30
20th April: Only a few games left now before the end of the season and, once again, it’s all to play for. At the time of writing this entry, St. Peter’s were in second position, however by the time the article was finished, like a stone, the Rocks were in fourth position. That’s how quickly the top of  the league is changing at the moment. This is all down to an Abercynon win at Pentyrch (10-36). Heol Y Cyw find themselves leading the pack having played 20 games and with 74 points. St. Peters and  Abercynon have both played 19 games but the Rocks are 9 points adrift of their RCT neighbours. New boys to Division three South East Gwernyfed have but one game to play and are level on points with St. Peter’s on 62. So it looks like a full on battle between ourselves and Abercynon for the second spot behind Heol Y Cyw. A look at the WRU 3SE table shows thatAbercynon have not only won two more games than ourselves, but have successfully attained 10 (to our 6) try bonus points. This Saturday St. Peter’s entertain fellow Cardiff side Llandaff North, whilst Abercynon play the return fixture against Pentyrch. It would certainly do the Rocks a favour if Pentyrch were to win on Saturday. The game of the next few weeks will be on Wednesday 27th April, when the Rocks travel to Abercynonfor an evening (19.00) kick off. Put it in your diary and let’s be solid behind the Rocks.

Summary

	St. Peter’s RFC	Heol y Cyw RFC	Abercynon RFC	Gwernyfed RFC
22nd April		Brecon (H)
23rd April	Llandaff North (H)		Pentyrch (H)	Taffs Well (H)
27th April	Abercynon (A)		St. Peter’s (H)
30th April		Fairwater (A)
4th May			Fairwater (A)
7th May	Brecon (A)

17th April: East District Cup game Wednesday evening 6.30pm kick off against Llanharran at home. Result – Rocks 47-5 Llanharan.

Comment from JD: Well-done to the 2nds beating Llanhrran in the East District Cup last night it was an entertaining game of rugby to watch if you were a Rock. It was another good performance from 6 of the youth boys and a couple of the older generation who filled in to support the hard core 2^nd team players. Rumour has it that they may have made the final against Glamorgan Wanderers all comers but that needs to be confirmed.

16th April: Another superb day for the Rocks. The First Team travelled North where they faced Taffs Well who were playing for their position in Division Three South East. Whilst we are delighted that we were able to win – with a bonus point – it will be a poorer season in D3SE without Taffs Well next year. Good luck to them.

Report by JD: On the back of a good solid bonus point win the 1^st team travelled to Taffs Well who had a bit of a drumming last week against Heol-y-Cyw and were looking to restore some pride. Taffs Well had quite a few players out last week so we did not read into the result to0 much.

We started positively going on the attack from the start but you could sense that TW were not going to lie down and roll over. We picked up 6 points early into the game as a result of good pressure and the opposition trying to slow the game down at the break down. The ref took action given a yellow card to the TW player.

This seem to spark a bit of life in TW they hit back with a well worked try after a good break from the lively full back on loan from Bedwas 7-6. As predicted the game was turning into a dog fight and as time went on the break through seemed to be taking forever to happen.

The break through finally came after a loose kick deep from TW was gathered by Paul Davies 5 metres from  his line he countered wide beating a number of players and linking with JK with a nicely executed switch. JK with a bit to do showed good pace to run 50 metres to score Mitch Kicked the Con 13-7 HT.

The 2^nd half was much the same as the 1^st. TW were looking to kill off any attacks that looked likely to result in a score. The game was breaking up but we still kept control through the boot of Mitch pinging the corners and forcing TW back. The next try came from a TW line out 5 yards out Bagsy stole there ball tapped down to Tom Nolan to crash over from 5 metres 18-10.

TW did not give up they were getting desperate and were running everything at us if they were going down it would be fighting. With the referee brandishing yellow cards whenever anyone was on the floor near the tackle, the instruction was to let them have the ball and get away from the tackle area. We had long periods of time without the ball. This raised TW to try and break us down on the attack but our disciplined defence would not fold. Eventually we forced the mistake when Sonny Driscoll intercepted the ball to run 70 metres and out pace their pacey winger to score under the posts 23-10.

With only minutes left 3 tries in the bag, and despite the game being won, without a bonus point it wasbeginning to feel like a defeat. The game restarted as the frustrations continued with infringements leading to stoppages. The boys knew the clock was ticking away so pushed on for the BP but the last pass was just not there. Eventually we got to the dreaded last play scrum the good thing was that it was awarded to us last chance. We won the ball moved it through the backs we must have had 10 phases but the guys would not give up the ball and in fairness to TW they would not let us cross their line. The backs and forwards were linking and handling well under extreme pressure which eventually  forced the break through when Joe Davis picked up a nice inside pass to run in 20 metres to score a very important BP try game won 5 points away still in the race.

I have to say Taffs Well pushed us all the way unfortunately the result confirmed there demotion to Division 4. I am sure they will reform and challenge Division 4 next season and return. Man of the Match went to Paul Davies who had another solid performance stepping up from the 2nds.

If there were questions about the desire and commitment of the team to win, they have been answered over the last 2 weeks. Taffs Well was a potential banana skin for us as they were fighting for surviva;l but the bottom line was… we wanted it more. The resilience of thefirst XVi s getting stronger. We will need the same commitment & resilience for the North on Saturday & Abercynon next Wednesday. The season is only 3 games away from the end a big performance Saturday will keep interest alive. Saturday is our main focus. What happens after that will be planned after the game.

Highlight of the day was from our dual registered Cardiff player Bagsy who had a strong game but offered his chin to his Taffs Well counter part who openly took the opportunity to give him one in the kisser? The Cardiff experience has taut him lots of things except how to duck! For not retaliating he did receive yellow card harsh, no more freebies Bagsy.

There was no ugly winning on the other hand for the Paul’s Two Gang who beat a spirited Sully RFC by 54 points to nil who played to the end and stayed at the club for some sherbert after game. Thank you Sully. Hat-Tricks were scored by Rhys Jones and unsurprisingly by Jamie Evans. Rhys Andrews had his usual tremendous game. On kicking duties Jimmy Mullane slotted over the difficult kicks… and missed the easy ones. Consistent Jim. Well done also to Geraint Bladen and Mike Mullane who made a welcome return to playing duties. Mike celebrating by taking Baggsy’s chuggalug record. Not to be outdone Baggs challenged and the title was returned.

Mention should also go to the youth boys who had a great day paintballing and came to the club after to celebrate – Great Spirit gentlemen.

15th April: Fixtures for Saturday 16th April – firsts away to Taffs Well and seconds at home to Sully RFC.

14th April: The Under 12s played a superb final against Pontypridd on Tuesday night. Players from one to fifteen played their hearts out but were overcome by a strong Ponty side. Well done Rocks. Photos

10th April: Saturday we welcomed promotional rivals Aberdare to the Harlequins. This was expected to be a big battle, as over the last few seasons they have taken the spoils both at home and away. The build up for Saturday was set around giving a good, honest solid performance and show more desire & hunger for success.

The game started well with the boys looking really sharp – forcing Aberdare back and gaining an early penalty. With a slight breeze the ball held up and just went disappointingly wide.

From the drop out we built up a few phases and put the pressure on our opposition. Eventually, something had to give. With good communication and slick hands, the ball hit Tom Nolan in the Mid Field, who forcibly broke the tackle and freed his hands to feed Sonny Driscoll to sprint in under the posts. Mitch converted 7-0.

From the kick off the call was to secure the ball and play territory. Unfortunately this didn’t happen. A good kick off and an excellent take from their 2^nd row gave them the go forward ball and forced an easy penalty 7-3. We ended back in our 22 just after the restart and again conceded another penalty in a crucial position. This time it was missed. A let off. This seemed to have got the boys re-focused. We kicked deep from the 22 and chased well forcing the errors. Eventually Aber conceded to the pressure giving us a penalty quite close to the posts. Mitch stepped up to slot 10-3.

Edd Dobbs, a 2^nd year Youth Prop who was selected on merit at tight head, had another strong game. He did his bit to provide a good, strong platform for fellow youth player & scrum half Tom O’Brien to fire the ball out to release the lively Rock back line. Everything was going well. The set piece – good handling from the backs & forwards was proving to be very effective. A scrum was awarded. From the resulting scrum the ball was slickly moved across the back line, where Nathan Thompson, playing at full back, hit the line from deep. This fixed the defence and gave Sonny Driscoll a quick descion to make – kick like a girl or pass? He made the right one! A miss pass hitting Gareth Norman on the wing gave him a good 20 yard run in. The execution was superb – something that’s been missing of late. Kick missed 15-3.

The key was not to get complacent and keep the tempo up and keep moving their big forwards around. We were always aware of the threat from the impressive Aberdare ball carries, so the defence had to stay on top and work harder without the ball. Owen Evans, Tony Johnson were a pain all day. They tacked everything in the loose and did not give the opposition any time on the ball. The game was heading towards HT with a good build up play and a bit of luck put hard running Danny Murphy through a gap to finish off under the posts 22-3 HT.

The talk at HT was for quicker ball from the breakdown and to up the effort because we knew the quality of Aberdare and that they would not go down without a fight. As predicted they came at us and seemed to gain confidence from some forced errors. They made a few changes at HT and which sparked their forwards into a upping their game. The threat was coming as predicted from their big ball carries from 8 & second rows targeting the 9, 10 channel. We did not let them through. This was the difference between previous games gone by against Abber. Big tackles coming in from Tom O’Brien 9 & David Mitchell 10 followed up with support from the Back Row.

The game was opening up, which suited us in the loose. It was another huge day for Archie carrying at every opportunity and with Mat Murphy’s airborne agility and vision gave us good go forward bal from the 2 second rows. The link play between the forwards and backs was spot on. This led to a nice handling move which created room for full back Nathan Thompson to have a run with 2 men outside made a slight error in judgement which resulted in a penalty being conceded. What Nathan did then was understandable, but silly for a player of his ability. It was the only mistake he made all day. Unfortunately it did lead to us conceding 7 points. He accepted the telling off (reluctantly) & will hopefully learn from it. A few minutes later he made up for the error with a superb piece of awareness. He broke from deep in his 22 beating a number of players with his electric pace, two simply gave up altogether as she showed a clean pair of heels. This time he put the ball into Centre Sonny Driscoll hands who had a bit to do to run in 50 metres to score under the posts 29-10. It was nice to see Sonny looking like he’s back in form. Four tries in two games makes for a Sonny day.

With 15-20 minutes left, enter Robbie Ryan. A powerful 9. Another youth player making his 1^st team League debut. He kept up the momentum that his team mate Tom had set up as he looked very quick & dangerous on the bind side. Also making his 1^st Team League Debut was Josh Dunleavy at 8, who played his part in gaining a bonus point well-done to the 3 guys. The final score came from Aber towards the end of the game but which was a well created try between backs and forwards final Score 29-17.
Stand out performances were from Danny Evans at 12, Nathan Thompson at 15 both players playing out of position but you would not have know it. It was another excellent performance came from hooker Tom Nolan driving the game plan forward & working well with his Front Row Mate Jamie Boyle who had a great game in the Tight, David Mitchell showed the composed control required at 10 to get us on the front foot and in the right areas. Archie was superb both carrying and defending. The team was lead by example by skipper Tony Johnson who just missed out on the MOM award but it went to Owen Evans who took it on behalf of the back row. A further good performance Saturday was had by the referee, who allowed the game to flow when appropriate and kept a good rein on the game.

These results don’t happen by accident. It’s a team effort and a lot of works goes in behind the scenes, so I would like thank to Gibbo, Smudger & Craig Quinell for their input in training. Their efforts were clearly rewarded. It was nice to see the boys have the confidence to execute training ground plays again something that’s been missing. The Aberdare report was a fair reflection of the game what stood out for me was how they mentioned how their forwards have dominated most of the season but not Saturday.

This was a massive win to pick up a bonus point against the quality of Aberdare was a testament to the effort & DESIRE to win. Hopefully this will regain the confidence of some of our critics and get them to get behind the team?With 4 games left and 3 sides level in 2^nd it’s all to play for. We are calling on everyone come along and get behind the boys starting with a tough away game at Taffs Well next Saturday 4 games left.

Also Well-done to Paul O’Brien’s 2nd team for the great effort they put in on Tuesday against Premiership Club Glamorgan Wanders Development Team loosing narrowly in the Mallett Cup. This game, on paper, was a real miss match given we had a genuine 2^nd team out plus a few youth boys. Unfortunately we lost Macko & Conky with injuries for the rest of the season get well soon boys you will be missed. On a positive note Ben Played well when he came on for New Dad Bones. Congratulations (God help us another one!). Luke Barttle & Rhys Andrews were the stand out performers both having huge games. The Wanderers paid us a deserved complement by hugging and High Fives all round celebrated like they had won the final it was obviously a relief to have saved face. Desperate times at the Wanderers?? The 2nds Bounced back with a big win against New Tredegar 2nds full senior debuts for Lugs, Gavin Cooper & Andrew Omarlia who scored a try, Lewis Dunleavy getting MOM Followed closely by Ben well-done.

9th April: Support the Juniors. Rocks Under 12′s will be playing on The Arms Park, in The Blues Cup Final, on Tuesday 12th April. 19.15 Kick off. More

9th April: Excellent Rugby played on the Harlequins today by both First and Second teams. Match Report to Follow. The First Team moved clear of Aberdare in the SWALEC Division Three South East with a 29-17 victory Photos. Meanwhile the seconds romped home against New Tredegar 21-10.

4th April: Rocks in the Mallet Cup. Tuesday 5th April. Glamorgan Wanderers.

3rd April: Excellent results for the first and second teams this week. The firsts beat Pentyrch Away with a 15-22 win, whilst the seconds brought home the bacon from Llanishen with a 18-24 victory.

27th March: It’s a Full House! A scrappy 22-24 win over Caerau for the first XV Photos. Super kicking from David Mitchell. Seconds won and entertaining game at home to CHSOB 35-24 The win could have been by a wider margin but Kate let in a soft try. Meanwhile, the Youth put in their best performance for two years beating Llanishen 46-3 and coming off the bottom ot he table with fifteen man rugby. The future is BRIGHT. The future is Emerald Green and Black!

26th March: Rugby is on today- no need to go shopping!!!!

First XV Away to Caerau Ely – Trelai Park

Second XV Home to CHSOB.

Youth XV Home to Llanishen

23rd March:Paris 2011 – Photos – All done now.

NZRUGBY EXPERIENCE

22nd – 26th August.

21st March: Saturday brought the 1^st senior a 125^th anniversary game to the Harlequins against a very strong Cardiff & District team. The District side was made up of mainly Glamorgan Wanders players and a scattering of players from other clubs such as Barry, Llanrumney, Caerua and Fairwater.

With a number of players away on International Duty the aim of the game was to look at a few fringe players and also look to the future. We made the side with 5 youth boys 4 of which started with 3 in the front row. I have to say Josh Burridge, Josh Dunleavy & Ed Dobbs all looked comfortable up against a monster pack that would have caused most 1^st or 2^nd division clubs a problem. They all held their hands up Saturday and did not let anyone down good showing from the 3 of them. The other stand out performer was Mat O’Brien a very dangerous counter attacking Full back.

The game started well from the Kick off we moved the ball through the forwards and backs all the way to there 22 unfortunately the ball just thrown forward. The game was 0-0 for 25 minutes C&D attacked we defended our line heroically we would not let them cross. Turnovers resulted and sent us back down the field to put the pressure back on them but we could not convert.

Eventually the power and physical difference caused a crack in the defence leading to the 1^st try. James Mullane who had a very good game controlled the show and kicked precisely deep into there half better chasing would have put them under more pressure. We moved the ball to the wings but didn’t quite have the get away pace to break away. We let in a couple of sloppy tries in the 2^nd half mainly down to missed tackles and a drop off in concentration which you can not do against that quality opposition.

The guys did not give up Nathan Thompson was MOM followed closely by Skipper Tony Johnson but Nathan was looking very dangerous at 15 beating people with pace when offered to counter attack. We eventually got our rewards for our efforts as the Big Lumps from C&D started to tire slick hands and good support put Paul Davis through to run in from 30mtrs. After his recent disappointing performance it was good to see him bounce back he is a solid player for us. Well-done Lemon maybe it was the honour of playing 12 next to Jimmy Ray?

The final youth player to enter the game was George Coxal in the back row he worked hard around the breakdown always looking to turning ball over. The final try came from the Latvian Express Archie playing at 8 he carried the ball all day dragging in defenders and taking them beyond the gain line. He needed to look up once or twice and off load maybe the time spent in the 2^nd row affected his awareness??????

The game was lost but the effort from the team was fantastic considering we had 5 youth boys, & few 2^nd team, players also players playing out of position & some players who had not followed protocol by going out for a tipple or 2 on Friday night we did ok.

I would also like to acknowledge Baggsy for his commanding performance in the line out we won’t mention the rest of the game!!

It would have been good to get a win but given the selection from the district they were not going to give it up to us. It was a proud performance boys played with the commitment that was required big well-done to the 5 youth boys who all put there hands up and didn’t look out of place. In fact the district went passive scrums in the 2^nd half this was as a result of the softening up process from the young guns.

The final mention has to be for James Mullane his control and decision making was top draw he was even seen in the middle of a maul he lost the ball but he was in there a true club man and a true legend, well-done mate you still got something to offer.

Final Score Rocks 10-31 Cardiff & District.

 

14th March: Arrangements for the French Trip… Slight change ….Meet at 8.30am at the Club. Could we all t

 

ry to wear black polo shirts and chinos (or similar) to travel and for the matchday on Saturday, so we don’t look like a crowd of Rag*rse Rovers. Allez!

13th March: While next week sees the French trip from the club taking a strong following; at home we welcome the Cardiff and District to the Harlequins Ground for a 1.30pm kick off in celebration of our 125 years. This will be followed by an after match buffet and then settle down to watch Wales finish the Six Nations with a win and take the top slot. Good luck to all. Joe Dunleavy

6th March: Firstly, on behalf of the team, I would like to apologise to everyone who turned out to support us for the poor display against Fairwater on Saturday. Taking nothing away from Fairwater, they wanted it more than us.

The game started quite positively when we broke from the kick off and ran the ball back down to their 22. This may have been the false sense of what would unfold during the afternoon. Not one to look for excuses we did not deserve to win this game and I don’t think we would have won even if we were still playing now.

The game was scrappy, with lots of forced errors off loads which would have normally stuck were dropped to many turnovers proved costly. The game was stop start and riddled with mistakes which resulted in 2 sucker-punch tries being conceded. We didn’t take Fairwater lightly. We were just out played in the loose and not street wise enough to adapt.

There were some positives good individual performances from Sonny Driscoll, Sean O’ Brien Owen Evans, Gareth Norman & Men of

the Match Jamie Boyle & 18 year old Youth Debutant Ed Dobbs who played a good hour at Tight head. Well done guys. I would like to also say well-done to the other 2 youth boys Tom O’Brien who looked sharp & also debutant Jonny Jones. Collectively, we did not turn up for this game this showed as we lost most of the 50-50 and we looked like a rudderless ship at times. Well-done to Fairwater they deserved there 5^th win on the bounce, talking to there coach after the game he said this win was a massive boost for them beating us.

We can not play that bad again. This must this can only be put down to the hang over from good results over the last 4 weeks. We have now been brought back down to earth with a big bang. I hope we must learn from this and move on and regain the confidence for the remaining 6 league games. Despite a bad day at the office we are still only 4 points behind top spot so it’s still all to play for.

Sorry to everyone who turned out Saturday on Behalf of the Boys we will put it right.

28th February: Paris 2011 Update Places still available.

 

22nd February: The recent run of good form carried on against a much improved Llandaff North side at Haley Park Saturday. The fear was that complacency would set in based on results gone by. The game started well with all the pressure coming from us as results of good tactical kicking from Mike Butler & David Mitchell.

 

The North defended their line from an onslaught of short attacks from the pack. Eventually a scrum 5 yards out was awarded the pack took over but were halted just short. Debut Scrum half Tommy Dickens flew a nice fast pass out to release the backs a nicely timed pass from Butler and a slice into the line saw full back Paul Davis in under the posts 7-0. The score brought the confidence that raised the tempo of the game and keep the pressure on the North which forced them to resort slowing the game the ball down. Strong refereeing at the break down just gave us the penalties which eventually were converted 10-0. The North seem to have found themselves on the back foot but they could not live with the speed to recycle the ball around the break down. This again resulted in a penalty but this time Tommy Dickens tapped and went quickly finding a gap and putting in the poacher Paul Davis for his 2^nd 15-0.The game stayed that way for a while despite us missing out on 1 or 2 good opportunities to kill the game off it was

an average 1^st half performance compared to weeks gone by we seemed to be playing with in ourselves. We always knew the North would be a threat and that they would come back into the 2^nd half – after all they are fighting for survival. To be fair to our opposition they didn’t give up despite our step up and more determined efforts to try and find the 2 tries required for a bonus Point. The result was still not guaranteed the North still hung on in there with a good 20 minutes to go. The pressure was all coming from us. Mat Murphy carried the ball in open space causing all sorts of problems to the North’s defence only a couple of last ditch tackles and some poor execution just denied the try coming.

The defence eventually cracked again the Murph linking up with the backs putting strong running Sonny Driscoll into space drew in a couple of defenders to give a 1^st senior try to the 18 year old James Morris who still had a bit of work to do to score. Relief – That was 1 of the 2 required. With 5 minutes to go the game in the bag the call was throw everything at them. This happened resulting in us being awarded more penalties 5 yards out again the North showed great resilience close up to stop certain try scoring opportunities. One last chance a penalty 10 yards out last play Tommy D on the ball the forwards lined up left to charge. Tap dummy left, 1 big pass right to Sonny 2nd long pass right to Paul Davis which resulted in an unopposed run in for the elusive Bonus point try and his Hat trick. Game won 25-0, 5 points away in the bag.

The key performers again the Front Row of Tom Nolan, Dan Evans & James Thomas worked hard against a big physical pack, with Conky & Jamie Boyle coming on to finish a hard day’s work up front another Solid Performance from Mat Khan who work rate in the tight is improving game after game. The back row Owen, Danny, Rhys all worked hard in tandem to stop attacks at source another good display of ball carrying from Danny. A good debut for Tommy Dickens totally controlling the game and linking up well with Michael Butler. Dan Evans looked good in open space solid Positional sense in defence and carried the ball back with interest he also showed good awareness to gain yards from the boot.

We also welcomed back the hard hitting fearless runner Puppy O’Brien who looked Dangerous every time he had the ball. He also showed he still got the Fight in him if someone offers it to good to see. The performances of the day that caught the Eye were from Mat Murphy who took everything thrown at him which got us on the front foot he was also dangerous in the loose, David Mitchell who didn’t have a great day with the boot off the tee but carried the hard yards and kicked territory superbly. But the MoM went to Mr Lemon himself for another solid display at 15 and of course his Hat trick of tries. There was a also a suggestion that Ryan Jones from the North was also inline for MoM as he was our best player in the 1^st half I think it was Sonny who mentioned it.This puts us 3 points clear in 2^nd place we must keep the pressure on our next game is a week Saturday against Fairwater at the Harlequins who themselves have hit a bit of good form lately. Please come out and support the boys it does give them a massive boost.

Well-done to the Youth & of course Don, Vince, Gibbo & Wazza who produced a great win against Penarth Youth it looks like they have finally turned a corner keep it going lads. The news on the Dunleavy Injury list is that Lewis has a Broken Jaw and has had surgery to have a plate put in; Josh is waiting for Physio on his Knee and Joeys just mad as a march hare! I would personally like to thank Warren Mitchell (Wazza) for doing a great job looking after them Cheers Waz.

Lastly the U10’s were unlucky they just lost to Pontypridd all comers on Sunday in the quarter final of the Cup. I have to say the commitment from the boys was fantastic they never gave up they are a credit to there parents & Coaches they did the club proud well-done boys.

Good Luck Wales. Report by John Dunleavy

 

19th February Good wins for first team and youth. First travel to Llandaff north and bring home the braggin’ rights and a bonus point… 0-28. Youth beat 15-0 over Penarth. Seconds drew 18 a piece with Pentyrch.

18th February Second team fixture tomorrow is now a home game.

17th February: Wales 24-6 Scotland!!! How did you celebrate? Click HERE to see how one Wales fan celebrated. Please be patient the video may take a while to load – but well worth it.

11th February: The momentum from Saturday had to be carried forward for the trip to Dowlias on Thursday Night whose league position doesn’t do them justice as a team. The call was for more of the same being commitment and control.

The game started well with a penalty being awarded in the first few minutes David Mitchell stepped up to slot over from way out on the touchline. We then ran the ball back deep into there half were we put them under pressure with short carries from the forwards directed by Jamie Churcher’. The final carry came from improving tight head Dan Evans just short of the Line, but on hand was the poacher himself Mat Murphy to pick and ground the ball from at least 6 inches maybe 7? Gibbo with the kick 10-0 Rocks

This sparked the home side into life were they pushed us back towards are own line through a good kicking game and elusive running from there dangerous number 9. We were pinned back for a good 10 minutes in our 22 were they threw everything at us but we would not let them cross. Rhys Meredith, Danny Murphy & Owen Evans were massive in defence in the loose; they complemented the work load that the front five had put in at the set piece.

We eventually turned the ball over and headed back down the pitch to return the pressure, to be fair Dowlias tried to break out by keeping ball in hand but the new found spirit in the team stopped them behind the gain line. Significant one on one tackles came from 2nd Row Mat Khan, Loose Head James Thomas & Big Dan Evans working over time to make these tackles in the open spaces were normally someone else is picking up the pieces. The advantage gained was deep territory this forced Dowlias to kick wide and aimless. Danny Evans solid at the back countered and linked up with James Morris who had a good game he then passed on to Sonny Driscoll who getting back to his match pace, he smashed up into 3 defenders and still managed to off load to supporting work horse Mat Murphy to go over for his 2^nd try Mitch with the Conversion and a l

ate Penalty 18-3 HT.

The backs looked Dangerous with ball in hand causing problems for the organised Dowlias defence we need to see more of this. Michael (Conky 2) Butler ran things at 10 linking with his centre David Mitchell pick of the backs who’s carries gained us valuable yards. The performance of the evening came from the pocket rocket that is Tom Nolan he was everywhere even at times in the wrong places for a hooker, but we can forgive him after all he played 6 Saturday so he probably got a bit confused.

The 2^nd half saw Dowlias regroup make significant changes in the front row which gave them more of a platform to work off. We conceded a penalty early on which was converted 18-6. The game was starting to open up and I believe the weekend’s efforts plus the 1^st 40 minutes work was starting to hurt. Enter young Tom Obrien & the Gun Show Paul McCarthy who both contributed to the game significantly. The game plan from Dowlias had now switched to keeping the ball tight and hoping for slight miss haps in defence. This did come about but the solid Paul Davis saved the day with a last man try saving tackle which proved crucial in the end. Dan Fish looked in amazement he couldn’t believe full backs can tackle like that! Dowlias did eventually get across in the last 10 minutes the guys just ran out of gas up front. Apologies to Conky & Norm & get well Archie, Game won 18-17 rewards for the efforts this week were 8 points picked up on the road Well-Done Guys. This was a very hard & difficult game a step up from Saturday the league position that Dowlias find them selves in don’t give them the credit they deserve there luck will turn lets hope its against our nearest rivals.

There was a bond there after Saturday but now it’s much tighter and much stronger. We must not loose focus we have a difficult game against local rivals Llandaff North on the 19^th away we need as much support as possible. I would like to thank everyone who made the effort to support the boys on Thursday night it does give them a massive boost.

Enjoy your weekend off you deserve it see you Tuesday and Good luck Wales.

 

9th February: Team to face Dowlais. Team. League Table updated. See Right Hand Column.

7th February: Fixture – Dowlais Away – Thursday 10th February – kick off 7.30pm

6th February: Gwernyfed Match Report by John Dunleavy. Alternatively, as seen by Gwernyfed RFC Here

 

Finally we got the break in the weather we had been hoping for however it happened to fall on the fixture with top of the league Gwenyfrdd. The only weather that was a threat was the wind the hairy trip over the beacons was an indicator as to what we would face at the Talgarth based club. On arrival at the ground the 1^st thing we noticed was how everything that was not tied down was flying horizontally.

This forced a rethink on tactics and depending on who won the toss would decide when to execute these tactics. We lost the toss and were forced to play against the wind which was must have been worth

at least 20 points. In my experience St Peters have never been a side to play a 9 man game (except for when Chunky & Lovie decided to have there own competition all those years ago) but against the strong wind putting the ball wide would have been costly. Under the control & guidance of the ever green Jamie Churcher’ played his forwards into there opposition with a master class in 9 man rugby. When the ball did get out hard running David Mitchell 12 carried it straight back to his supporting forwards which gave them a target to support and a well earned rest. When Gwenyffrd had the ball which was mainly in there own half they kicked with the wind behind them aiming to force deep counter attacks. The Back 3 of Paul Davis, Dan Evans & Josh Kelly all played excellent they positioned them selves superbly picking up the kicks and carrying the ball back with interest. This brought the 1^st try about after a combination between Dan Evans linking with Josh Kelly whose strong running and ability in beating defenders rewarded him with the 1^st try.

Everything was going great but we new our opposition are not going to fold especially given the wind advantage they had. The game was a good 25-30 mins in and we were leading, all we had to do was keep working hard and we would be happy to turn around at HT 5-0 up. Gwen put us under pressure and eventually it told a mid field miss tackle put them in under the posts HT 7-5. I have to say the boys produced the best prolonged, disciplined display of forward control I have witnessed for a long time from a St Peters team almost 30 minutes of hard pick and drives. Very good committed defence stopped us gaining more scores.

The 2^nd half with the wind called for a composed patient approach the instruction was when kicking don’t be aimless. Anything being delivered from Depth would have been made harder if the chase was good. Michael Butlers kicking from hand was spot on good line kicks and good territory gains. With all the pressure now coming from us we were awarded a penalty from 45 yards out close to touch. Up stepped the big man Dave Mitchell to slot over with interest 8-7.

We had a chance to stretch the lead when backs and forwards linked up and created a 2 on 1 opportunity, with Dan Evans just having to catch the ball it was a guaranteed 5 points. Unfortunately the ball was dropped who was to blame well the durries is still out!

The introduction of Sonny Driscoll, Simon Colley brought a boost to the team, Sonnies hard running forced a mistake that seen big Second row Archie go over in the corner 13-7. We then brought on Tom Obrien making his 1^st Team Debut at 18 certainly a talent he put in a lovely box kick which somehow went 50 metres along the touchline and landed perfectly 5 metres from there try line. This forced all sorts of panic in defence but to be fair to our opposition got them selves out of trouble superbly. Just like us in the 1^st half the pressure told eventually a loose kick from Gwen actually blew back over there line straight into Matthew Khan’s hands who once gathered placed the ball down 18-7.

We nearly had a bonus point a precise cross field kick from Michael Butler saw the ball land in no mans land were Gareth Norman followed up unopposed. Unfortunately his excitement of seeing the line gapping with no one in front of him caused him to panic and slip over.

This was a fantastic all round team performance that the late great Mario Carpanini would have been proud of! It was clear from the trip back it’s bonded us back once again after the disruptions of the last 2 months.

This result has put us 6 points off 1^st spot and 5 off 2^nd all to play for we must have the same commitment for Dowlias on Thursday night 7.15 KO.

 

5th February: A superb win today away at Gwernyfed with St. Peter’s First XV bringing home the bacon 18-7. The Powys based team were promoted from Division Four East last year and have taken 3 by storm. They are currently top of our division. A scan of the Gwernyfed Fixtures and Results page however shows top reading for the Rocks. Indeed whilst the Powys based side have only lost three games this season – t

he last was on 9th October at the Harlequins when they were defeated 38-10. Well done lads.

30th January: Paris 2011 Update

29th January: Tries by Ed Dobbs, Ed Morris gave the Youth a well deserved 17-17 draw against Rhiwbina on the Harlequins today Photos. The Seconds had a good win over Pyle II winning 25-22; tries by Paul Davies, James Morris, Josh Kelly and Jamie Evans.

29th January: Dowlais game off

 

28th January: The committee, members and friends of St. Peter’s RFC, would like to send their sincere condolences to the family of Mario Carpanini who passed away on Wednesday of this week. Mario has been a life-long member of St. Peter’s RFC and was a formidable player. Mario was treasurer of St. Peter’s RFC for almost three decades – notes. He will be sadly missed and we would like to wish his family our thoughts and respect at this sorry time.

The funeral is arranged for Wednesday 9.45am at St. Peter’s Church, St. Peter’s St, Off City Road.

22nd January: Tour 2011 has been arranged to the Kinsale Sevens. More

21st January: With the First Team game at Abercynon called off it was time for the seconds to show, a well supported St. Peter’s crowd, what they were capable of.

 

The Rocks two gang fielded a strong team with at least 6 former first team players and certainly a few ‘future’ first team probabilities in the mix. Although cold, the pitch as in good condition following the January downpoor of the recent weeks and this certainly helped both sets of backs in opting to run the ball. Penalty kicks were missed by both teams in the first 20 minutes, but the score was opened on the stroke of half time following a well placed touch finding kick from Jimmy Mullane, which ended up in the centre of the pitch. Behind his own posts Mullane gave the ball, with a mind of its own, took flight and landed on the 22 bouncing inwards where it was collected by strong running Sonny Driscoll to run the length of the field to score under the sticks. Talking to Sonny after the game he said ‘as soon as I saw Jimmy direct the ball to the touch line, I knew exactly where to run to collect’. Further strong running from the Rocks twos kept Llandaff North on their heels throughout the first half which ended with another try which started in the Rocks 22. The North had put the ball into touch behind our defence when James Twinkle Toes Morris took a quick throw to Josh Kelly Jnr. Clean, decisive running took him through the North’s defence, where the ball was shipped left. The resultant maul on the North’s line seemed to be turn-over ball against us, but as the ball squirted out, quck thinking left-wing, Andy Dore pounced in to scoop the ball and sprint two yards for the try. Great reactions. The third of the Rocks tries came from a charge down and chase, scored by James Morris. St. Peter’s were now clear out in front at 19-0 and set for one more try and a bonus point, but bizarrely when awarded a penalty they opted for the three rather than run or kick to touch. This decision added a bit of spice to the travelling Llandaff North, who scored two tries in the next 10 minutes. Personally, I would have put Baldy on at this point to stop the rot, but the final whistle did the job. 22-0 and 12 of them to James Morris. Photos 21st January: Today’s game v Abercynon is off. Seconds game still on at Harlequins. 15th January: Rocks 13 – 13 Heol Y Cyw. Rocks Youth 7 – 12 Pentyrch Youth. 8th January: Sunday sees the start of our 125th anniversary celebrations with the Youth hosting Cardiff and District Youth on the Harlequins – 2pm kick off. 8th January: Two good wins for the Rocks Senior teams today and both – tight, hard g

ames. The seconds played Llantwit Fardre at the Harlequins in front of the clubhouse taking the spoils 19-17. The seconds had led by a comfortable margin at one stage but a late surge from the travelling Llantwit could not undo the good work from the seconds. The cream of the tries came from ( I could not believe what I was seeing) a cross kick into the centre of the field from behind the Rocks own try line! Good, confident inter-passing, with excellent hands from Andy Fairclough coming into the centre of the park from his wing, confusded Llantwit (and the spectators) moved the ball up field where Rocks eventually ran out of defenders to run around. Well done – two gang. The first team made their way along the M4 to Aberavon Green Stars (Div 3 West) where the journey proved very worthwhile coming away with a 7-13 victory. Report to f

 

ollow. 7th January: UPDATE: Tomorrow’s game at Dowlais postponed. Instead the firsts are playing Aberavon Green Stars Away. 7th January: This weekend’s fixtures. Firsts away to Dowlais (wear a coat). Seconds at home to Llantwit Fardre 2.30 KO. Sunday sees the start of our 125th anniversary celebrations with the Youth hosting Cardiff and District Youth on the Harlequins – 2pm kick off. 5th January: Training back to normal from Thursday 6th January at 6.30pm at the Harlequins. Tuesday and Thursday after that.

3rd January: Rocks 11 – 6 LlanishenPhotos. Rocks Youth 7 – 14 Glamorgan Wands. Photos

SLEEPING BEAUTY

Wednesday 12th January – Saturday 15th January 2011
@ 7.30pm, St Peter’s Church Hall, St Peter’s Street (off city road, Cardiff)
Tickets Adults £7.50 Children £5
To book tickets or for information on group discounts contact Jo on 07967507310 or email tickets@stpetersplayers.com

30th December: First game of the new year will be on Monday 3rd January 2.30kick off, at home to Llanishen. Team Kicking off on the second team pitch at 2pm will be the Youth v Glamorgan Wanderers.

22nd December: The Clubshop will be open tomorrow (23rd December) from 12-3 for your festive purchases. Nick

BOXING DAY AT THE ROCKS

BOXING DAY INTER CLUB GAME

MEET AT HQ at 12.30 FOR A 1.00ISH KO. PLEASE BRING A RED OR GREEN RUGBY SHIRT ALL PLAYERS WELCOME AND THEN
D Gallagher Productions present RoX Factor at the Rocks!

RoX Factor

at St Peter’s on Boxing Day at 5.00pm the event will be a Tour Fund Raiser so please give as much support as you can.

Acts will be judged by our very own selected panel of industry experts, there will also be a guest appearance from the one and only Miss Tina Turner and a special life time achievement award for Mr E.Prezley. The event will be hosted by Dermot O Nearly and one part of Ant and Dec. It is a singing competition so make sure you are best prepared with a few beers inside you. Also being tone deaf is also a great advantage. Tickets will be £3 and will go towards end of season tour and will also include door prizes. See James Mullane or John Dun to enter, boy groups, girl groups over 35, 65 under 10s pretty much anyone can enter if you can see or not… Special Grand prize for the Winner.

ROX FACTOR

22nd December: Christmas Opening Times for St. Peter’s RFC.
Opening hours (hopefully) over Christmas,
Christmas Eve – 17:00 – 22:30,
Christmas Day – 11:00 – 13:00,
Boxing Day – 12:00 – 22:00
Bank Holiday Monday – 12:00 – 20:30
New Years Eve – 15:00 – 22:30
New Years Day – 12 – 22:30
Bank Holiday Monday – 15:00 – 20:30

Regards & Seasons Greetings
Don, Shelly & Family

Christmas Festivity Saturday 18th December 2010

First XV to play Brecon on Saturday. Firsts
Three big events this coming Saturday at the Rocks Clubhouse.

2nd Annual Christmas Jumper Party	This Saturday 18th December to be held at St Peter’s RFC. All players, past players and guests invited to join in the festivities. Christmas Jumpers a must and those with enthusastic singing voices. There will be carols, games, mince pies and beers ofcourse. If games are off meet down the club for 4pm start. If games on be prepared and wait for further instruction.Cheers JRM
The BIG Christmas Lottery	All tickets sold over last couple of weeks will be entered in the Christmas Draw where names on tickets will be pulled out of the hat with lots of prizes so good luck everyone. The draw will take place in the club approx 8pm. So why not turn up at the club Saturday and make a night of it. Merry Christmas all Joe
Shop Sale	Shop Sale at the Club Huge selection of sportswear available. Click the link above for more details

12th December: Lottery numbers 3 4 5 15 no winners next weeks kitty will be £4400′ not a bad prize for christmas.also next saturday
11th December: Llantwit Fardre 36 Rocks 19 Photos

5th December: Lottery News – All losing tickets (which is most / all of them at the moment) purchased will go into Christmas draw of numerous prizes as a measure of gratitude to everyone who supports us in the lottery. The Christmas draw will take place on sat 18th December. Be lucky Joe

4th December: Not surprisingly all games are off today. Training as usual Tuesday whatever the weather. John.

28th November: Now that the Autumn interruptions are over, we can get back to some serious league rugby. The First XV have a number of away fixtures through December, starting with Llandaff North on Hayley Park next week – 4th December. We are currently standing in third position behind Gwernyfed and Heol y Cyw, but also to concern us is fourth place Abercynon who are two points behind us, but have a game in hand. So let’s get training and have a good end to the year.

24th November: The News on Gibbo is that he suffered a double Fracture and Dislocation of the Ankle. He is having an operation on Wednesday or Thursday to have plates put in on each side of the ankle. He is in good spirits and told me he wants to play before the end of the season typical Gibbo. All our thoughts are with him wishing him a speedy recovery to get back on his feet ASAP. I am sure he will have his input with the teams tactics just as soon as he can mobilise himself (God Help us).
I would personally like to thank Collette and Quincy for the way they professionally looked after Luke until the Ambulance arrived.
Get well soon Gibbo!
John Dunleavy

20th November: Today’s game was not much more exciting than last nights report, but we won 15-6!! Our thoughts must go to Luke Gibson, who was stretchered off with a suspected broken ankle which saw the teams leave the pitch for nearly half an hour. Many thanks to the ambulance service for their excellent work and also to Quincy and Collette who took care of Gibbo on the pitch until they arrived. Youth went down to Llanishen 19-14.

19th November: Teams to play on 20th November against Taffs Well at home. Firsts

18th November: Vauxhall born J’oe D’unl’eavy gets his call up for Fiji. Former Second Row J’oe has rallied to the cry of the Fijian National Team, who trained on the Harlequins today prior to their clash with Wales on the Millenium Stadium tomorrow (7.30pm). Although clearly bemused by the scrummaging techniques and ‘stick it up em’ words of wisdom from D’un’l'eav’y, the Friendly Islanders left with not only quite a bit to think about before tomorrows game but with four lottery tickets each as well – da iawn Jo’e.

16th November: As Wales play Fiji on Friday evening, there is a full fixture list on Saturday with the First XV at home to Taffs Wells and the Seconds away to St. Joseph’s in the East District cup… spoiled for choice!!

10th November: Mountain Ash v Rocks CANCELLED!!!!

Wales v South Africa

Saturday 13th November

St. Peter’s RFC is looking forward to the Autumn Internationals and has made the Family Room (downstairs) available to all children (under 14) and their families. Children should not be upstairs. Thank you.

3rd November: St. Peter’s RFC vets are looking for a home game on 27th November followed by drinks in the bar. That’s the day of the New Zealand game. Is there a better way to earn your beer? If you are interested in arranging a fixture – 20 or 25 mins each way should be enough – contact Joe on 07821922948. Thanks.

No training on Thursday 4th November.

3rd November: Under 15s had a successful weekend winning a tournament on Sun at Cleve(Bristol). We entered 2 sides who met each other in the final! I can’t recall ever seeing this sort of situation before, full report on u15s page

30th October: No joy at Aberdare. Lost 16-10. <<Photos>>

23rd October: A superb second half performance by St. Peter’s Seconds transformed an eventless (is that a word) first 40 minutes which saw the welcome break arrive with a 3 point lead to home side CHSOB. The difference between the two teams (according to manager Vinnie) was the superior tactical changes by the manager in bringing on Rhodri Beynon (the physio) at half time. Rhodri went on to score two tries – the second of which he finished off with the crowd pleasing ‘Ayatolah’ – make up your own jokes! Final score – an impressive 17-39 win to the Rocks.

On the Harlequins yesterday, the firsts entertained Pentyrch taking the spoils 41-19. The Rocks are certainly keen to play an expansive game this season and were delighted to see the torrential thunderstorm pass over the Roath Ground before kick off. With Stephen Ireland proving to be as elusive off the pitch as he is on (ie no-one has seen him), Mike Butler took over the 10 jersey and gave one of his best performances in green and black in many a game. Following in the pattern of play demonstrated by David (Mitchell) and Steve over the last few games, Mike kept the travelling back line guessing all afternoon with an occasional deft kick through to turn the defence around, then as they were flat footed he read the game well and put in the long pass. Mike gave himself the room he needs to shine this afternoon. Somewhere along the line, Mike must have had a fine fine teacher! The first try was a result of speed and quick thinking as, from the attacking 10 Mike slid the ball through the waiting defence and gathered the bounce himself before passing on to supporting Dan Evans. Other tries during the afternoon were rarely simple as the ball was moved continuously between forwards and backs hands. The best of these was the fifteen man try from a line out five yards out. The expected tactic would be to tuck it up the jumper and drive, but the move was called early and, with Tony Johnson acting as Scrum Half the ball was swiftly moved to the opposite wing for Jamie Evans to cross over. The final try of the day was a full length (of thepitch) try started by replacement Jamie Churcher feeding Joe Davies and finally with the well timed inside pass, which has strangely eluded the Rocks over the past few years, Dan Evans crossed over for his second. Other tries by Danny Murphy, Sonny Driscoll. Photographs - supplied by Paul

Coach Lee Smith commented after the game that although the third quarter allowed Pentyrch to come back into the game with a couple of tries, the team spirit of the Rocks shone through and the team once again finished with a flourish. (Not sure if he said flourish, but it sounds good). Well done again Rocks.

16th October: A good day at the office today for the senior teams, coming out on top over two local teams, namely Fairwater and Rhiwbina. First mention must surely go to Dave Mitchell of the seconds who performed wonders scoring the equivalent of a Rugby Full House eventually winning the game for the seconds with a 42 yard drop goal. The seconds had been trailing to the Squirrels 12-22 on the Harlequins First Team Pitch when Mitch began to perform his magic. In total the contribution this afternoon included a try, two conversions a drop goal and a penalty. It was no ordinary penalty though. The Squirrells infringed 6 yards inside the Rocks half and up stepped Mitch. A cursory glace at the posts was all he needed before nodding to captain Paul… ‘pass me the tee!’ Aided by the upright (and slightly wind assisted), this collossal penalty put the Rocks two gang level with Rhiwbina. Add on the thundering drop goal and the Squirrells went nuts! 25-22 victory. Other tries by Matthew Khan and Matthew Silva.

The First Team meanwhile had a tough act to follow after last week’s superb performance which was clearly the best seen in years (see the write up below from coach John Dunleavy). Two tries by Dan Evans in the second half sealed the win after the Rocks had been forced to play a slower game by Fairwater, who expectedly, killed much of the attacking opportunities. The Rocks started with the same passion, as demonsrated against Gwernyfed, breaking out of their own 22 on a run. The ball was moved along the line to Tom Nolan who was drifting across the park pushing his supporting runners into touch. But expect the unexpected! Slight of hands and a dummy followed by a sidestep (accompanied by a faint cry of ‘Allez’) by the front row forward, straightened the line just enough to put Sonny through a gap. More slight of hand with the ball moving between at least six pairs of hands was finished by an overhead pass to supporting Nathan Williams to finish under the posts. Although they never looked like crossing the Rocks line, three penalties by the Waterhall Park side kept the home side in contention. Two missed penalties by Fairwater certainly went in our favour this afternoon. The first of Dan’s tries was created by the workhorse Matthew Murphy. Rocks kicked off, following a successful penalty by Faiwater. Matthew ran the ten and cleanly plucked the ball away from the waiting reds. A fifteen yard dash followed before feeding the supporting Evans. Why can’t all tries be that easy? The Rocks scored the last of their three tries thanks to excellent vision from the replacement Scrum Half, Jamie Churcher, who fed Dan Evans on the blind side of a scrum to beat his opposite number. The Rocks pushed for the bonus try, but further spoiling by the home team prevented the extra point. Well done to both teams today. The future is bright – the future is green and black.

15th October: Teams to play on 16th October. Firsts v Fairwater. Seconds v Rhiwbina

 

9th October: Rocks 38 Gwernyfed 10. Followed by the Lumberjacks <Photos>

The Rocks welcomed in-form Gwenyfrrd to Harlequins Saturday and knew they had to up their game from previous week’s performances.

There was a different look to the way the boys started this week. There was a very determined & controlled look to the team – not giving the opposition any time to settle and led by stand-in skipper Tony Johnson.

The handling and support play was at times the best seen for years. The work rate in the loose from some of the tight forwards was creating more space for the speedy backs. To say the game was won by half time was an understatement scoring 4 tries and missing out on 2 other clear cut opportunities. We had a bonus point in the bag by the HT whistle with 4 tries from Joe Davis 2, Sonny Driscoll & Tom Nolan Danny Evans kicking 3 conversions.

The 2^nd half against a challenging wind meant hard work not to kick the ball away to the opposition’s stong running fullback. No fears the wind helped the guys find another gear. Steven Ireland stepping in at 10 and showed all his class thought the game directing every attack and organising the defence. More tries came, the best to our very own Kriss Barry on dual finishing off slick handling and a great pass under pressure from Jamie Boyle.

The good team spirit is clearly evident and this needs to be maintained for the rest of the season. The guys produced there best performance so far this will be a stepping stone to keep going. Man of the Match went to Steven Ireland & Danny Murphy. Full Home Debuts to John Morris & James Evans both had a bog part to play in this good victory.

The key is getting back down to earth for Fairwater which will be a difficult game. The 2nds were unlucky going down by 2 tries to a very well organised Pentyrch team some good performances from Luke Barttle & Joey Jones .

We also presented the September Senior & Youth Players of the month which were James Mullane & Robbie Ryan so well-done thanks to everyone who supported the Lumber Jack Night we raised £200. Just a couple of notes from the Evening Pazza wants his Llanharran shirt back there is a reward for the person who can hide it the longest. I did see someone digging out side Saturday night? We would just like to apologise to the taxi driver who car was involved in hitting our coach.

Bring on Elvis.

8th October: First team to face Gwernyfed here. Second team to face Pentyrch here.

6th October: 125^th Anniversary Tour to Spain 2011 Fund Raiser.

We are going to have a series of fund raising events at the Club over the season in order to raise money for the 2011 Anniversary Tour to Spain. The 1^st fund raiser will be on Saturday the 9^th of October and it will be a Lumber Jack Night all you need is a Check shirt or best dressed Lumber Jack will win a prize (no Axes or Chain Saws). The night will be about raising money for the Club Tour at the end of the so we will have a few competitions and a chance to win a few prizes. We will be going round getting deposits of people who will be interested in going on tour. Remember the tour is for seniors, Youth & Non Players so everyone needs to support the night.

3rd October: A disappointing result yesterday going down to Abercynon. Results

1st October: Team to face Abercynon HERE

27th September: Its been a busy time for the Rocks Juniors lately. The Under 12′s won the District Tournament at Llandaff yesterday. They did so without conceding a try (more details are on the u12′s pages if you need them). Also, we have 10 players who have been selected for the District Squad: Ben Thomas, Connor O’Brien, Dafydd Manley, Joshua McCauley, Lucy Pattison, Rafel Actie, Sion O’Brien, Sion Williams, Stefan Zavaglia, Tom Meehan. Another, Joshua Nolan, has been selected for Cardiff Schools Under 11′s

Gate receipts from the u15s 12-a-side Tournament at the Harlequins on 5/9/10 involving Llanishen, Caerleon, Pontyclun, Porthcawl, Cleve and Cefn Fforest helped to raise £305 for charity. £105 was donated to UNICEF UK, the childrens’ charity and the other £200 was given to the local Ty Gwyn Special School, in Ty Gwyn Road, which helps educate handicapped children. Please see photo of players Joe, Conor and Shannon and coach Matthew Sweeney donating the cash to a teacher at Ty Gwyn Special School. It was very pleasing to see all the lads help to raise money for other children less fortunate than themselves an also nice to see the benefit passed onto our close neighbours in the community.

26th September: Hard work and determination were not enough yesterday for the Rocks as Heol Y Cyw took the spoils 16-10. Good forward play set many a good platform for the Rocks backs who, although they scored the best try of the game on a full length of the pitch run, kicked far too much ball away to the home team to run back. Photographs

The seconds progressed to the next round of the East District Cup thanks to Pentyrch who announced at 12.45 that they were unable to raise a team. O’Brien’s two gang remain undefeated!!

24th September: Team to play against Heol y Cyw Saturday HERE

23rd September: Junior meeting Friday 1st October at 7.30pm after training. Joe

18th September: First home win of the season for the Rocks first XV taking the scalp of, newly promoted Dowlais 37-31. As the score suggests, Dowlais gave the Rocks a topsy turvy afternoon with both sides departing with a bonus point. Two tries a piece to Nathan William and Sonny Parker with Gareth Jones also crossing the line. The rest of the Rocks points were scored by David Mitchell. <<Photos>>

The other two Rocks teams had mixed fortunes with the Youth match being stopped ten minutes into the second half. Youth rules demand that once a score goes beyond a fifty points difference the game is awarded to the leading team. An exceptional Glamorgan Wanderers team envoked this rule at the Harlequins today, but our youth put up spirited opposition. The youth continue to improve and will only continue to do so if they face a strong opposition.

The seconds on the other hand were the clear victors today beating Llandaff North 7-71 on Hayley Park. Man of the match by a long chalk was the diminutive, hot-stepping, five try-Jamie Evans. The second team put in a solid performance, led by the mercurial James Mullane playing at ten. Assassin and bus-pass Baldwin made good in-roads.Macca also scored.

17th September: Team to play Dowlais on Saturday Here

13th September: 1sts won at Llanishen 10-5. 2nds were let down by Taffs Well who failed to raise a side for a league game. The youth lost a friendly with Rumney 28-8 which flattered Rumney. Tues at 6.30 seniors have a trial at UWIC.

10th September: Team to play against Llanishen tomorrow. click

6th September: St Peter’s came runners-up in a strongly contested 12-a-side tournament at the Harlequins Ground on Sunday. They joined 6 other teams entered into a charity competition which raised approximately £300 for UNICEF UK. <<MORE>>

4th September: A disappointing start to the season for the Rocks first XV going down 18-27 to Brecon. Better fortunes favoured the second XV who beat Maesteg Quins 24 – 20 in an excellent trial match. The rocks fielded 24 players this afternoon with Rhys Andrews, unsurprisingly, man of the match. The seconds now look forward to starting the league next week playing Taffs Well.

3rd September: First and second teams at home tomorrow. League opener for the first XV to Brecon, whilst the seconds take on Maesteg Quins.

1st September: Welsh Assembly grants Planning Appeal from St. Peter’s RFC. <<more>>

30th August: The home trial against Nantfythlyn 3 west went quite well the overall score was 41  16 approx .A couple of new faces on show along with the rest of the boys made for some good signs .nice to see a couple murphys out there competing for a spopt.about 12 new signings all trying for places will make life difficult for selection but gives the right kind of headache before saturdays home fixture against brecon.The rocks dominated up front winning most of the possession and scoring some nice tries. Report by Joe Dunleavy.

23rd August: There will be a players meeting on Saturday the 28^th at 12.30 before the game. BRING OWN SHORTS AND SOCKS. The meeting will be for the youth and senior players to update them on were we are and the plans for the session.

23rd August: The U15s started the season winning a cracking 7s tournament at the club on Sun. Report.

21st August: The youth went down 10-17 this afternoon to a well organised strong blackwood side. Vince said after the game that the Blackwood forwards got the better of ours, but had our backs had more ball we could have created a lot more. Still… lots of promise for St. Peter’s from a young youth side.

Wednesday of this week the youth entertain Newport Saracens – 6.45pm kick off. Further fixtures include Glamorgan Wanderers on 18th September at home in the Cardiff & Distric t Cup, St. Joseph’s on the Harlequins – 11th Sept in a trial game and then St. Joseph’s again in the first league game of the season on 25th.

20th August: Club Captain Announced for 2010-11. Club Captain Evans and second team captain O’Brien. On first hearing this I thought I’d been sent back in time 20 or so years. But this year’s captains are not Michael (Evans)and Lawrence (O’Brien), but taking up the mantle will be Owen (Evans) and Paul (O’Brien). Congratulations to both. Let’s get the season started then and suppor the team at Nantyfyllon on Saturday for the first of two trial matches.

17th August: We have a musician at the club on Sunday 29th August 2010 4pm-7pm – it will be irish songs and some rock and roll.

14th August: An excellent performance from St. Peter’s Youth was not enough to overcome a well drilled Aberdare Youth team at the Harlequins today. Although the scoreline read 5-12 and two tries to one for Aberdare, there is much to praise about the Rocks performance today. Further trial matches against Blackwood next Saturday and Newport Saracens on Wednesday 25th will allow St. Peter’s to blood another six backs into the team.

14th August: Back to back preseason matches agains Nantyfyllon for the next two weekends. Away on 21st and home on 28th.

12th August: Pre-Season Report from John Dunleavy. Things are starting to take shape… more.

8th August: History was made yesterday on Splott Park!!<<photos>> Having made it to the Final of the Welsh Baseball Union Challenge Cup Final for the first time, the Rocks Baseball team did not disappoint. St. Peter’s RFC turned over St. Alban’s, who were the clear favourites by seven men to bat.
All the talk before the game was of a ‘possible’ victory. St. Alban’s, with over half the team as Welsh Internationals, had been tipped to win by a clear margin, whilst the media had almost already thanked the Roath team for turning up. But Darran Sage’s team had other ideas yesterday. St. Alban’s were the first on the bat and Joshua Dunleavy opened with a first round of 5 walking back to their seats. The extremely well supported St. Alban’s team faced an onslaught of bowling first from Joshua and then from Uncle Mark who together sent the buns packing for a well earned 48.
St. Peter’s followed up with a solid performance taking the lead by 14 runs at the half way stage. Noteable batting performances by the other two Dunleavy representatives John and Lewis who added 10 each to the Rocks tally.
In the third quarter, Joshua  and Mark went to work again whittling down the St. Alban’s batsmen. Key high scoring batsmen tried just a little too hard for the Tremorfa side and in so doing gave up their bats far earlier than they were used to. Top catches in the second innings going to Paul Ericson (2), Lewis Dunleavy and Tom O’Brien. Particular note must be made of the slow motion, yet still ballet-style easing to the ground of Mark Dunleavy, slower than a Fred Dibnah chimney, which I am sure by now, he will describe as a diving catch! The earth moved for me.
In the second half of the game tactical subsitutions meant that we took two olduns off (Mabbs and Kelly) and brought two younguns on. The future is bright – the future is green and black.
The excellent fielding performance had placed St. Peter’s firmly in the driving seat, now needing 39 runs to win – which Webby informed me after the game is an odd number in baseball. St. Peter’s were now playing with over half the team eligible for youth baseball, but the batting performance suggested otherwise. Sensible steady batting was called for by the captain Sage. Strange then that he was the only player out in the first round. Further steady batting from all players hitting a succession of single runs drove the heart and soul out of St. Albans.  Finally, having only succeeded in taking three bats from the Rocks the final run was hit – by a team player! He knows who he is. He’s still telling everyone.

Congratulations to all and everyone who made it happen. I am sure that Bill Barrett, in whose name the WBU Challenge Cup in now dedicated, would have been delighted to see the cup come the the Harlequins.

6th August: ST PETER’S JUNIOR COACHING CLINIC - 11am on Sunday 15th August at the Clubhouse. Coaching Clinic headed by Cardiff Blues and Wales coach Gareth Baber. This will also be a registration day for the coming season. Could all junior players please attend.

4th August: WBU Final – Sunday 8th August 12 noon knock off. St. Peter’s v St. Albans. Splott Park.

28th July: England Bowled over by Rocsks’ Joshua Dunleavy. Congratulations to Joshua Dunleavy this weekend who bowled out England B for just 18 runs at the England – Wales Baseball B international in Liverpool. Also well done to Rocks boy Luke O’Brien who hit 18 runs for the Wales under 16′s team.

Other Baseball news from Joe Dunleavy… After a successful weekend in Liverpool we were straight back into action at the harlis where the rocks faced up to a strong grange catholics side in the semi finals of the cup.The rocks baatted first and were all out for 21 runs and it looked like an earlly finish but some cracking bowling from mark was equally backed up in the field sending the catholics back for 25.The second innings the rocks solid batting off many rattled up 85 run with 3 men still going declared leaving 80 to win.Although the catholics hit out they could not catch up finishing with a total of 57 runs and put the rocks into the final against st albans who beat the other grange side’ cheers joe d

21st July: Congratulations to Joshua Dunleavy and Luke O’Brien, who have both been selected to play for Wales  Baseball team, this coming Saturday 24th July in Liverpool.

Luke, who plays in the Rocks senior team, has been selected to play for Wales Under 16′s.

Joshua, who has been selected for the senior Wales B team, is a product of the extremely strong baseball section at St. Peter’s RFC, having already played for Wales at under 14 and 16 level. Whilst it has not yet been confirmed, at 17, Joshua must be in contention for the honour of being the youngest ever senior player at International Level for Wales. Joshua will be bowling for the Wales B team on Saturday. This is a great testement to the hard work not only of Joshua himself, but for the whole of the Rocks Baseball section.

15th July: AGM Friday 16th July 2010. 6.30pm at the club.

15th July: A good turn out for the first couple of training sessions this week has seen over 30 seniors and a good number of youth players already working hard at the Harlequins. It’s always good to see new faces at the Rocks alongside a really strong turnout from the backbone of last season’s first and second teams – One Club!

Moving on from St. Peter’s this year sees Kris Barry cross the city to Cardiff RFC. Everyone from the club would like to pass on their sincerest best wishes to Kris and wish him every success with his career at Cardiff RFC. Kris has successfully progressed through all levels at St. Peter’s and is a credit to the club. It will be a hard task to replace him, but we move on and work hard, knowing full well that the remaining players from last season will all continue to show the passion and commitment to the club. Also parting companywitht he Rocks this season is Luke Reardon, an unsung hero Cardiff RFC have clearly missed out on. Luke, is currently training with the club until September before joining to the forces. The two forwards departing at once will leave a hole that will take a lot of filling but as the old saying goes ‘life goes on’ and who knows – maybe we will see them together in the future. Both players, and many quality players in the present seniors, have developed through the Junior and Youth teams and are a great advert for our club structure.

The Youth have had training for the last couple of weeks and have had good numbers. It was their first year at that level last season which saw them coming up against boys a couple of years older but they did more than hold their own and with that experience they will certainly prove to be a force to deal with.

12th July: St. Peter’s RFC are delighted to announce that this season we will be coached by another past player of the Club. John Dunleavy takes the reins for the coming season following in the excellent footsteps of Chris Churcher and team.

John’s involvement with St. Peter’s RFC stretches back over 30 years since he started with the club playing for the Under 7′s. Son of Joe Dunleavy, John played for St. Peter’s Juniors through to the Youth Team. During this time he received a number of Cardiff School’s honours before progressing to the Rocks first XV. A member of the world famous team which beat Cardiff. I’ll just say that again… that beat Cardiff 14-16, John went on to play for the Arms Park team and also Glamorgan Wanderers and Dinas Powys.

Further honours include Glamorgan County and East District caps. John captained the Welsh Baseball (B) representing his country on four occasions. He has had many years of coaching Dinas Powys mini rugby at age 7 up to 16 with great success.

He is looking forward with great optimism to bringing his ideas to light and adding flare to the talented side following on from previous coaches, Chris Churcher, Timmy Carless and Paul Glover.

John is married to Lisa; they have two sons – Joshua and Lewis.

4th July: Training starting Tuesday 13th July. Already the season looks good with early rumblings of new forthcoming signings ‘hopefully 3 trial matches as last season with maybe a trip on top. Coach – John Dunleavy – is looking for a strong squad of players in the Firsts and Seconds all vying for places. The doors always open for new and old players with the youth breathing down their necks. This year we celebrate our 125th year as St. Peter’s RFC and we are hoping to welcome a few of the big boys to our own patch. The youth team are becoming stronger many of the squad in their second year. They too will be looking to take a few scalps. So lets start the season with a bang – 6.30pm Tuesday 13th July.

REQUEST: Received by email… Does anyone have a fixture list from the season 1985-85? Any information would be appreciated. Thanks Kevin

7th June: Pre-Season Training Starts…Tuesday 13th July 2010. Details.

7th June: At last… Photos from the Club Dinner. Here

25th May: Tylorstown promoted as champions. Penarth promoted following a win over Abergavenny in the Division 3 play off.

25th May: Rocks Club Dinner: Saturday 29th May 12 noon start.

24th May: Many thanks to Mike Payne (Crusher) who provided the following match reports.

May 15th.

The Rocks travelled across the city to Llandaff North for their final league game of the season.This fixture had been postponed from earlier in the season due to adverse weather. We had beaten the North in our previous game by 55 points to 14 on our ground.Our hosts were determined that there would be no repeat of that score line. From the first wistle they came at the rocks and for much of the first half had the better of the play.They were unfortunate to reach half time with a score line of 3 all as they were the better side. The second half was the complete opposite to the first half.The Rocks running the ball from all over the park which Llandaff North couldn’t live with.They eventually capitulated and the rocks ran in 6 second half tries for a final score of 45 = 3.Man of the match,Dan Evans,playing on the wing contributed 25 points with 2 tries,6 conversions and a penalty.Other touchdowns came from Dean Grech (2),Sean O’Brien and Mike Butler.

May 19th

Semi -final of the East District cup saw the Rocks take on Llanharan at Rumney RFC.Our opponents finished their season as runners up in Division 1 East. This was probably the Rocks best performance of the season.You would have been forgiven if you’d thought that the team in green and black were from Division one.From the first whistle they ploughed into the Llanharan pack.With most of the play they were unfortunate to find themselves 3 -  0 down following a penalty.This stirred the rocks to greater things and they continued to dominate the game. Thanks to a try and conversion by Dave Mitchell and a try by Sean O’Brien the rocks reached half time 12 points to 6 in the lead.However 3 yellow cards saw us give the advantage to  Llanharan. At one stage we were playing with 13 players on the park.Llanharan took advantage and scored 17 points to lead 23 -12. Back to 15 players and the rocks pressed the division one side which resulted in a try for Owain Smith close to the touchline. A superb conversion from Dave Mitchell took the score to 23 – 19.Sensing victory the Rocks threw everthing at Llanharan

but were unable to score the try that would have given them the victory they richly deserved.At the final whistle the most relieved person at Rumney was the Llanharan coach Dennis John.

13th May: Junior News: The U10 & U11 Presentation has been moved to Friday 21 May 2010 at 5pm (previously Sunday 30 May 2.30pm).

13th May: St. Peter’s First XV East District Semi Final against Llanharan is to be played on Wednesday 17th May at Riverside Park, Rumney RFC. Kick off 7pm.

4th May: St Peter’s 14s managed to finish their season in excellent style by winning the Blues Cup by 22 – 5 in a tough final against a big and aggressive Beddau side.. Photos. >>>> Match Report.

2nd May: Under 14s Blues Cup Final Preparation: Andries Pretorius from Cardiff Blues came down on Friday to do a session with the boys before the Blues Cup Final. He was excellent with the players and taught them some useful tips for Tuesday. All the coaches and the players would like to say a big thank you to Andries for giving up his time to help our cause. More.

Come along to the Arms Park on Tuesday 4th May KO 6pm to support the Under 14s in the Blues Cup Final.

29th April: Congratulations to St Peters U 15s on winning their Cardiff and Vale District Tournament at Rumney on Sunday last and bringing back more silverware.

3rd game : Penarth -12-0 tries by Will Baird,Sam Parker , Con by Ed

Semi Final : Rhwibina 17-0 tries by Jordan Lane (2) Danny Wardle, Con by Ed

Final        : Rumney 6-0 Penalties by Ed Pointer

Website Hits:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28th April: League Table on the right hand side updated from WRU site today.

24th April: Rocks 55 – 14 Llandaff North. Tries by Ryan Jones (3), Gareth Bater, Luke Powell, Dan Evans, Sonny Driscoll, Michael Butler and Artus Kozels. Full Report Photos

23rd April: The last few games of the season details: St. Peter’s to play Llandaff North twice on 24th April and 15th May. Penarth to play Heol y Cyw and Tylorstown. Tylorstown to play Aberdare, Penarth and Heol y Cyw. We need to play well in our last two games against Llandaff North. Never say Dai!

21st April: CONGRATULATIONS to the Rocks Under 14s who progressed to the Final of the Blues Cup last night beating St. Joseph’s in an excellent Semi Final. Well Done Rocks. Details of the final to follow. Read the report from the Blues website.

17th April: Junior End of Season Presentation dates announced on Saturdays and Sundays in May. Here.

17th April: First Team go down at Aberdare 22-19, whilst the second team notch up a good win over Llandaff North. Youth played well again this week, but went down 13-24 at the hands of Rhiwbina.

16th April: Penarth retake the top spot following their 52-5 win over Llandaff in the week.

14th April: Second team Match Report v UWIC  East District Cup here

13th April: Further to the not below… as WRU rules determine that second team and youth league games must be played as arranged, there will now be ONE  bus going up to Aberdare. Turn up early to make sure you are on it.

12th April: Semi Final of the East District second team cup against UWIC at Rumney RFC Tuesday 13th April. KO 6.30pm

12th April: Saturday 17th April – The Rocks first team on Saturday will be the Aberdare v Rocks game at the Michael Sobel Sports Centre, Aberdare. We shall be taking TWO coaches to Aberdare for this end of season match (not the last) in order to allow as many supporters to travel. As usual there will be one bus returning early and the other… later on in the evening. Both buses will be leaving the Clubhouse in Minster Road at 12.15. Please make every effort to come along and support the team. See you Saturday.

Second team to play Llandaff North seconds.

Current League Positions – taken from WRU website. 13/04/10

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Tylorstown	17	14	0	3	416	251	63
2	Penarth	17	13	1	3	405	181	63
3	St. Peters	18	13	1	4	347	165	62
4	Aberdare	15	10	1	4	380	216	52
5	Heol y Cyw	17	10	2	5	298	228	48

12th April: Under 15 game on Wednesday cancelled.

11th April: It’s Junior Rugby on the Harlequins this week! Under 14s on Thu 15th - St. Joseph’s in the Semi-Final of the Blues Cup 7pm.
Other rugby this week – Llandaff v Penarth - Tuesday 13th April

10th April: The first team had a worthwhile trip to Brecon today with a 30-6 win.  The seconds meanwhile won 70-12 against Llantwit Fardre. Good Effort. Meanwhile at Aberdare on Saturday, league leaders Penarth were held to an 18-18 draw.

8th April: 3rds lost 25-20 to Rumney in the quarter-final of the Ninian Stuart.

7th April: Another Cup win for the Rocks Seconds over neighbours Old Illtydians in the Mallet Cup. Rocks 51-10 Old Illtydians. Tonight on the Harlequins Thirds at home to Rumney in the Ninian Stuart.

5th April: LOTTERY – Well done to Simon who nabbed the jackpot of £8 700 on Saturday night. There will be a presentation of the cash on Tuesday  6th April at the club after the Second Team Mallet Cup Match against the Illts at the Harlequins.
Wednesday evening – Thirds at home to Rumney in the Ninian Stuart.

4th April: A few website problems – We’re having a few niggles, please be patient.

4th April: CONGRATULATIONS - St Peter’s are proud to announce that five of the Under 11’s coached by Patrick Nolan (Patsey)have been selected to represent East Wales in the annual fixture against West Wales at Ebbw Vale RFC on 28th April 2010. The boys are Sion Williams, Rafel Actie, Tom Meehan , Dafydd Manley & Sion O’Brien. Well Done Boys !!

4th April: MORE CONGRATULATIONS - To the Rocks under 14 team who have progressed to the semi-final stage of the Blues Cup. The Semi-Final is to be played against neighbours St.Joseph’s. Date to be announced soon. Well done lads. The future is bright -  The future is emerald green and black!

4th April: Good local derby wins for St.Peter’s senior teams yesterday. The First Team beat Llanishen 16-3 and the Seconds beat Old Illtydians. The second team  fixture ended 32 all, but as it was a cup game, the rules of the competition promoted the  Rocks to the next round on try count. St Peter’s second XV notched up six tries in the encounter with three tries going to the elusive Matthew Khan. Other tries to Tom Nolan, Paul O’Brien and one other – if it was you – let me know. No fibbin!

31st March: Easter Weekend Vets Rugby. Vets/(whoever we can muster) v Old Paulines London Public School Vets – about 1.30pm.

27th March: St. Peter’s win 11-16 at Llandaff.

27th March: Today the first team travel across the city to Llandaff for a 2.30pm at Bishop’s Field. Now that the uneventful six nations for this year has come to an end attention rightly returns to SWALEC Division Three South East fixtures. All three teams at the top of the division are travelling today; Penarth venture north to Brecon, whilst Tylorstown are coming to Cardiff to meet Llanishen. St. Peter’s are currently in third position of 3SE (full WRU table) behind Tylorstown on points for and against difference. Although Tylorstown have leaked more points than the Rocks, they have also scored more in their favour and with one game in hand over St. Peter’s, ‘Tylee’ have one more win than us to their credit. An improvement on last year’s performance however means that St. Peter’s have acrued eight bonus points to Tylorstown’s six. And ‘that’ in summary is why Penarth are four points out in front. The Seasiders have won as many matches as Tylorstown and also equalled the Rocks’ bonus points.

All three teams have a number of games to play before resting their boots, but let’s not overlook Heol y Cyw and Aberdare who are in fourth and fifth places just seven points behind the Rocks..

Meanwhile in Cup news we have qualified for East Dist Semi finals along with Barry and two others who have yet to be decided. Draw to take place 10th April.

 

25th March: A busy weekend for St. Peter’s RFC. This Saturday the first team resume league action away at Llandaff.

Our Second team have an earlier kick off at 1.30pm against touring side Reporters Without Manners RFC. The side is made up of sports jounalists from france who are over for the Ospreys Match and were let down at the last minute so, the Rocks stepped in. We hope it will be the start of a long term relationship. Let’s give them a Rock solid welcome and enjoy a pint with them.

The youth will be playing Llanshen away -  good luck to all.

touring side reporters without manners rfc are playing the 2nds sat 27th 1.30pm kick off.the side are made up of sports jounalists from france that are over for the ospreys match and were let down at the last minute so we accommedated them and we hope it will be the start of a long term relationship’so lets give them agood welcome and enjoy a pint with them

 

21st March: The 1st xv had a good runout on Thursday against Pill Harriers  in a friendly with an 8 all result that gave them a chance of match practice to go into the latter end of the season with high hopes of finishing strongly and make a good challenge at the title .

15th March: Squad fixture arranged for Thursday 18th March at Pill Harriers 7.15 kick off.

11th March: Saturday 13th March – Ireland v Wales kick off 2.3opm. Special Offers: Peroni and Heineken bottled larger are 3 for £5, also the untapped organic beers are £2 each or 3 for &5, also as its Wales v Ireland and coming up to St Pats day will do Guinness at £2 from 2pm till 5pm.

9th March: No league action for the Rocks this coming weekend, but it’s all getting interesting in Division three South East. St. Peter’s closed the gap on Penarth following last weekend’s results. Rocks win over Pentyrch and Penarth faltered at home to Llanishen. Meanwhile, Tylorstown’s last two wins over Llandaff (52-3) and Brecon (17-20) has kept Tylee in contention too. Friday night 12th March  it’s first against fourth at the Heol y Cyw v Penarth game. Kick off 7.15pm.

7th March: A good day at the office yesterday for St. Peter’s RFC. Three out of Three.
First team win St. Peter’s 17-10 Pentyrch.
Seconds also win away, beating Taffs Well 3-22. Tries by Joe Davies (2), Gareth Bater and Paul McCarthy. James Mullane had a conversion – allegedly from the touch line, so he reported himself!! Brendan Bush and Mike Baldwin played their part as impact supersubs. By his own admission Brendan was not on long enough to cock anything up and Baldy always enjoys coming on for a few passive scrums as a late sub.
The Youth also had a good win at home beating Llantrissant 22-0.

5th March: First XV v  Pentyrch Saturday 6th March.

2nd March: Rocks Tour 2010 is subject to change. Could all interested please attend a meeting this Saturday (6th) before this weeks two games at the club. 12 30pm sharp.!!

2nd March: Wales to play South Africa on 5th June 2010 more

27th February: Rocks go down 20-5 at Penarth. Details.

25th February: First XV Team to face Penarth on Saturday 27th February. 2.30pm kick off.

20th February: The Rocks travelled to Waterhall Park today where the pitch determined the style of play. Boggy! That just about describes the pitch and the entertainment on show. The spoils were shared 7 all, but I’m sure Fairwater, who so far this season have 15 points from 12 games, would have taken more heart out of the draw than the travelling St. Peter’s.  St. Peter’s only try however was a cracker! Matthew Taylor picked up spilt ball one handed and made 20 yards before passing on to Kris Barry, who in turn fed supporting Jamie Boyle, before returning the ball to Taylor for another 20 yard run to score. Conversion by Ryan Jones. Unfortunately neither side was able to repeat such rugby entertainment for the rest of the afternoon. Photos.

Elsewhere in Div 3SE, No league game for Penarth and Pentyrch beat third place Tylorstown 32-27.

The seconds went down to Rhiwbina away 10-8.

The Youth continue their ongoing improvement with an excellent performance against Top of the League – Llanharan today. Although going down 15-5 to the league leaders, good work by the whole team was a huge improvement on the  30 point beating from Llanharan back in October. Only better to come from the youth!

18th February: First XV to face Fairwater at Waterhall Park on Saturday 20th February.

18th February 2010: Second team fixture for Saturday 20th February now confirmed as Rhiwbina (A). Meet at the club at 12.00 noon.

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Tylorstown	17	14	0	3	416	251	63
2	Penarth	17	13	1	3	405	181	63
3	St. Peters	18	13	1	4	347	165	62
4	Aberdare	15	10	1	4	380	216	52
5	Heol y Cyw	17	10	2	5	298	228	48