Before the review, I would like to say a few words on Matthew J Watkins, whose funeral was this week. The outpouring of grief for the former Llanelli player on social media from fans, pundits and team-mates alike goes to show how highly ‘M.J’ was respected throughout the game.
We here at the Welsh Premiership Podcast would just like to add our condolences to all those who knew Matthew. It’s a great shame that he didn’t get the send-off he deserved but I’m sure all fans of the game will remember him fondly for years to come.
Photo Credit: Cancer Research UK via WalesOnline
Team: Llanelli
Position: 10th
After narrowly avoiding relegation last season, Llanelli were hoping to rebuild and secure their position in The Indigo Group Welsh Premiership. They finished the season in 10th place on the same amount of points as 11th placed Ebbw Vale, but with two games in hand.
With a relatively young squad they started the season with four consecutive losses. In October they earned their first win in a 29-10 victory at Ebbw Vale via two tries from Scrum-Half Dane Blacker and one apiece from Wingers Aaron Grabham and Kalum Evans. This was the first of five consecutive victories, the rest coming against Aberavon, Newport, Bridgend and Merthyr.
Their last win of the season came in their penultimate game of the year, which was against Llandovery, thanks to tries from Craig Thomas, Ifan Beynon-Thomas and Eray Wilson and the boot of Ioan Hughes. A 24-21 victory that day ensured they stayed clear of Ebbw Vale and Bridgend below them. The West Wales based side’s season ended after just 15 games because of the weather storms and the Coronavirus outbreak.
There have been several standout performers in the squad this year. Back-Row forward Nathan Hart finished as their top try-scorer with 5 tries has impressed along with Jacob Lewis who was excellent alongside him in the back row. The experience of Captain Jonny Lewis has been invaluable in the Centre. Young Fly-Half Ioan Hughes has been playing way beyond his years and finished as their top point-scorer with 78 points.
Captain Jonny Lewis said they were “Disappointed with the season as a whole. We felt we were a better side than our league position showed, we put a good squad together in pre-season and felt we could’ve achieved something. The squad is still very young and now are a season more experienced. We had some excellent away wins at Ebbw, Aberavon and Merthyr, hopefully that will stand us in good stead next year.”
“I think we made it too easy for teams to beat us, especially at home. Discipline was also an issue for a large part of the season, but that goes hand in hand when you have such a young squad.”
On any worries of relegation, “We never felt we were in real danger of going down. We always backed ourselves to pick up the wins we needed and were hopeful with our run in we could finish mid table because the league was so tight.”
Looking towards next season, “Hopefully we can build on the positives from this year. If we can add one or two signings to this young squad, there’s no reason we can’t finish in the top 6 and have a real go at the cup. We’ve proved this year we can beat anyone on our day.”
by Tobias Hunt
Tobias' Sports Journalism Blog 