Orangutans yn Brwydro Nôl / Orangutans Fight Back

Orangutans – Ennillwyr CSGT10, CSGT11 Winners

One team determined to continue their winning streak is Orangutans Touch.  The team are the current holders of the Cyffwrdd Sir Gâr Touch title having won in both 2011 and 2010. 

The 2012 season is off to a winning start with Orangutans registering two wins out of two, including last night’s authoratitive display against newcomers Charlie’s Angels.  Orangutans Touch experience and superior skills took them to a 14 – 1 victory. 

Elsewhere, 2012 Touch new boys, Y Mellt continued their promising start to record a fine victory against local rivals Hyrddod yr Hendy, 11 – 6.  Gower Dragons also made it two out of two with a fine 9 – 3 win against Lookilikies with Once Were Athletic becoming the fourth team to maintain a 100% record by beating Friendly Rivals, 5 scores to 1. 

Follow Wild West Touch on Twitter for fixtures, results and updates

Follow Orangutans on Twitter

Follow Y Mellt on Twitter

Referees / Dyfarnwyr

Cyffwrdd Sir Gâr Touch are again benefitting from strong links with Wales Touch Association, Referee Director, Kevin Hobbs (pictured).  Kevin attended CSGT last night in order to observe and provide feedback to our referees and hopes to do so on a bi-weekly basis (other Touch commitments permitting!). 

Kevin is a vastly experienced Level 5 Touch referee having refereed in the Touch World Cup, Touch European Championships and Australian Touch State Championships – amongst others.  With Kevin passing on his knowledge and experience, the standard of refereeing in Llanelli will ultimately improve. Thanks to the WRU partnership, CSGT12 are usually able to provide two referees per game, meaning that CSGT12 is one of the few Touch leagues with dual referees, again ensuring a better experience for the players.

See the Who Would Be A Ref? post

Hollted Y Mellt Yr Wybren / Lightening Strikes in Strade

Y Mellt ar y brig ar ol Rownd 1 CSGT12 / Y Mellt at the top after Round 1 CSGT12

New boys, Y Mellt (The Lightening) stormed into an early lead by beating No Dropped Balls 13 scores to 2 on the opening night of Cyffwrdd Sir Gâr Touch 2012 (CSGT12). 

Y Mellt, sporting their natty new kit (see picture above), are new to Touch, but showed plenty of skill, movement off the ball and pace to win their first game.  In their next game, Y Mellt face local rivals, Hyrddod yr Hendy, which could prove to be a very interesting game.

Elsewhere, reigning champions (2010 and 2011) Orangutans were too much for new boys Hyrddod yr Hendy, eventually running out winners by 7 – 4.  Gower Dragons beat Y Genhedlaeth Nesaf, 6 – 3 in a closer game than the scoreline suggests, Touch experience and tactical knowledge of the game was the only difference between the teams.

Once Were Athletic beat another new team, Charlie’s Angels, 11 – 1 and in the final game of the evening, Friendly Rivals were beaten 7 – 2 by Lookilikies.

Another great night of Touch in the evening sun at Ysgol Y Strade and we’re looking forward to next week! 

 

Below is a highlights video of one of New Zealand’s exciting rugby league players, Shaun Johnson, who grew up playing Touch before going on to represent NZ in both Touch and Rugby League.  He currently plays for New Zealand Warriers in the NRL.  Step!

Twrnamaint Gorllewin Gwyllt Tournament 2012

ESCARGOT  TURBO  WIN  THE  GORLLEWIN  GWYLLT  CUP - RUPERT  MOON  PANTHERS  WIN THE  CARDI  CUP

Amazingly after a week of solid rain, with more promised, the skies cleared and the first Touch tournament to ever take place in the area was underway - Gorllewin Gwyllt.10 mens and mixed teams travelled to Llandysul in Ceredigion to compete for the Cwpan Gorllewin Gwyllt (Wild West Cup) and the Cwpan Cardi (Cardi Cup).  Several teams made the trip up from Touch hot-beds, Cardiff and Llanelli to help spread the word of Touch to pastures new.  Officials from Wales Touch Association were also on hand to referee games and help with the organisation of the tournament.  Special mention must go to WTA Referee Director, Kevin Hobbs who refereed almost non stop throughout the two days!  Also refereeing were Matt, Phil and Dave – big thanks to you all!

Escargot Turbo eventually beat Barcudiaid in the Wild West Cup final, with a convincing win having eliminated The Red Team in the semis.  Rupert Moon Panthers overcame the Poppit Wiwers to lift the Cardi Cup.

All in all, it was a great weekend of Touch, particularly considering that most of the teams present had not played the FIT version of the game before, the standard was high and we look forward to bringing more regular competitions to west Wales in the near future.

Thanks again to all involved in the competition – the tournament would not have been possible without the help of several key people.

Family Day, Saturday 5th May

The first ever Gorllewin Gwyllt Family Day was held on Llandysul Fields on Saturday 5th May 2012.The day was a great success with four families competing for the Family Cup, eventually won by Thomas & Co. Family Day began with coaching sessions introducing the rules and tactics of Touch.  Each family was provided with a mentor coach who took the teams through their paces with some drills and plays. A tournament timetable was then drawn up with the four teams each playing each other once, followed by a Final.  The competing teams were Allblack-Wallaby-Boks, Barcudiaid, Teifi Trumps and Thomas & Co. The top two placed teams on the leader board following the pool games were Thomas & Co and Teifi Trumps. A very close final game eventually resulted in a 2-0 victory to Thomas & Co. who were then presented with the Family Day award. Gorllewin Gwyllt would like to thank the volunteer coaches that gave their time to help coach; Kevin Hobbs, Eddie Harris and Justin Lloyd!

Cyhoeddir Amserlen CSGT12 Schedule Announced

Lawrlwythwch yr amserlen / Download the fixture list - CSGT12

Lawrlwythwch amserlen Cyffwrdd Sir Gâr Touch Haf 2012

Download the Cyffwrdd Sir Gâr Touch Summer 2012

The season gets underway on Wednesday 16th May 2012 at Ysgol Gyfun Y Strade, Sandy Road, Llanelli.  Games tap off at the following times: 18.30, 19.10, 19.50.  Please make sure all players arrive at least 15 minutes prior to tap off.  Games are 2 x 15 minute halves with 1 minute half time break.

We have 10 mens teams registered this year – unfortunately, no mixed teams registered this time! :-(

There will be a league system with teams picking up 3 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss, 0 if the game is forfeited. 

After nine rounds, there will be a finals week.  The team placed 1st in the league will play the team placed 4th in the first semi-final.  The teams placed 2nd and 3rd will play each other in the second semi-final. 

The winners of each semi-final will contest the CSGT12 final with the losers of each semi-final playing a third place play-off game.

If your team would like to play more than one game each week, please contact to arrange an extra friendly game.

Please email Daryl Richards for further details or to arrange a friendly - drichards@wru.co.uk

CSGT12 Noson Rhowch Gynnig ar Gyffwrdd / Try Touch Night

Dydd Mercher 2ail o Fai / Wednesday 2nd May, Ysgol Y Strade, Llanelli – Cyffwrdd Sir Gar Touch 2012

Llanelli Touch teams attended the Try Touch night at Ysgol Y Strade hoping to blow away the cobwebs for another summer of weekly Touch Rugby.  The session, run by Carmarthenshire Sports Development Officer, Matthew Adams (pictured below), gave players a chance to practice and improve some of the skills needed for Touch.  The group were then split into teams and played a few shortened games against each other.

Matthew said; 

“It’s great to see Touch starting up again in Llanelli.  This is the third consecutive year that Cyffwrdd Sir Gâr Touch has run in the town and we are seeing more and more people take up the game.  At the moment, it’s mainly mens teams, but we’re trying to encourage more women to either join mixed teams or form women-only teams.”

Althought the league was initial set up and run by Carmarthenshire Sports Development Unit (SDU), it has just been passed on to new WRU Participation Officer, Daryl Richards.  The Welsh Rugby Union has appointed 14 regional officers who will be running adults social Touch Rugby leagues across the country with the aim of getting more people off their sofas and on to the playing fields.  Touch is a fantastic vehicle for this as it requires very little equipment, burns lots of calories, has a very low chance of injury and is great fun!

Matthew continues;

Part of our role with SDU is to help establish more opportunities for more people to become more active, more often.  Once we have helped establish a new club or league, it’s about getting other partners or volunteers involved so that it can sustain itself and SDU can back away and take on a more of a supportive role.  Daryl will now be coordinating the league in 2012 and we wish him every success.

Due to the poor weather, the start of the league is now scheduled for Wednesday 16th May 2012 from 6.30pm.  All enquiries to Daryl Richards – drichards@wru.co.uk

Gweler / Also see:

All Blacks Secret is in the Wild West

Touch Returns to Llanelli

All photos copyright Jeff Connell 2012