"the Scarlets"
"Welcome"
"TODAY we welcome the players, committee and supporters of Newport to Stradey in what is our only home fixture of the month. This being mainly due to two weekends being set aside for international matches."
"Newport come to Stradey in good spirits having acquitted themselves well in this their first season in the first division of the Heineken League; having gained promotion from the second division last season as champions."
"They have, of course, already defeated the Scarlets at Rodney Parade by 19 points to 9, when the two teams met in the league last November. In their most recent league fixture, the Black and Ambers helped themselves to 10 tries, with Alun Harries scoring a hat-trick against Maesteg. Presently, they are fourth in the league, having won seven out of the twelve fixtures played: Six of those victories having been achieved at Rodney Parade. Roger Bidgood leads the try scoring with 6 league tries. You may recall that last season, Newport won the Western Mail award for scoring the most tries in the whole of the league - 83 tries in 14 matches."
"Last Saturday, England made history when they won the Grand Slam for the second successive season, breaking all sorts of records in the process. The Grand Slam, yes but in grand style definitely not! Wales can take some comfort from the fact that they conceded less points to England than the other countries in the championship this season."
"Wales were denied the opportunity of successive Grand Slam success in 1971/72 season because of happenings outside the game. Wales did not travel to Dublin that season and ended up as champions with 3 wins from 3 matches played. They had of course already won the Grand Slam in 1970/71 season. Those were the days!"
"However, it was pleasing to read of Welsh success at Youth level the previous weekend when Wales defeated Italy by 29 points to 22. Italy had in fact already beaten France Youth earlier in the season."
"Two local lads played their part in the Welsh victory. Centre Stuart Prendiville, son of former Scarlet David, scored a brace of tries, whilst Trimsaran outside half Craig Ryan contributed 5 points with a penalty goal and conversion."
"The fortunes of the senior Welsh side may not be too rosy presently, but the future seems to be in good hands."
"Congratulations to our hooker Andrew Lamerton who earlier in the week lined up for the Barbarians in their annual Mobbs Memorial fixture with East Midlands at Northampton."
"Finally it has been announced that the WRU/Schweppes Cup semi-finals will be played at the National Ground, Cardiff Arms Park on May Day Bank Holiday, Monday, 4th May this season. The first semi-final kicking off at 1.45 p.m. to be followed by the second at 4.00 p.m. If you had thought of taking the family on an outing that day, then what better than a day out in Cardiff (hopefully to support the Scarlets and Newport!)"
"Croeso Casnewydd."
"Les Williams"
"Bryn Meredith"
"ex Newport & Wales"
"Writes"
"East is east and west is west and ne'er the twain shall meet. To allow me to make a contribution to your match programme could be compared to allowing a Moslem fundamentalist to comment about Salman Rushdie! But not a bit of it. I have always loved coming to Stradey. I enjoyed my games here and I have many friends from those days and I seldom played badly here. Perhaps that is why I love it so much."
"Llanelli was the first club to adopt a professional attitude to the game and it is apparent for all of us to see. I remember when a parking area was reserved for coaches. I was naive enough to think that it was for the visiting team bus."
"Llanelli R.F.C. is as well known as any other in the rugby world. Their first win against a touring side was as long ago as 1908, when they beat the Australians 8-3 and consequently they added another verse to Sospan Fach 'Who beat the Wallabies?' Good old Sospan Fach."
"Many famous players have worn the scarlet jersey of Llanelli & Wales. Some of the more famous include R.T. Gabe whom I had the pleasure of talking with, in later years. Albert Jenkins was another player of high calibre and was dominant during the successful 20's with his great centre play."
"Other stars included Ivor Jones who on a British Lions tour to New Zealand scored 6 tries in a provincial match."
"Dai and Arthur John, Ernie Finch, Archie Skym and Iorwerth Jones were among the seven players who represented Wales in 1928. During my playing days Llanelli almost repeated this achievement by supplying 6 caps for Wales in 1957/58."
"Amongst the stars of the thirties include W.H. Clement (who eventually became Sec. of the W.R.U.) Jim Lang and Elvet Jones."
"My first personal recollection of Llanelli, and incidentally it was spelt with a y then, was the first official post-war international match in 1947 which included Howard Davies and Stan and Ossie Williams but the players who made an indelible impression in my mind are the players I was fortunate to play with and against. The outstanding forward must be R. H. Williams a giant amongst men and regarded by New Zealand and South African judges as amongst the finest players ever to visit their shores. There can be no finer accolade."
"Terry Davies, a classical full-back who was also adjudged by New Zealanders as another of the great players. I also had the good fortune to play with Lewis-Jones in the Royal Navy, he possessed confidence, great skill and maturity even at a young age and he didn't give a damn for the establishment. Carwyn James was not only a gifted player but a coach with extended vision. Pity Wales hadn't given him that opportunity."
"The list is unending, D.K. Jones, Barry John , Phil Bennett who were all a delight to watch and something was expected to happen when they were in possession."
"I must not forget Norman who gave me plenty of Gale warnings!"
"Whatever the result of today's game my smallest hope is that everyone enjoys themselves, new friendships created and old ones consolidated."
"A Date to Remember - 11th March"
"On this day in 1893, Wales played Ireland, here at Stradey, in what was to be the last occasion that Wales played an international at Llanelly. Almost 20,000 attended the match which Wales won by two points to nil (try value = 2 points). The only score of the match came in the first half and the try was scored by centre Bert Gould who played for Newport. His co-centre was A. J. "Monkey" Gould, his brother, who also captained the side. It was an historic day as Wales won the Triple Crown for the first time having already beaten England, at Cardiff by 12 points to 11 and Scotland, at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh by 9 points to 0. In the Welsh line-up that day, in addition to the Gould brothers, Newport were represented by Percy Phillips, F. C. Parfitt, T. C. Graham, Wallace Watts, J. Hannan and A. W. Boucher making a total of eight internationals from the club. Llanelly were represented by C. B. Nicholl. Such was the fervour for the game that it was reported that two men from Tenby walked to Llanelly to see the match."