Registered Charity: 1090676

Pirates take silver!

With their mix of new and not so new players and rugby superstars past and present the Pirates were off to the Nationals 2007. Spirits were high and expectations realistic (4th would be a good result). With Troy Collins on board and Rodders returned from the wilderness anything could happen.

Pirates 45 North Wales Dragons 22

Our first game was against the newly formed North Wales Dragons. It would be fair to say that there was a fair amount of needle between the teams caused by some histrionics by members of both teams so we were expecting a lively game. Unfortunately for the Dragons their talisman Mark Fosbrook was unable to play and we had the game sewed up by the end of the first quarter. It gave us an opportunity to play our bench and there were some promising performances from our new players.

Wolverhampton Rhinos 43 Pirates 48

A blinding start and some great team play from our line up of Troy Collins, Dave Rhodes, Rich Vowles and Gareth Stokes had us leading the Rhinos by 2 points at the end of the 1st quarter. The game continued at an intense pace with the Rhinos putting us under extreme pressure however some clever on court tactics from Troy kept us on top and by the 4th quarter we were in control and comfortable. This was a great victory for us and the first time we had beaten the Birmingham based team for about 8 years. We had really put the cat amongst pigeons and Pirates were on top of the leader board!!

Pirates 50 Newcastle Bulls 39

Saturday morning brought a buoyant team to the gym and again our starting four got off to a flying start and at the end of the 1st quarter were 10 points ahead. In the second quarter we changed the line up and the Bulls pulled it back by 5 points but we were still comfortable and in the second half ran the bench and notched up an easy win. We knew our next game would be a trifle more tricky!!

London 56 Pirates 28

After lunch the gym was packed in anticipation of another upset, unfortunately the Pirates left their HOIL back in the dressing room and were scuppered!!! by the pressure. A shaky start had us 7 points down by the end of the 1st quarter caused by our lack of mobility when being pressed and one dimensional play. Things changed in the 2nd quarter and we slowed the flow of turnovers but were 10 points down by half time. After discussions between the coaches we decided to play the bench. With hindsight this was a mistake as we were going goal for goal with our strongest line up and goal difference proved crucial at the end of the tournament. However our new players got some good court time against the best team in Europe and played really well.

Pirates 39 Marauders 31

Sunday morning came and we knew we needed to pick ourselves up after our defeat by London. This game was going to be tricky with the Marauder’s height advantage on court but with Dave Rhodes more mobile we were much harder to tie down. Another good start saw us with a good lead at half time and in the 3rd and 4th quarters we rotated players. It was encouraging to see how the less experienced players slotted into their roles. With the Pirates still on top of the leader board and the Dragons, London and us tied on goal difference, it all depended on how the Dragons faired against London in the last game.

With Fossy back on board the Dragons pushed London hard and had them on the rack by the end of the 3rd quarter. Fantastic guidance by Jay Roberts and support from Pricey and Weegy Davies (what sort of nickname is that???) saw them pull off an outstanding win. This left us in 2nd place and the Dragons in 3rd. A superb result for Welsh rugby, well done boyos!! (do me for racism if you dare!)

Thanks to all our escorts and support staff who once again did a sterling job. Well played to the team, especially Gareth who held it all together really well when the pressure was on. Thanks to Troy for his support an input at this tournament and throughout the year, we have learnt a lot from you and congratulations on the MVP which we won for you!! Coaching with Keith was also a pleasure.

Mike Spence
Erstwhile Coach

Gold - London
Silver - Pirates
Bronze - Dragons

MVP Award - Troye Collins

Results:

Game 1 Wolverhampton Rhinos 52 27 Bulls
Game 2 Cardiff Pirate 45 22 North Wales Dragons
Game 3 London 42 18 Marauders
Game 4 Wolverhampton Rhinos 43 48 Cardiff Pirates
Game 5 Bulls 39 34 North Wales Dragons (v)

Day 2

Game 6 Marauders 43 29 Bulls
Game 7 London 29 28 Rhinos
Game 8 Cardiff Pirates 50 39 Bulls
Game 9 Marauders 26 39 North Wales Dragons
Game 10 London 56 28 Cardiff Pirates

Day 3

Game 11 Cardiff Pirates 39 31 Marauders
Games 12 Rhinos 20 24 North Wales Dragons
Game 13 London 46 34 Bulls
Game 14 Rhinos 41 33 Marauders
Game 15 London 24 27 North Wales Dragons

National Champions Table

New sponsors! Gordon Starkey from Wilcare meets Jonathan Davies and the team.

Jonathon Davies rises to the challenge!!

Brilliant result!! Runners-up in National Championships 2007 Read the report

Top of Division 2 New players help to pull off a win at the play-offs Read the report

BBC at Wolverhampton talk to Josie

League comes to Llantrisant

Picture by: Steve Pope
Martin Johnson comes
to try his hand!