> On Sunday 13th March at Colwyn Bay RFC the RGC A squad took a major step forward in its development taking on the Regional Dragons U20s squad.
> The A squad is designed to bridge the gap between U18s regional age grade rugby and the senior RGC 1404 squad and so has a combination of young U17 developing players and some young senior players plying there trade in the North Wales clubs in Division 1 and 2.
> The A squad has already played 4 fixtures this season winning 3 against Rydal Vikings, Lancashire, Cheshire and loosing narrowly toYorkshire however todays opposition was always going to be a big test for this new squad. The game started with the RGC A squad very much on the back foot when from the first scrummage of the game the young Dragons launched a clinical backline attack splitting the RGC A Centre partnership of Jack Williams (17 years of age Ruthin Youth) and Jason Blackmore (17 years of age Rhyl Youth) and putting Sion Jones the Dragons winger clean through the gap and under the posts.
> But rather than stepping back the RGC A squad rallied and from the kick off put the Dragons under a huge amount of pressure for the next 20 minutes with some good ball carrying from Shaun Strudwick (19 years of age WRU RGC academy) and Dale Blackmore (19 years of age Rhyl rugby club) and good distribution from Ashley James at 10 (Mold rugby club). The RGC A squad made many surging attacks into the Dragons 22 but were not clinical in the execution of there set peace and were guilty at times of forcing the final pass.
> However after a successful scrummage in the Dragons 22 the A squad put together some structured play with Gruff Jones (18 years of age Wrexham Youth) and Dewi Richards (Rhosllanerchrugog rugby club) hitting the contact areas with venom, it looked inevitable that they would cross the Dragons whitewash however in the final contact area the Dragons managed a turnover and moved the ball quickly to inside centre Ashley Norton who sprinted down the pitch and outpaced the cover defence to score under the posts.
> Again from the kick off a period of sustained pressure by the RGC A squad in the Dragons 22 ensued which earn t them a penalty in-front of the posts for an easy conversion by Ashley James and 3 points. The Dragons fought back and built some good phase play of there own keeping the ball alive with off loading in contact and earn t there own penalty in the RGC 22 but rather than going for the points saw an opportunity for a quick tap which led to Rhys Francis the Dragons hooker barging his way over the try line and James Miller the Dragons outside half concerting the try on the stroke of Half time.
> Half time score RGC A 3- DRAGONS U20S 19 The second half was again a
> close affair with both teams having an ambition to keep the ball on the pitch and some good phase play by both teams.
> In the 57th minute Jack Williams made a searing break from inside his own half and again it looked like the young North Walians would score a try however a miss place kick from RGC gave the Dragons the opportunity to break from deep and after some good passing interplay Steffan Morgan the Dragons outside centre crossed for a well worked try.
> But again RGC A weren't beaten and in the 71st minute after some strong ball carries by the forwards the Massive frame of Simon Griffiths (Welsh Exile) crossed for a deserved try. Both teams maintained there ambition to play running rugby right up untill the final whistle.
> Final score RGC A 8- DRAGONS U20S 26
> Marc Roberts the Performance development manager for North Wales said " This type of fixture represents the ambition in the North Wales Region while we clearly struggled to deal with the Dragons organised and abrasive defence we have exposed a young group of players to an intensity of game that they wont have experienced before. The ball in play time was high and its exactly the type of fixture and environment that we need to bring our talented young players through into the senior side"
> RGC A SQUAD
> 1 GRUFF JONES WREXHAM YOUTH
> 2 SHAUN STRUDWICK WRU RGC ACADEMY
> 3 SION AARON PWLLHELI
> 4 PETER KIRBY COLWYN BAY
> 5 ANTHONY LOWE FASSAM WREXHAM RUGBY CLUB
> 6 DEWI RICHARDS RHOSLLANERCHRUGOG RUGBY CLUB
> 7 TOM PARRY PWLLHELI WRU RGC ACADEMY
> 8 DALE BLACKMORE RHYL RUGBY CLUB
> 9 ALEX SCHWARZ MOLD YOUTH WRU RGC ACADEMY 10 ASHLEY JAMES MOLD RUGBY
> CLUB
> 11 ADAME TEARE WELSH EXILES
> 12 JACK WILLIAMS RUTHIN YOUTH
> 13 JASON BLACKMORE RHYL YOUTH
> 14 OWAIN ALED BALA YOUTH
> 15 MARC CARTER LLANDUDNO RUGBY CLUB
> 16 ANTHONY TILLEY RHYL RUGBY CLUB
> 17 SIMON GRIFFITHS WELSH EXILES
> 18 LLEW WILLIAMS RUTHIN YOUTH
> 19 ALEX JONES COLWYN BAY RFC
> 20 JAMES GRUNDY MOLD YOUTH WRU RGC ACADEMY
> 21 NICK BUTTERWORTH PWLLHELI RUGBY CLUB
> 22 RICHARD JONES RHOSLLANERCHRUGOG RUGBY CLUB
> 23 MIKE JONES RUTHIN YOUTH
> 24 JOHN HALL RHYL RUGBY CLUB
> 25 ANDY CLUTTON WREXHAM RUGBY CLUB
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