Rugby Football League

League 1

Saturday 10th June 2017

Kick Off 17.00 Actual 17.02

South Wales Ironmen 0 Toronto Wolfpack 66,  attendance 325 

@ Merthyr R.U.F.C.

The Wern Sports Park

Cae’r Wern

Ynysfach

Merthyr Tydfil

CF48 1AD

£10 Admission

Programme, free, available on-line only, 22 Pages.

This was always going to be a huge away win. It was just a case of by how many. Strong defence saw the Ironmen (re-branded from last season as South Wales Scorpions) hold out for 17 minutes and the score at halftime was only 0-24. Toronto are strolling towards the title, having won every game so far and four teams have been beaten by bigger margins than today, including a 70-2 thrashing of second in the table Barrow Raiders !

With the squad assembled by the Canadians, for this level, it is hard to see them failing to go through the season without a 100% winning record. Most of the squad have played at Championship level or above, with seven of the team signing from Leigh Centurions, the best known being Fuifui Moimoi, who has represented both Tonga and New Zealand, as well as playing 14 seasons in the Australian NRL for Parramatta Eels.

All week, the Ironmen website was stressing how well tickets were selling and how booking on-line would avoid queues on the day…….a pathetic crowd in reality,( have not seen their official attendance for today, although as their result page has not been updated for a month, it may never appear) even allowing for the fact that it rained non-stop from around 2 o’clock on onwards.

The Wern Sports Park was opened in 1958 and has a capacity of 4,500.

Rugby League

Welsh Premier League

Saturday 10th June 2017

Kick Off 13.00 Actual 13.04

Rhondda Outlaws 34 Torfaen Tigers 42,  attendance 61

@ Pontypridd R.U.F.C.

Sardis Road

Pontypridd

CF37 1HA

£3 Admission

No Programme.

This was week 4 of the new Welsh Premier League, which for the inaugural season will be played between six clubs, with Rhondda being the most recently formed. I was already heading for South Wales today, so was pleased to see this game had been brought forward to a 1pm kick off to enable the players and supporters of both clubs to take in the South Wales Ironmen v Toronto Wolfpack game in the National League 1 at 5pm, up the road in Merthyr Tydfil.

Outlaws fell behind 0-10, before going up 18-10, then conceding a converted try to give a halftime score of 18-16. Tigers then took the lead, before conceding again for a 24-22 score line, but then ran in twenty unanswered points to go 24-42 up, before a late Outlaw rally saw the deficit reduced to 34-42.

Sardis Road, known locally as ‘The House of Pain’ is a superb ground and so full of character. Opened in 1974, although it looks older, it is home to Pontypridd RUFC and was also home to the now defunct Celtic Warriors  RUFC from 2003-2004, having a capacity of 7,861. The 1991 Rugby World Cup match between Argentina and Western Samoa was held here as was the 2009 Rugby League European Cup Semi Final between Wales and Ireland.