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Veterans Rugby
Abergavenny RFC Veterans
Gary Lawrence continues as team manager for the vets despite leaving his coaching role with the seniors. He is making plans for a Veterans tour in the 2009/10 season so watch this space. Important Message Player Registration is important for any senior player representing any team within the club. It is in each players interest to do so due to the insurance benefits within the WRU for registered players.
A player registration form can be downloaded HERE. It must be completed and returned to the club secretary Brian Griffiths, who in turn must submit it to the union. Therefore they MUST be submitted at least 7 days before any fixture.
Calling all old egg catchers
Hereford Vets Tournament 10th May 2009
A squad of 19 brave old men volunteered to travel the short distance north to Hereford for a small 3 side tournament with Hereford and Pontycymmer Vets. The first challenge was a team photo which took some coordinating.
 Eventually their boyish spirit was controlled.
 Some had informed their wives they were going shopping having promises never to play again! The call of the wild was too great.
They had to play two 40 minute games. First up was Pontycymmer who had a huge over 35's squad on tour to Hereford. Having watched them overcome the hosts in the first game this seemed the greatest challenge for the Vets who started well with a try in the first minute by evergreen Rob MaCormac seen here with ball supported by Steve Hamer and James Williams.
 Chris Powell in full flow
 Cheered on by the Quins waiting to play later
 Pontycymmer were beaten 14-7 with another try being added by Geraint Pritchard. This was immediately followed with another match against the Hosts Hereford.
 Aber were far too strong particularly up front and starved Hereford of any ball. A hat Trick by man of the tournament Rob MaCormac and tries by Carl Walbyoff, Leighton Thomas, Steve Hamer and Coach and Dirsector of Rugby Gary Lawrence saw a final score of 45 - 7 with several conversions by Carl Walbyoff.
 Below we see our leader Gary Lawrence crash over for a try. Note how impressed his felow players are and lightning quick support they offer. (Put the ball down Gary) "Give us a hand up lads".
  Gary and committeeman Vaughan Geaves seen here after the game with a bottle of bubbly for the victorious team.
 I dont know whats going on EAR with Bryan Morgan but his Cauli's need draining.
 Sadly Carl Harty was unavailable to play due to an accident he had at Butlins, Barry Island.
Cwm Veterans - Bailey Park - 29th October 2008
Cwm arrived for the fixture with only a handfull of players due to unexpected circumstances. Several Aber players with family connections to Cwm and anyone who could spell Cwm without using a dictionary were draughted in to make up the numbers and the game went ahead. Unknown to everyone the game started with 13 Aber players against 11 Cwm players.
Abergavenny started well with their young and inexperienced veterans scoring several tries. The far more experienced and ageing cwm got their game together and soon exposed the weaknesses in abers defence and scored a couple of tries in reply. Shortly before half time it was realised that the numbers were uneven and the Cwm captain offered to give two more of his side to Aber to make up the imbalance. Carl Harty grandfather of Grant our current 1st team full back switched to the cwm side at half time to even up numbers.
Both sides scored a couple of tries each during the second half and it was unfortunate that the scorekeeper was the same person who shared out the players before the game. Final score was 'about' 51-26 to Aber.
Due to the lack of numbers on the pitch the availability of more space was used well by young halfbacks Rob Macormac and Carl Wobblyoff. Anyone watching would have thought that these two had been playing together for years. Carl seemed to know exactly where to be in order to catch Rob's pass on its first bounce. Leyton Thomas played at centre and having recently turned out for out 1st team was'nt quite up to the pace of a veterans game. He made a few nervous handling errors and was'nt helped by the constant forward passes made by Steve Hamer. Owen Cooper played on the wing and showed his legs work quicker than his brain as he was duped by some old geezer in the cwm backline.
Upfront Howard Davies, Craig Price, Dai Jones all thought they did well in the passive scrums and were pleased that they didnt budge an inch. Ted Jones played 2nd row and could'nt get used to being lifted in the lineout. The last time he was that 'high up' was when he played on garndiffaiths pitch and he didnt like it up there either.
Craig Price's 150 metre dash was without doubt the try of the match and if you missed it, you will be able to watch it on Scrum Five try of the season in May 2009. Honest !
Ted's younger brother Alun (Bamber) Jones turned out for the Cwm and showed he hasnt lost that dazzling sidestep and turn of pace that he displayed for Abergavenny during the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's,80's,90's. Bamber, the young Brown sisters (stu and ash), Dai Dobbs former mayor of Cwm, Carl Harty and the old geezer will be receiving their Cwm 'cap' later in the year at Cwm Rugby Club.
Carl Harty suffered a dislocated shoulder at the end of the game and we hope he recovers quickly and his wife is'nt to harsh on him.
The Cwm management team were apologetic that their numbers were short and tried to make amends after the game by drinking all the beer in the club.They have promised us a good day out when we have the return fixture at Cwm Stadium later in the season.
Saturday 30th August 2008 saw the inaugural Veterans game of the season in front of a bumper crowd who had turned up for curiosities sake like they were about to witness a freak show. This turned out to be the first (and only) day of summer with temperatures reaching nearly 30 degrees. Not what the Vets wanted! Gary Lawrence's promise of a huge squad with rolling substitutions sadly did not come to fruition. Only 17 old men turned out ranging from 33 to 54 years of age and in various shapes sizes and conditions of (un)fitness. The Quins sporting a brand new kit seemed keen. A 45 minute pre match warm up showed they were treating this seriously. The Vets whose warm up consited of a jog around 3/4 of the pitch and some stretches leaving some gasping.
The Quins must have been shell shocked as within 25 seconds of the kick off (to which they were receiving) they had the ball stripped from them and after 3 or 4 quick rucks Steve Hamer scored near the posts for the opening score.
The promise of playing a tight game was beeing spoiled by the super fit Steve Hamer who was all over the park and who then went on to feature in the First team trial match against Bridgend Athletic with fellow veteran and back row stalwart James Williams!! Big Will went onto score a push over try (below) as the sheer bulk of the Veterans proved too great for the Quins.
Vaughan Greaves on the wing went off to run the line in the senior trial match immediately after. He saw more of the ball there because we dont think he touched the ball once during the Veterans game.
After only 20 minutes (yours truly) Jim Aitken was saved from a heart attack by pulling his hamstring to be replaced by the reluctant Andrew Sutton (former Wales Youth and Wales B Cap) and the limited size of the squad was beginning to take its toll. Minutes later the oldest member and coach Gary Lawrence came off and the Vets were struggling to keep 15 on the field. The Quins main chance of success was to steer the ball away from their grizzled old combatants, where they held the advantage in strength, and kick and run the ball around them, but alas they chose to drive into the Vets too often. Scrums were too one sided, so any mistakes were punished with the Vets having the upper hand and more often than not regaining possession. The Quins try below scored by Jon Owen was an example of how to beat the Vets by stretching their defence. You can see how scattered they all are as they struggle to get behind the ball.
The evergreen Rob MaCormac had a fine game as did big prop Howard Davies whose driving runs unsettled the Quins defence taking 3 or 4 to bring him down.
Ultimately experience and power proved too much for the gallant Quins who lost 31 - 19. A great start for the Veterans side who will be looking for further fixtures this time against other veterans who hopefully will be slower than the Quins! A larger squad is needed as a whole match was never intended for the majority of the players. The referee took pity and instead of introducing the ELV's played the OLV's (old law variations). Qualifing age for Veterans is over 35yrs and because of liability we have introduced an upper age limit of 95yrs. We would make exeptions to this rule if the player is accompanied by a carer.
Veterans should not worry if they have'nt played for a while, they can stay on pitch for 1 mins or 80 mins depending on their fitness and can be substitued on and off during the game.
Some of the rules have changed a bit. Jumping in the lineout is now allowed and gouging in your own 22 is acceptable.
Obviously the more numbers we get the better and everyone will get some game time.
Anyone interested to contact Gary Lawrence on 07872 187993
.JPG "Abergavenny Old Nags")  |
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