PENARTH
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Marcus Rees has had a
long and positive association
with Penarth RFC. He recently
told Rugby Club Magazine, “My
introduction to Penarth RFC came
through a friend and I operating the
club’s scoreboard on matchdays
and as 15-year-olds it was a great
opportunity to enjoy watching the
Penarth team of the day!
“Later on my son Tom joined
the club’s junior section for a few
years before spreading his wings
to other sports followed by his
brothers Iolo and Bransby who
started with the clubs U7s. Iolo is
now an U16 player, usually taking
up the position of outside half and
Bransby plays for the U12s as full
back. Last seasons U15s produced
some excellent performances and
were deservedly recognised as the
best side in the Vale.
“Moving forward, the extra
strength training the fitness coach
has put them through during the
summer months, is sure to build
on last season’s performance. As a
club Penarth have an excellent mini
and junior section and structure
supplying not only young players
to the Blues but the national
squad also. The club have a huge
number of willing volunteers and
parents who contribute tirelessly
to help secure the club for future
generations to come.
“My company Romilly Financial
have sponsored the club over the
last few seasons and we enjoy
giving back to the local community. I
would like to congratulate everyone
at Penarth Rugby Club on being
chosen for this special edition of
Rugby Club Magazine and our
Directors and Staff at Romilly
would like to wish the club all the
very best of continued success for
the 2019/2020 Campaign!”
than I ever appreciated and keeping
tabs on the WRU’s ever changing
criteria and policies can be tiresome.
But having enjoyed the benefits of
the hard work put in by others over
so many years it is rewarding to be
in a position to pay back some of
that and helping to build what will
hopefully be a strong and prosperous
club for the generations to come.
“The atmosphere is probably as good
as it’s been since I started. Having
been lucky enough to play in two
promotion winning sides in 2005-6
and 2009-10 I have seen how it feels
to be competing at the top end of the
76 Issue 87
table, but over the last 7-8 years for
a variety of reasons we have been
generally struggling results wise
and finally dropped in Division 3
East Central at the end of last season.
“This year we have a great group
of 19-24 year olds who have all
come through the highly successful
Youth setup together and they
have reinvigorated the squad. We
struggled early on as the younger
lads found their feet but having
been in a relegation battle with six
games to go we pulled off a run of
six bonus wins to finish in a credible
6th position.
“It has been a definite upward curve.
At Christmas time we could see the
potential but we wondering whether
it would come to fruition. But the
return of five players who had spent
the first half of the season trying to
find themselves in south-east Asia
and the realisation amongst the
younger players that they were good
enough to compete at this level it
really came together in the final few
months.
“Now it is a case of onwards and
upwards. The boys can’t wait to
get back training and everyone is
looking at a top 4 finish, pushing for