Looks quite a strong side, definitely with a defensive flavor to it, but with no shortage of pace
Ebbw team for Merthyr cup tie
15) Dan Haymond
14) Steff Thomas
13) Paul King
12) Dom Franchi
11) Toby Fricker
10) Rhys Jones
9) Dai Jones Cameron Regan
7) Lloyd Evans
6) Rhys Clarke
5) Ashley Sweet (c)
4) Kristian Parker
3) Rob Sevenoaks
2) Rhys Francis
1) Ross Jones
16) Joe Franchi
17) Luke Garrett
18) Chris Coleman
19) Lewis Young
20) Owen Young
21) Matthew Flanagan
22) Dai Langdon
23) James Lewis
Indeed he is. I will never forget the day chris levesley put him on his backside during their first season up in the premiership. Followed by a bullshit 'high tackle' penalty to Merthyr.
Chris plays his rugby for Clifton rugby now (i just googled it haha). Did not know that.
We may not have a team consisting of specially selected so called star players.But we have a squad who will give their all for the pride in wearing the jersey/You mat be able to buy players .but you cannot buy pride.that is a very special asset which we have in abundance.
Followed the game on the MERTHYR website .They kept referring to the amount of injury time being played.For them to score in the 91st minute leaves one sick to the core.Was it justified ? not being there i am unable to comment.
Well that was a game and a half,almost literally !! Many talking points,many unfortunately aimed at yesterday's ref Elgan Williams and the bizarre amount of injury time he played .Correct me if I'm wrong.Chris Coleman 's injury was the only stoppage of the second half .A suspected neck injury was thankfully a shoulder injury( if you know what I mean,still bloody hurt ) that left Chris on the floor for treatment that to me lasted no longer than four minutes ,if that.Chris broke down shortly after and was taken off within a minute.Now to the nitty gritty.I have always taken a stopwatch with me to all games,force of habit dating back to our division one East days when we played on parks.When Rhys cleared the ball into touch deep in injury time ,my stopwatch read 45:33.And I honestly believed that was it ,as did so many of us .The only one who thought differently was Mr.Williams who inexplicably decided another play .The result from there on in was predictable predictable,Predictable.Endless penalties,yellow card,penalty try.I've been banging on about how good these young refs are of late ,sadly Mr.Williams didn't fall into that category.Maybe it would have helped had the WRU sent up assistant referrees to give the game a more stable look.There would have certainly been a yellow card and an Ebbw pen for Toby Frickers mid air tackle on him instead of a ridiculous knock on.There was also the overturned penalty when he penalised Oaksey for backchat despite Merthyrs winger racing in with all guns a blazing.Easy to say blame the ref,but this match was way beyond a rather young and inexperienced ref to handle on his own.Ebbw coped extremely well against a big physical Merthyr team ,and should by right be through to the next round,and I'm still shellshocked that we aren't.What made the Wern experience even worse was their "supporters" fighting each other ( women too !!)at the end with the Merthyr players getting involved also.I honestly didn't see any Ebbw supporters involved,and I was stood right by it .A horrible ,horrible experience all round .Glad to get home.
I left with the strongest of feelings that I am so glad that I am an Ebbw supporter.
Soul-less and sterile ground lifted only by the chants of "Ebbw Ebbw" through the game
Little bit disappointed Merthyr decided to put up the ticket prices for the game because they knew we would go in large numbers. As far as the game was concerned thought we were better side for large parts Rhys's drop goal was fantastic. Tackling was superb through out hardly missed a first up tackle. Every body associated with the team should be proud of the way we played and conducted themselves on and off the field.
Couple of good posts from piglet and farmerboy making relevant points.The chants of Ebbw Ebbw at the end sent shivers down the spine.It brought home the fact that Ebbw Vale RFC isn't just a run of the mill rugby club,They and everyone associated with the club. coaches/players,have a special place in the hearts of the people of Ebbw.Merthyr on the other hand are as plastic as their pitch with mercenaries for players.Who cares if they win the league and cup .Nobody watches them anyway.
Now the dust has settled and my disappointment is finding it s level , can only think of one word PROUD !!! Our team gave everything and more . Merthyr looked disjointed as they did nt know how to deal with our first up tackles. We were as sharp as a razors edge. We were clinical in defence and with a bit more luck we could of won this game and in my humble opinion we should have won this game but in an old cricketing adage have a look in the book we re out. When i remember the cold night pre Christmas 2017 when we shipped 50 points over there I think my god how far have we come. We must be thankful that Jason and Ceri came and lifted this squad and then a bigger thanks to Greg for coming north up the river. He has got a formidable team around him now and this is showing in our results . From Dilwyn the cheer leader to Jon the chairman we are one big team and that includes the 16 th man the ever faithful addicts.
Well we ve now exited the cup and its back to league action. We need to put the winning boots on and kick on big time , we are capable of finishing this league in pole position and with a fair wind we will win this league. Thank you Ebbw I am proud to be one of you.
Nice write up from the CHIEF on the WRU website.When asked about their next opponents in the cup He said ,and i quote We do not deserve to be there,felt gutted for EBBW VALE ,they deserved to win it and we got out of jail.
Cameron Regan