Merthyr 13 Newcastle Emlyn 6
Merthyr became the WRU youth champions, inflicting the first defeat of the season on Scarlets league champions Newcastle Emlyn. This was a proud moment for the club who won this championship for the first time, in the season that it also celebrated 50 years of youth rugby.
The Merthyr victory was built on the impressive defence that has dominated sides all season with Captain Owain Rees leading by example. A Rees tackle after 4 minutes provided turnover ball that provided the platform for the Merthyr pack to drive Emlyn 30 metres back towards their line. An infringement at a ruck gave Merthyr a penalty that outside half Liam Jones slotted to give the Ironmen a 3-0 leads.
Playing with a strong wind at their backs the Newcastle Emlyn outside half put in a superb touch finder when the Merthyr forwards were penalised at a ruck to give them a lineout in the Merthyr 22. From a clean lineout ball they ran at the Merthyr defence, but superb tackling by fullback Josh Flye and prop Josh Hughes forced the knock on for Liam Jones to clear but from a resulting ruck Merthyr were penalised and the scores were level at 3 all after 20 minutes.
Merthyr was penalised for a maul infringement on 28 minutes Emlyn, again kicked well to earn a lineout in the Merthyr 22. From a clean ball the Scarlets regional champions attacked but the Merthyr tackling again stood up. The pressure eventually told with Merthyr having to kill the ball 5 metres from the try line. The penalty was converted and Newcastle Emlyn led 6-3 with around 5 minutes to go in the first half.
Merthyr No 8, Robson Blake won the ball from the restart and driving runs from flanker Rhys Thorpe and prop Josh Hughes took Merthyr deep into the Emlyn half. A quick recycled ball allowed Josh Flye to cut back between the centres to score the opening try under the posts. Liam Jones converted to put Merthyr into a 10-6 lead at half time.
Second rows Jordan Cleaver and Gavin Llewellyn were competing well at every lineout which provided the foundation for Merthyr, now playing with the wind, to dominate territory during the early stages of the second half. Breaks by Josh Flye created space only for the final pass to go to ground.
After 10 minutes of the second half, Emlyn were awarded a penalty only for the referee to reverse the decision following foul play by one of the Emlyn Forwards. Merthyr outside half Liam Jones judged the wind perfectly to put over his third kick to give Merthyr a 13-6 lead.
During the middle period of the second half the west Wales side threw everything at the Blues champions. Again the defence held firm with Matthew Llewellyn and Tom Farrar-Evans leading the defensive line.
As the final whistle approached Gavin Llewellyn received a yellow card following a number of infringements as the Merthyr defence was stretched. To their credit the 14 men raised their game and kept their line intact. Merthyr held on to the lead to become WRU Youth Champions for the 2011/12 season.
The final weeks of the season have seen Merthyr play six games against the best youth teams in Wales. They have never taken a backward step and have always stuck together as a team. The team has one game left to play and can add to their silverware as they play Builth Wells at Gwernyfed RFC in the final of the Heart of Wales Cup on Wednesday night.