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.

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

UWIC Rugby League Dominate in 2010

UWIC Rugby League go into the festive break as runaway leaders of the BUCS Wales and West League with 7 wins from their first 7 games at an average score of 49-13. And, after a recent comprehensive 58-10 victory over their nearest challengers Gloucester University 2nds, you would struggle to find anyone to disagree that they are destined to become league champions.


Their outstanding form has ensured that they have one of the best playing records in the whole of the UK.
The Official British Universities and Colleges Rugby League form table has them ranked 2^nd out of 64 teams, placed between the big names Nottingham Trent University and Leeds Metropolitan University.

Team Manager Paul Horrocks says “UWIC Rugby League have had a really positive first term both on and off the field. We started with 45 students at our first training session and social, and have retained the majority of those boys. We are working hard to return to the Premier South and have been successful so far. We have three more group games and the knockouts in which to express our intentions and meet our targets as a squad, whilst building towards a second team to enter into BUCS, hopefully for next season.” 

Izaak Duffy

While this season has been a great team effort, special mention should be made of popular forward Izaak Duffy who performed so well at the recent South Wales Scorpions Trials that he has been added to their training squad for 2011, and hopes to add his name to the long list of former players that have made a name for themselves in the sport.

The players look forward to returning after the Christmas break to complete the league undefeated and then see how far they can get in the knockout phase of the competition, there will certainly be some teams over the border who wouldn’t fancy playing them on this form.

Elsewhere in the league Swansea University sit in third place with 3 wins from their 6 games, and both Glamorgan and Aberystwth can boast a victory over English opposition in the form of Bristol University. Players from all 4 welsh teams will be looking to finish the season well with places in Clive Griffiths’ successful Wales Student Squad up for grabs in the Spring.

Article Published in full on the Official Wales Rugby League Website on 19/12/10

and in the South Wales Echo on 22/12/10