SENIOR ORIGIN – GAME 1 OF 2 WEST WALES 24 EAST WALES 38

By Ian Golden at Parc Stebonheath, Llanelli

 

While the Australian State of Origin will be grabbing the Rugby League headlines around the world this week, down in Llanelli in south-west Wales on Saturday, four local Origin matches took place between sides from West and East Wales.

 

The junior games were the second of three year-long encounters, the mid-way point of WRL’s Players to Leaders programme, but for the open age side, who primarily selected players from Conference League South clubs, but with representation too from the Welsh Conference and Student ranks, it was the first in a two match series. The deciding games in all four levels will be on Sunday 28^th August.

 

Former Leeds, Hull, York, Wales and Great Britain winger Paul Prenderville was on hand to present the trophies at the Origin Day, organised by Wales Rugby League, and while he would have been impressed with the standard of Rugby League on show, the Llanelli-born former player and coach may not have been delighted with the outcome of the day on the field, as East won three of the four games.

 

The senior encounter was competitive for an hour, but injuries took their toll on the West Wales side and in the end, East scored seven tries to four for a 38-24 win.

 

In this encounter, East took the lead in the second minute as Jamie Marsh went over in the corner. Matt Cummins couldn’t convert.

 

Mathew Williams was next over as East continued to dominate. Cummins was successful this time to make the score 10-0.

 

South Wales Scorpions academy player Shane Lee ran through for the third try which Cummins improved and the score went to 16-0 in less than 10 minutes.

 

It looked like it would go from bad to worse for West when Jonny Rees was sinbinned for a dangerous tackle but the host side struck back with only 12 men when Nathan Beck fed Ben Rees to run through the centre and although the pass looked forward, the try stood and Beck added the extras.

 

Twice East Wales had tries disallowed and West Wales continued their comeback when Ben Swift scored in the corner and Beck converted.

 

Some great skills from Cummins almost led to a try, but he couldn’t latch onto his second chip kick, which went over the dead ball line.

 

West levelled six minutes into the second half when Aaron Lewis barged his way over. Williams’ conversion put them ahead for the first time in the contest.

 

But East regained the lead when Lee Goddard made a strong run through. Cummins sliced the conversion wide and now East held a slender two point lead.

 

West went back into the lead with 20 minutes to go when Daf Phillips crashed over and Beck converted.

 

The see-saw game continued as Wes Cunliffe ran in the next East Wales try and Cummins converted.

 

A try saving tackle from Aaron Lewis prevented what would have been a long-range try from Cummins, but East regained the ball straight away and a good set of passes put Ethan Coombes in under the posts, Cummins adding the goal.

 

East cemented the game with five minutes to go as Sam Baker ran through a gap and Cummins converted.

 

Most of the players from the victorious East Wales side will face each other next week in the first game of ‪#‎BigWelshDerby day at BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park. Tickets are available from https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/EDLFDE.

 

WEST WALES

1. Jack Dryden (Bridgend Blue Bulls)
2. Curtis Ford (West Wales Raiders)
3. Josh Taylor (West Wales Raiders)
4. Ben Swift (Swansea University)
5. Louie Ford (Swansea University)
6. Nathan Beck (West Wales Raiders)
7. Luke Williams (West Wales Raiders)
8. Jonny Rees (West Wales Raiders)
9. Daf Phillips (West Wales Raiders)
10. Aaron Lewis (Bridgend Blue Bulls)
11. Tom Ansen (Bridgend Blue Bulls)
12. Ben Rees (West Wales Raiders)
13. Morgan Jefferies (West Wales Raiders)
14. Rhys Cherry (West Wales Raiders)
15. Kieron Hooper (Bridgend Blue Bulls)
16. Dan Forrester (Bridgend Blue Bulls)
17. Dan Maiden (West Wales Raiders)

 

Tries: B.Rees (20), Swift (27), Lewis (46), Phillips (59)

Goals: Beck 3/3, Williams 1/1

Sin-bin: J.Rees (12, dangerous tackle)

 

EAST WALES

1. Matthew Cummins (Torfaen Tigers)
2. Yousif Sulliman (Valley Cougars)
3. Mike Hurley (Valley Cougars)
4. Wes Cunliffe (Torfaen Tigers)
5. Jamie Marsh (Valley Cougars)
6. Shane Lee (Valley Cougars)
7. Lee Goddard (Valley Cougars)
8. Scott Giles (Valley Cougars)
9. Mathew Williams (Cardiff City RL)
10. Louie Pengelly (Torfaen Tigers)
11. Ethan Coombes (Valley Cougars)
12. Craig Lewis (Torfaen Tigers)
13. Mike Edwards (Torfaen Tigers)

Subs:

14. Sam Baker (Torfaen Tigers)
15. Rhys Davies (Torfaen Tigers)
16. Jake Thomas (Torfaen Tigers)
17. Rob Davies (Torfaen Tigers)
18. Brad Williams (Cardiff City RL)

 

Tries: Marsh (2), Williams (6), Lee (9), Goddard (53), Cunliffe (63), Coombes (72), Baker (75)

Goals: Cummins 5/7

 

Referee: James Jones

Half-time: 12-16

 

 

UNDER 14

WEST WALES 36 EAST WALES 4

 

West Wales under 14s took a 2-0 lead in the series against East Wales with a 36-4 win to open the day in Llanelli.

 

West took the lead in only the second minute after Owain Hughes picked up a chip kick and grounded in the corner.

 

They increased their lead after 10 minutes when Ewan Badham went in under the sticks and Iestyn Morgans converted.

 

They soon got their third try on the board when Kieron Lewis noticed a gap on the right and did well to run home and make it 14-0 at half-time.

 

The biggest crowd cheer of the game came early in the second half when Cameron Samual’s try in the corner for East, which went unconverted brought the score back to 14-4.

 

However the balanced was quickly addressed as when West got the ball back they scored. Ewan Badham forcing his way over and Morgans converting.

 

Ieuan Badhham soon followed him over with Morgans again adding the goal to increase West’s lead to 26-4.

 

There was still time for two more tries to complete a comprehensive win. Thomas Davies’ try in the corner before Iestyn Hopkins’ try under the sticks, converted by Morgans made it 36-4.

 

WEST WALES:

1 Alex Jones

2 Owain Hughes

3 George Sheppard

4 Tom Evans

5 Luke Williams

6 Thomas Davies

7 Iestyn Hopkins

8 Kieron Lewis

9 Morgan Chell

10 Ieuan Badhham

11 Josh Lewis

12 Trystan Rawlings

13 Ben Snadden

14 Tom Griffiths

15 Ewan Badham

16 Zak Young

17 Iestyn Morgans

18 Morgan Watson

19 Joseph Hawkins

 

EAST WALES

1 Morgan Biggins

2 Will Fraser – Gray

3 Louie Hughes

4 Lewis Gough

5 Luca Velluci-Senior

6 Kyle Huish

7 Cameron Samual

8 Ieuan Roberts

9 Callum Penn

10 Jacob Lee

11 Alex Mann

12 Ben Evans

13 Callum Erland

14 Owain Padfield

15 Joshua Culpek

17 Keian Richards

18 Josh Williams

 

UNDER 15

WEST WALES 20 EAST WALES 58

 

East Wales took a 2-0 series lead over West Wales at under 15 level after a dominant second half performance to win 58-20.

 

It was a see-saw first half but after the break, East let rip to overcome their hosts.

 

An early Harry Deaves try opened the scoring for West Wales but they only held onto their lead for around two minutes.

 

Cael Chamberlain made a clean break with Morgan Johns converting to make it 6-4 to East.

 

Keiran Thomas hit back for West with David Jones converting. before Kyle Chamberlain again addressed the balance. Johns’ second goal made it 12-10 to East.

 

An Alex Jones clean break converted by David Jones gave West the lead again but not for long as Thomas Renfree broke through for East with Johns converting.

 

And just before half-time, Joel Davies went over in the corner with Johns unable to convert and East went into the break 22-16 to the good.

 

The second half was less than a minute old when Johns ran in under the sticks and converted himself to give East a two-try cushion.

 

Kristian Nicolaas made a clean break for East’s next try before Cael Chamberlain did likewise ten minutes later. Both were improved by Johns to make the score 40-16.

 

Trystan Rawlings scored an unconverted try to bring the score back to 40-20 but a 60-metre run from William Clapham converted by Johns improved East’s score even more.

 

Josh Sands was unmarked to bring up the 50 with Johns converting again and the rout was complete when Clapham scored in the corner and Johns kicked well from the touchline.

 

WEST WALES

1 Alex Jones

2 Harri Deaves

3 Ben Morgan

4 Christian Nicholas

5 Evan Watson

6 Marcus Chard

7 Joseph Davies

8 Ewan Badham

9 David Jones

10 Ethan York

11 Trystan Rawlings

12 Ieuan Badham

13 Zak Young

14 Kieran Thomas

 

EAST WALES

1 Harrison Hobbs

2 Joel Davies

3 Kristian Nicolaas

4 Ieuan Smith

5 William Clapham

6 Matthew Morgan

7 Morgan Johns

8 Tomos Sly

9 Thomas Renfree

10 Dylan Price-Jones

11 Jacob Milford

12 Luke Thomas

13 Cael Chamberlain

14 Marcus Chard

15 Josh Sands

 

 

UNDER 16

WEST WALES 24 EAST WALES 54

 

West Wales were only in the match for a minute before half-time and about five minutes after it in the under 16 clash. Other than that, East Wales were always dominant and romped home with a 54-24 victory to take a 2-0 series lead.

 

A brilliant 100 metre run from Garin Price gave East a 4-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game.

 

A second from James Bartlett followed as he squeezed his way under the sticks, converting himself, with Ben Hunter soon following him over and Bartlett converting again to bring the score up to 16-0.

 

Daniel Jones was given too much space to run through for the fourth. Ben Hunter added the extras before scoring a try of his own and then converting again.

 

The West Wales fightback started on the stroke of half-time after Sean Collins scored under the sticks with Taylor Phillips converting.

 

That made it 28-6 at the break and two more tries from Collins early in the second half with Phillips twice improving brought the gap back to a mere 10 points.

 

East weren’t going to take it lying down and a piece of brilliance from Karlin Claridge extended their lead. Initially he sold a dummy, then kicked a grubber, ran past the defence and leapt onto it himself. Hunter’s goal brought the score up to 34-18.

 

They added another try straight from kick-off when Garin Price did well to run and score in the corner. The try went unconverted but East now had a 20-point lead.

 

East were now running riot again. Another try was scored from kick-off when Corey Dash emulated his surname with a carbon copy of the previous effort to make it 42-18.

 

Claridge again showed his skill for East’s next try as he weaved through the West defence to ground. Hunter converted and the lead was up to 30 points.

 

Price, again from kick off, went through the West defence as if it wasn’t there to add East’s 10^thtry and bring up 50 points. Bartlett added the extras to make it 54-18.

 

A knock-on gave West Wales an opportunity for a consolation, one that they didn’t waste as Ryan Morgan burrowed his way over the line with Phillips adding his fourth goal.

 

WEST WALES

1 Rhys Gear

2 Ieuan Ace

3 Sean Collins

4 Kyle Bowen

5 Josh Griffiths

6 Taylor Phillips

7 FN Swift

8 Jordan Ball

9 Alex McNamara

10 Rhys Ratner

11 Kingsley Morgans

12 Ryan Morgan

13 Rowland Kaye

14 Tomas Donne

15 Iestyn Roberts

16 Owain Harris

17 David Jones

 

EAST WALES

1 Daniel Jones

2 James Smith

3 James Bartlett

4 Terry Court

5 Jack Perry

6 Karlin Claridge

7 Ben Hunter

8 Max Roberts

9 Brandon Mullen

10 Taine Hendy

11 Derryn Hewings

12 James Skene

13 Garin Price

14 Corey Dash

15 Jake Roberts

16 Liam Lintern

17 David Brunnock