A 79th minute try earned Rygbi Gogledd Cymru 1404 a hard fought victory over Wales Deaf by 21 points to 17 in a game played on the artificial surface at the Llandarcy Academy of Sport, Neath
Picture is from yesterday's game
Following match report kindly supplied by Ian Harrison, RGC 1404 Team Manager:
Due to the adverse weather conditions this match was switched from Maesteg to Llandarcy Sports Academy’s 4G pitch. The cold weather, early morning start and long journey seemed to have affected the Gogs as they went behind to a 25m penalty from Wales Deaf full back Celyn Ashton after only 2 minutes.
A 15th minute penalty was missed by Afon Bagshaw from 18m out but the pressure was kept on the Wales Deaf line and after 18 minutes replacement scrum half Josh Leach spotted a gap and went over near to the posts. Afon Bagshaw converted to make it 7-3.
The referee them awarded the Wales Deaf a penalty 35m out and Celyn Ashton again converted well to make the score 7-6. Nine minutes later from a similar position he converted a third penalty to make it 9-7 to the Wales Deaf team. The rest of the half continued with both sides trying to pierce the others strong defensive lines.
The second half started in a similar manner with the referee awarding Wales Deaf a penalty after 2 minutes which Celyn Ashton again converted well from 23m to open a gap to 12-7 for the Deaf. This spurred the Gogs who put pressure on the Wales Deaf line again but saw good moves being spoiled by giving away penalties or more handling errors. On 50m minutes Andy Baston went over after a powerful Gogs’ forward move. Afon Bagshaw again converted to put the North Walians back into the lead 14-12.
The North Walians then made a number of line breaks, one made by Full Back Carwyn Myrddin from his own 22m into the 22m of the Wales Deaf only for his pass to be knocked on when a score seemed inevitable. This is how it remained until the 75th minute when Wales Deaf pressure resulted in a try well out to the right with the conversion being missed.
The Wales Deaf were now 17-14 ahead with time running out for the Gogs who were awarded a penalty on the half way line. From the resulting line-out the Gogs broke quickly right and Centre Harri Evans went over in the corner for an 80th minute try. Afon Bagshaws conversion to make the score 21-17 was the last play of the match.
This was a hard match for the Gogs who managed to maintain their unbeaten record under Chris Horsman. This was a young Gog’s side with as many as four of last year’s U18s on the field at the same time and most of the others in their low 20s. This must auger well for the future of the game in North Wales.
Next up for the Gogs is a match against the North Wales Presidents XV at Parc Eirias on 22nd February.
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RGC 1404 are part of the Welsh Rugby Union’s Training Academy and are based in Parc Eirias, Colwyn Bay. The team was renamed RGC 1404 in January 2010 with the reference to 1404 reflecting the year that Owain Glyndwr became Prince of Wales, and ‘RGC’ being an acronym for Rygbi Gogledd Cymru (Rugby North Wales).
Despite trailing nine points to seven at the break, the visitors outscored the hosts by three tries to one with Josh LeAch, Andrew Baxton and Harry Evans touching down. Outside half Afon Bagshaw kicked three conversions .
Four Celyn Ashton penalties and a try by Richard Jones for Wales Deaf ensured the result was in doubt until the closing moments of the game, played on a perfect playing surface but in difficult snowy conditions.
The game was good preparation for Wales Deaf who now travel to Fylde on 26 February to compete for the Broadstreet Cup against England Deaf.
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WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY INTERNATIONAL RUGBY FOR THE WALES DEAF TEAM?
Many people ask how deaf do you need to be to be eligible to play deaf rugby.
Well, you don’t need to be profoundly or totally deaf to qualify. You only need a combined average hearing loss of 25dB or more in both ears.
This is approximately a minimum hearing loss in both ears or a moderate hearing loss in one ear but normal hearing in the other.
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Following report taken from the Wales Deaf web-site...
Where it all started
Deaf boys from Swansea Deaf club were meeting in 1995 and discussed about their love of playing rugby and decided to set up their own Deaf rugby club.
Coincidentally or not Deaf boys from Newport Deaf club were thinking along the same lines and subsequently set up their Deaf rugby club within Pill Harriers Sports and Social Club in Pillgwenlly, Newport and called themselves Pill Harriers Deaf Rugby Club.
Swansea Deaf and Newport Deaf rugby teams played each other for the first time in October 1995 in Tredegar Park, Newport with Swansea winning 52-0 and the return match was played in Loughor RFC in March 1996 and the result was 26-0 to Swansea. More matches followed and deaf rugby players and spectators alike enjoyed the game.
As the Deaf club rugby continued to grow it was agreed by both clubs to establish a formal Wales Committee structure in October 1996 to attempt to further enhance the game of Rugby in the Deaf community and promote development and awareness of our teams.
From this Committee we developed our Constitution and Rules of our Organisation, including a Membership scheme. Wales Deaf Rugby Football Club was born and we have been granted charitable status, which have allowed us to increase the scope of our fund-raising. We also developed links with the Welsh Rugby Union.
The structure of the committee was based on elected officials and two representatives from Swansea and Pill Harriers Deaf Rugby Clubs. The first match between Swansea Deaf and Pill Harriers Deaf was publicised in British Deaf News that was read by Kevin Pivac of New Zealand who set up New Zealand Deaf Rugby Football Union in 1991 to contact us.
This contact with the New Zealand Deaf Rugby Union resulted in two major events. The first was that Wales Deaf RFC hosted a Tour by New Zealand in November 1998, the very first event of its kind even in the UK or Northern Hemisphere, where we arranged their three-week stay with us. During this time they played a warm up game at Laugharne, losing narrowly, followed by 3 Saturday Tests at Major Club grounds of Rodney Parade Newport, The Gnoll Neath and Stradey Park Llanelli. There were also mid-week matches versus Swansea and Pills Harriers Deaf Teams.
Having been established for 10 years with many more Players than we have and receiving a great deal of support from the New Zealand Rugby Union, they were able to win all these games but not without a fighting performance from us. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Welsh Rugby union in this venture and those who contributed to a lesser degree.
The second major development during the Tour was the attendance at Cardiff RFC's Clubhouse next to the Millennium Stadium by Representative from Wales, New Zealand, South Africa, England, Japan and Australia meeting in order to formally establish a controlling body, agreed as the International Deaf Rugby Organisation (IDRO).
Since this time, IDRO has 3 Founder members who are all directly linked to their National Rugby Unions, and therefore the International Rugby Board. They are Wales, New Zealand and South Africa. Australia, France, Japan, Scotland and Fiji have since joined and England, Argentina, USA and Canada hope to follow soon.
This also resulted in the set up of first ever Deaf Rugby World Championship that will be held in Auckland, New Zealand in August 2002. Wales went to New Zealand and won the inaugural Deaf Rugby World Championship in Auckland beating host and favourites New Zealand 28-14 in the Final played in Eden Park. This could not have been achieved without the support of players, coaches, support staff, fundraisers, members and sponsors.
Wales Deaf rugby team played Scotland in Pyle RFC in May 2000 winning 26-0 and the return match was in Livingston RFC in October 2000 winning 22-17 and France played against Wales in Paris in June 2001 losing 52-5 to the Welsh. The return match was in Maesteg in February 2002 with Wales beating France by 18-3.
The Structure of Wales Deaf Rugby Football Club committee meant that one has to join either Swansea Deaf Rugby Club or Pill Harriers Deaf Rugby Club which discriminated those who play for mainstream rugby clubs and do not belong to either Deaf rugby clubs therefore it was agreed in 2001 to change the structure of Wales Deaf Rugby Football Club.
That year also saw the change of the name from Wales Deaf Rugby Football Club to Wales Deaf Rugby Union and the committee was made up of three officials namely Chair, Hon Secretary, Hon Treasurer and five committee members democratically elected by the members.
Geoff Evans of Laugharne was made our first President at the AGM of 2001 in recognition for his dedication, commitment and hard work for Wales Deaf Rugby Union.
Additionally, Deaf Rugby has become separate from any other Organisation or group in Deaf sport, and as we in Wales appeared to be European and Northern Hemisphere pioneers by staging regular matches.
And as they say the rest is history......
Wales also won the bid to host 2nd Deaf Rugby World Championship in Cardiff in July 2005. The bid received support from the National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff County Council, Welsh Rugby Union, Cardiff Rugby Football Club, East District Rugby Union and Wales Tourist Board. Without their support we may not have won the bid.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the continued success of Wales Deaf Rugby Union now matter how large or small the contributions were.
Cymru am Byth!
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