2005–06 Ystalyfera RFC season

For the last two seasons Ystalyfera RFC had finished in 12th place narrowly avoiding relegation. At the end of this campaign the ‘Fera would again finish 12th, but thanks to a league re-structure and the demise of being deducted 3 points resulted in relegation to Division 4 South West.

The end of 2005 started well. Up until January Ystalyfera had won six out of eleven matches. After the start of the new year however confidence ebbed away and the remaining fifteen saw only two wins, the last three being large defeats, 5-82 at Cwmavon where only 14 players were available and the bus broke down to add to the misery, 17-64 at Bryncoch and the last game of the season at home to Vardre 14-45. This last game was a replay of a 28 December fixture when although both sides were on the field and ready, no referee turned up and the game had to be postponed. Required contact with the nominated referee in the preceding week had been made but he later advised the WRU that he was ill and could not officiate. Although all league match referees are appointed by the WRU no automatic replacement was organised as the rules specify the home side must request for one. An appeal by the club on grounds that we were only aware of the referee’s illness on match day proved useless and three points were deducted. This was the ‘death knell’ Ystalyfera being 2 points short and relegated.

Unusually no specific cup fixtures took place this season. Voided in the Welsh Cup after ‘scratching’ the year before, the Swansea Valley Cup was cancelled, and the West Wales Cup was broken up into three Cup, Plate and Bowl competitions based on the first ten league match results. Competition entry was selected by league position level, Ystalyfera’s merit table position was 7th out of 19 in the West Wales Tovali Bowl. Only the top four qualified for the play off.

Damian James was Captain for a second year and was maximum points scorer with 148 and top try scorer with 13. Ryan Evans was voted the most popular amongst the Players while Jonathan Evans was voted Supporters Player of the year.

National League Division 3 South West

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Pos. Team. PL. W. D. L. F. A. Bal. Try. Pts. %.
1 P Tonna 26 22 0 4 673 348 +325 95 66 84.62%
2 P Cwmavon 26 21 0 5 754 269 +485 108 63 80.77%
3 Vardre 26 21 0 5 694 244 +450 88 63 80.77%
4 Nantyffyllon 26 20 1 5 651 336 +315 82 61 78.85%
5 Bryncoch 26 14 2 10 565 465 +100 74 44 57.69%
6 Aberavon Quins 26 13 1 12 544 430 +114 71 40 51.92%
7 Skewen 26 11 1 14 484 529 -45 65 34 44.23%
8 Tondu 26 11 0 15 535 503 +32 67 33 42.31%
9 Cwmgors 26 11 0 15 472 481 -9 60 33 42.31%
10 Kenfig Hill 26 9 2 15 519 631 -112 66 29 38.46%
11 Brynamman 26 8 1 17 394 520 -126 52 25 32.69%
12 R Ystalyfera............-3pts 26 8 2 16 468 770 -302 68 23 34.62%
13 R Resolven..............-3pts 26 5 1 20 389 834 -445 53 10 21.15%
14 R Alltwen 26 2 1 23 253 1035 -782 28 7 9.62%

[1]

Ystalyfera 2005/06 Season Results

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No. Date. Fixture. Venue. Opponents. Result. F - A.
1 18 Aug. Friendly Home Taibach Won 17 - 10
2 3 Sep. League Home Aberavon Quins Lost 18 - 20
3 10 Sep. League Away Kenfig Hill Won 34 - 30
4 17 Sept. League Home Nantyffyllon Lost 5 - 25
5 24 Sept. League Away Cwmgors Lost 7 - 24
6 1 Oct. League Home Brynamman Won 24 - 18
7 8 Oct. League Away Tonna Lost 7 - 24
8 15 Oct. League Home Tondu Won 18 - 16
9 12 Nov. League Away Alltwen Lost 19 - 8
10 3 Dec. League Home Skewen Won 24 - 22
11 10 Dec. League Away Resolven Won 25 - 16
12 17 Dec. League Home Cwmavon Lost 12 - 21
13 7 Jan. League Away Aberavon Quins Lost 5 - 36
14 14 Jan. League Home Kenfig Hill Drew 29 - 29
15 21 Jan. League Away Nantyffyllon Lost 12 - 32
16 28 Jan. League Home Cwmgors Lost 23 - 26
17 11 Feb. League Away Brynamman Lost 5 - 34
18 18 Feb. League Home Tonna Lost 31 - 35
19 25 Feb. League Away Skewen Won 29 - 17
20 4 Mar. League Away Tondu Lost 10 - 46
21 25 Mar. League Home Bryncoch Drew 20 - 20
22 1 Apr. League Away Vardre Lost 12 - 34
23 8 Apr. League Home Alltwen Won 38 - 12
24 22 Apr. League Home Resolven Lost 25 - 34
25 29 Apr. League Away Cwmavon Lost 5 - 82
26 2 May. League Away Bryncoch Lost 17 - 64
27 9 May. League Home Vardre Lost 14 - 45
485 - 780

[2]

Ystalyfera 2005/06 Season Player Stats

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47. Player. PL. Tries. Cons. DGls. Pens. Tot Pts.
1 Damian James Captain 20 13 19 4 11 148
2 Phillip Thomas 27 8 7 54
3 Martyn Stoneman 24 5 7 1 4 54
4 Mark Rewston 25 5 25
5 David Thomas 23 4 20
6 Kevin Williams 20 4 20
7 John Williams 7 4 20
8 Arwel Williams 17 3 1 17
9 Ryan Evans 24 3 15
9 Graham Jones 24 3 15
11 Sam Jones 6 3 15
12 Mathew Scott 21 2 1 12
13 Jason Humphries 23 2 10
14 Craig Lloyd 19 2 10
15 Christian Roets 7 2 10
16 Leighton Prosser 25 1 5
17 Keiran Lloyd 20 1 5
18 Jonathan Evans 16 1 5
19 Christopher Hicks 11 1 5
20 Simon Chatham 8 1 5
21 Gareth Noble 1 1 5
22 Alun Guerrier 24
23 Neil Brown 23
23 Neil Lynch 23
25 Nigel White 9
26 Martin Jones 8
27 Craig Lewis 4
27 Carl Rano 4
29 Stephan Jenkins 3
29 Joe Roberts 3
31 Mike Morgan 2
31 Peter Abraham 2
31 Paul Morris 2
31 Nigel Baker 2
31 Neil Falvey 2
31 Jamie Morgan 2
37 Tristian Davies 1
37 Simon Donovan 1
37 Gavin Knapp 1
37 Chris Austin 1
37 Jesse Patton 1
37 Aaron Davies 1
37 Craig Howells 1
37 Stuart Hastie 1
37 David Love 1
37 Steven Myers 1
37 David Cullen 1
'Penalty Tries' 2 10
'Team Total' 27 71 35 5 15 485

[3]

References

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  1. ^ "WRU official website". Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  2. ^ "WRU official website". Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  3. ^ [Ystalyfera Rugby Archive]