Me & Mr.Olds

Ollie Olds.  Page taken from
"The Heart and the Art of my Rugby Photography"

I'm pleased to announce that I will be Sponsoring Wales Rugby League International Ollie Olds during the coming rugby league season as he returns from Leeds U20s to play for the South Wales Scorpions.
 The picture you see to the left is one that I took the first time I photographed Ollie play. It was January 28th 2009 and Brynteg School had a Saturday morning fixture against Plasmawr School. I remember very little about that game as after almost 200 games they all tend to merge into one for me. But what I do remember vividly is the conversation I had a few days later with Paul Bowen - Ollie's coach at Brynteg. I had gone in to give him free copies of the photos I'd taken as being a former Brynteg pupil I was glad to go back and help out. We were looking through a few of the photos together and I remarked how Ollie looked a lot younger than the other players and questioned if he was old enough to play in the senior side. He looked me straight in the eye and with total conviction said "gooooood player!" and as a man who had coached the likes of British Lions Dafydd James and Gavin Henson at Brynteg in recent years, he certainly knew what he was talking about.
 As with all the players I've photographed at youth and grass roots level I like to follow the progress of their careers, and having photographed Ollie again in further Brynteg games and for Wales at age-grade level, I was delighted to see him return to South Wales as a full Wales International. This made him the 4th player I'd photographed go on to gain International honours after Christiaan Roets (Wales Rugby League) Andrew Hoggins (Germany Rugby League) and Tom McGarr (Ireland Rugby League), and with the likes of Lloyd Peers, Matthew "Nipper" Morgan, and Tom Habberfield looking like they have every chance of adding to that list in the future I'm enjoying sitting back and watching the list grow. Good luck lads!

Book Launch from PHP Publications

PHP Publications are delighted to announce their debut publication from Paul Hart of www.PaulHartPhotography.co.uk
This quality hardback book has 288 pages and is bursting with over 300 quality photographs that provide a unique insight into grass roots sport as they capture the action, the people, and the passion of rugby matches in South Wales during five seasons from 2007 to 2012.
The book will be released on September 1st 2012 with a RRP of £20, and will be available from www.PHPpublications.com.
Please contact PaulHartPhotography@Gmail.com with any questions.

Preview - South Wales Students Rugby League Challenge Match.

© PaulHartPhotography.co.uk

This Sunday sees a bumper day of Rugby League at the famous Gnoll Stadium in Neath. A 1PM fixture between the South Wales Scorpions and Whitehaven will be followed by the first ever “South Wales Students Rugby League Challenge Match” between UWIC (Cardiff Met) and Swansea University at 3:15pm.

On paper UWIC go into the game as the big favourites following a successful season in the BUCS National South that saw them progress into the BUCS Championship Competition for the top 8 sides in the country. Conversely Swansea played in the BUCS Wales & West League, and were then disappointingly dumped out of the third tier BUCS Shield competition in the Preliminary round. Without doubt Swansea will want to prove they are better than these raw stats suggest, and give a big performance on the day.

While there are Wales Student Internationals on both sides, UWIC will again have the upper hand on paper in regards to the status of their players, with current Irish International Tom McGarr in their ranks along with new Scorpions signing Callum Wilkinson.

Paul Horrocks, club president of the UWIC side stated "Both universities have worked particularly hard in the previous few years to build respectable and competitive teams. This will be a great occasion to show off all that hard work and hopefully provide a wonderful experience for everyone involved. It has the potential to be another step in the right direction for Rugby League and the student game in Wales. Long may it continue."

Deri Galvin, club president of the Swansea side said: "Students at Swansea are eagerly awaiting the inaugural South Wales Students Rugby League Challenge Match. The match caters for the growing interest in Rugby League in Swansea and will no doubt be an exciting spectacle in a fantastic environment.

This match provides a huge opportunity both sets of players to perform at a great rugby venue, and if they impress the onlooking coaches from the South Wales Scorpions and new feeder side the South Wales Hornets, this game at the Gnoll could become the first of many for them.

Rochdale Tag Festival Roundup

There was a strong Welsh presence once again this year at the prestigious Rochdale Swarm International Mixed Tag Rugby League Festival, with the two top sides in Wales – The Celtic Barbarians and the Bridgend Blue Heifers both sending strong sides on the 450 mile round trip.

There was great camaraderie between the two sides on the first evening as they put aside their traditional rivalry to form the core of a Welsh select side to take part in an international tournament. They can be proud of their efforts as they reached the final and managed an excellent 3-3 draw against the favourites England.

The main tournament itself adopted the traditional format used in competitions such as Rugby Sevens, where finishing positions in the group phase dictated which of the knock-out competitions the teams entered.

The Heifers won two of their three league games, with their only loss coming at the hands of eventual overall winners Notting Hill. This meant the Heifers went into the second tier Plate Competition which was one step up from the third tier Bowl which they won last year in an all-welsh final against the Barbarians.

In contrast, the Barbarians were drawn in “The Group of Death” and lost all three games, placing them in the fourth tier Shield Competition.

In the knock-out phase the Heifers were unfortunate to be drawn against local side Littleborough Lightning, a “bogey side” for the Heifers as they had lost to them the year before. Littleborough repeated their performance of 12 months ago and the Heifers were knocked out of the second tier Plate at the semi-final stage.

This left the Barbarians as the last Welsh side standing, and after a tough semi-final win they found themselves in the final of the Shield competition, but with injuries has piling up and they were struggling to continue. Enter the Heifers, a number of Heifers answered the call of their Barbarian brothers and donned to Pink and Black shirts to help their old rivals over the finish line to be crowned Shield Champions 2011.

Published on the Official Wales Rugby League Website - 1st June 2011

UWIC cap fine season with awards

UWIC Coach
Paul Horrocks

It has been a fantastic season for Rugby League at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff! Coach Paul Horrocks and his team had the BUCS Wales & West title "in the bag" soon after the Christmas break, and then went on to gain promotion to the Premier South with an excellent playoff victory over Nottingham Trent.

Not content with these achievements alone, the team pushed on! 8 players were on duty at the Student Home Nations, with Simon Wright, Jon Trickey, Callum Wilkinson, Scott Amber, Paul Horrocks, Carwyn Richards, and Josh Davies representing Wales, and Tom McGarr representing Ireland.

Also, Dominic Pullen has been selected to appear for Scotland "A" this summer, and Andrew Hoggins has been selected in the senior German squad.

The season was rounded off in style with an excellent showing at the annual UWIC Sports awards where the team won "Most Improved Team" and Coach Paul Horrocks won "Best Student Administrator / Organiser"

Horrocks remarked "These awards show the University is taking an interest in the growth of Rugby League, this is a big acknowledgement of our achievements, hopefully we will be pushing for even more prestigious awards such as overall team of the year next year."

7 Student Internationals from UWIC

Season Preview: 2011 Co-operative Welsh Conference Premier

Bulls vs Cougars 2010
© PaulHartPhotography.co.uk

Five-time winners The Bridgend Blue Bulls will once again start the season as the recognised favourites. They go into the season on the back of a very narrow loss to the Valley Cougars in last year's Grand Final. The Cougars and Bulls dominated the league last season, and with the Cougars First team now moving up to the Conference National it is hoped that a new challenger will “front up” to the expected Blue Bulls dominance.

Blue Bulls Chairman Simon Green says “We were disappointed that we were missing several key players for last years' final and narrowly missed out on the title. We have retained the services of almost all the players who played last summer and have recruited a number of new guys during the closed season. We again have a great mix of youth and experience, with a 25 year age span from Huw Rosser, who starred for us as a 17 year old last season to evergreen legend Tevita Manaseitava who refuses to retire until we are crowned Welsh Champions for a sixth time.”

There will be questions over the strength in depth of the Valley Cougars this season, and whether their new second-string “A” side will be competitive in the Welsh Conference when the majority of the club's better players will be turning out in the Conference National instead. New Valley Cougars Media Officer Karl Jones remarks “We hope that the “A” team can be competitive as it will benefit on two fronts; the team aiming for a place in the Grand Final and the opportunity to retain the title, whilst players in that team will hopefully push our first 13 for places.”

The two teams most likely to challenge the Bulls/Cougars dominance are the Gwent based Tigers and Titans. Torfaen Tigers Coach Rob Davies had said “There is a real Buzz around Torfaen about the Tigers Club in 2011. Our young squad (average age 23) gained valuable experience last year in the Championship and showed glimpses of what it was capable off, and we have now recruited heavily in the off season from both codes”. Meanwhile Earl Palmer Coach at the Titans has said “With the Titans finding a new permanent home at Machen RFC, the future is looking very bright for the team, I have high hopes this season and expect us to be a lot stronger than in years past.”

Elsewhere the CPC Bears have lead the way in their Youth development structure, but the senior team failed to impress last season, and will need to improve this summer. Chairman Geraint Jones said “The CPC Bears are looking forward to the start of their second season, with a number of new players and others returning to the sport we will be looking to make steady progress over the summer, and will give a warm welcome to all teams when visiting West Wales.”

Finally, the “Dark Horses” could be the Cardiff Demons. They have always been competitive since the start of the league, but are playing down their chances this season. According to Coach Idris Evans “2011 looks set to be one of the most challenging ever for the Demons in what looks to be a rebuilding year. Several key experienced players retiring last year has left huge holes that will be filled by young blood.”

The 2011 season starts on May 14^th and looks set to be a great competition. Fixture information and match reports are available from http://www.walesrugbyleague.co.uk/

Swansea University last team standing.

Swansea's Steffan Jon Walters
© PaulHartPhotography

Despite the dominance of UWIC in the league phase of the BUCS Wales & West League, it was Swansea who lasted the longest in the knockout competitions that followed.

UWIC’s reward for being the runaway winners of the league phase was a place in the BUCS Trophy competition alongside teams from the higher Premier and Super 8 leagues. Swansea, Glamorgan, and Aberystwyth went into the 3rd tier BUCS Shield.

Glamorgan and Aberystwyth’s appearances in the knockout phase were to be short-lived. Both teams fell to their heaviest defeats of the season at the initial “Last 32” stage. Glamorgan were given an 86-6 thumping at the hands of Oxford University who were undefeated in their last 3 games, and Aberystwyth made it 8 games without a win when they lost 48-22 at home to Chester. Swansea however managed an excellent 28-8 victory at home to Premier South strugglers Birmingham. UWIC had no game this first week as there were just 16 teams in the Trophy Competition.

Swansea progressed to the second week of competition full of confidence after “claiming the scalp” of their higher ranked opponents in the previous round. Here they were drawn against the University of Warwick, a team from the Midlands Division with a similar playing record to themselves. With home advantage and on the back of four wins Swansea fancied their chances, but nobody expected the emphatic manner of their victory. They destroyed Warwick 56-6 to set-up a Quarter Final trip to Oxford Brookes a team who’d had two very close games with Warwick earlier in the season, with a narrow win at home and narrow loss away.

It was during this second week of competition that UWIC were due to enter the fray and continue their excellent season. They had been drawn away to Northampton University, a team ranked higher than them in the current league structure, but of whom they had managed to get the better of in their meetings over recent years. Northampton’s form in the Premier South had been “patchy” at best, they had managed four victories, but also suffered several defeats including a 78-0 whitewash at Exeter University. UWIC were confident of going to Northampton and getting a result, their form this season had been outstanding and player moral and numbers were extremely high. However, after Northampton were unable to fulfil the fixture on two occasions, UWIC were not awarded the “walkover” but were instead forced out of the competition via the “toss of a coin”. Hardly a fitting end to what had promised to be a very fruitful season.

This left Swansea University as the sole flag bearer for Welsh Rugby League going into the Quarter Final stage, and although they lost a very close match away to Oxford Brookes by 18 points to 10, they can be very proud of their efforts in being the last Welsh University side left standing in the knockout competitions.

Swansea University Club Captain Deri Galvin has remarked "Rugby League in Swansea has reached new heights this season, our cup run has contributed to that and there is a great feeling in the camp despite our eventual loss. I'd like to congratulate the boys on becoming the most successful Rugby League side the University has seen to date. With most of the squad staying on next season things are looking promising, just a shame we couldn't carry the banner further for wales in the knockouts!"

Next up for the best of the student players are the Home Nations Internationals which will be held in Glasgow between the 18^th and 22^nd of April, and then many of the students that stay in South Wales over the summer will be encouraged to participate in the 2011 Welsh Conference which begins with the annual Scott McRorie 9s in mid-may.

Swansea University Rugby League 2010/2011
(Photograph by Andrew Grahame)

Published in full on the Official Wales Rugby League website 07/03/11