Wales Rugby League for the first time held all of their Junior Grand Finals on one day and in one location for the very first time on Sunday, where a large crowd were treated to a magnificent day at a sun drenched Virginia Park. The event consisted of five games which included one semi final and four National finals with over 150 children involved representing six conference clubs. “It was an outstanding occasion,” said Mark Jones. “It was a superb advert for Junior Rugby League in Wales. The standard of Rugby League in this area is improving every year, these finals have a history of producing stars of the future and I’m sure we saw a number of those on display last Sunday.”
UNDER 13 FINAL – Penallta Storm 38 Bridgend Blue Bulls 26
Penallta Storm beat Bridgend Blue Bulls in the under 13s Final and entertained the passionate crowd with an open expansive game. The Storm went into a commanding lead 16 -0 scoring three early tries the first by Sam Buckthought and a brace from Patrick Lewis with two successful goals from Liam Davies. The Bulls replied with two well worked tries from Tom Seldon and Tom Lucas. As Tom Lucas scored Patrick Lewis from the Storm was penalised for foul play and red carded with the Bulls awarded the penalty which Stuart Ellis kicked. Ryan Davies then scooted over for a try for the Storm to take the half-time score to 20–10.
Storm starter the brighter in the second half scoring two tries from Callum Gulliford and Liam Davies but the Bulls replied with an excellent try from the impressive Tom Lucas which he converted himself to take the score 28–16. However Penallta sealed the game through tries from Joe Thomas and Liam Davies, which he converted himself. James Bennett and Dan James scored two late tries for the Bulls but it wasn’t enough.
UNDER 14 FINAL – NPT Steelers 30 Bridgend Blue Bulls 16
NPT Steelers won a bruising encounter with Bridgend Blue Bulls in the under 14s Final but they were pushed all the way. Bridgend had played just a few hours before, beating GA Giants 20-10 in a rearranged semi-final, but they showed no signs of fatigue, getting off to an excellent start with a try from Alex King which was converted by Ben Jones. The Steelers replied with two tries from the Davies twins - Connor was the first to score and then Curtis followed suit which was converted by man of the match Harrison Evans. Sandwiched between the both was a try from Bulls’ Ben Jones which he converted. Steelers scored a third when the ball was then spun wide to speedster Regan Grace to give them a 14-12 half-time lead.
Early in the second half, Grace grabbed his second try with another outstanding finish, quickly followed by a try from Jay Mcbride which was converted by Evans. Bridgend grabbed a consolation try through Brandon Goldsworthy just before full-time.
UNDER 15 FINAL – Panthers (Pontyclun) 30 Tydfil Wildcats 10
Panthers (pictured) won the under 15s title but were given a good game throughout by a spirited Tydfil Wildcats. Joel Ayres set the ball rolling for the Panthers, scoring a brace of early tries with Levi Knowles converting the first to give them a 10-0 lead. The Wildcats then struck back through an excellent individual effort from Tom Hopkins that Nathan Jones converted to bring the score back to 10-6. However Knowles added a further try then converted a Morgan John effort to make the score 20-6.
A Jones try brought the score back to 20-10 at the interval but they were unable to capitalise in the second half. Further tries from Lewis Kirk and Jack Davies, the first converted by Knowles secured the 30-10 victory.
UNDER 17 FINAL – Penallta Storm 54 Panthers (Pontyclun) 8
Penallta Storm were always in control in the under 17 Final as the Panthers were unable to emulated their younger club-mates. In the biggest win of the way, the Storm ran in 10 tries to Panthers’ two as they won 54-8. Storm built a healthy 24-0 lead at half-time through two tries from Jack Condy and one each from Kayne Greenslade and Ryan Davies.
Jo Scrivens converted the first three with Lewis Barnett adding the fourth goal. Panthers were first to score after the interval through an uncoverted Dylan Jones effort but when Penallta got the ball back, they rarely let it go. Three quick tries followed as Geraint Dallimore, Ryan Davies and Craig Jenkins raced over, with Barnett converting the first and the score was 38-4. Aaron Hughes got a try in the corner for the Pontyclun-based Panthers to give them some respite but further runs over the whitewash from Scrivens, Josh Davies and Greenslade cemented the victory.