Category: Bridgend Ravens

20 -Year-old number 8 Morgan Strong has been making big strides in his development while playing with the Bridgend Ravens. The Wales U20’s star is on the Ospreys books but was given the chance to play in the Premiership with the Ravens last season.

On his time with the club he said, “Playing for Bridgend in the Prem last year was a huge learning curve for me as a young player in my first season of senior rugby. It was a great achievement to play for my hometown in Wales’ top league of rugby, and to have the chance to play regular rugby each weekend at this standard was massive for me.”

Strong spoke about how important the Senior players in the Ravens squad were in helping his development. “Playing with some of the players in the squad last year was hugely beneficial to me, plays like Gar Harvey, Ben Davies, Nath (Edwards) and so on made it an enjoyable season. It was always easy to have a chat and they made it easy for me to settle into a new squad. Also, the way they review games and the things they look at helped me as a younger player to see how they look at the game.”

Morgan’s father Nathan is no stranger to Premiership success having played for Bridgend and Pontypridd and Aberavon in the league, lifting the Welsh Cup with the Ponty in 2006. Morgan spoke about his relationship with Nathan, “I have a good relationship with my old man, he comes to watch most of my games and is always there to offer feedback on my performance, and the team’s. He also gives me advice on where he feels I could improve, it’s important to have a good family network around you who will be honest with your performance.”

The Tondu RFC product has been around the Ospreys senior team for the first time this season. “It’s been great to have my first season with the Ospreys, seeing how senior rugby works and how the boys train day in day out. This gives me a good insight into what the future can be like. There are so many big names in the Ospreys pack, Tipuric and Lydiate to name a couple, working with them daily will benefit me hugely. I’m keen to learn as much off people like that as possible, but with not much rugby being played this year the time has been used to develop physically and keep improving my game in training.

Strong starred in Wales’ U20’s Six Nations campaign last year, scoring tries against France and Scotland, and starring in defence. “Playing for Wales U20s last year was huge for not only me but my family, despite having played age grade previously this was my first cap which made it that little bit more special. Being in that sort of environment is very moreish, once you get a taste of it you want it more and more. The most memorable moments for me would be beating France and England, both massive games in front of good crowds which made them great games to be involved in.”

Having not played any Rugby at all so far this season with the Premiership being postponed Strong still remains ambitious, “With the way this season has turned out the only aim for me at the minute is just to get back to playing rugby as soon as possible.”

Second-Row Kieran Martin has signed for the Bridgend Ravens for the upcoming Indigo Group Welsh Premiership campaign.

Martin, who previously played for the Ravens in the 2017/18 season, has played for Cardiff RFC for the past two years. The Llanharan RFC product was a pivotal figure in the Blue and Blacks squad in 2018/19 before being limited to just seven appearances last term. He will bolster Head Coach Steve Jones’ options up front and may well be used as an option in the Back-Row, where he is also comfortable playing.

On the decision to move back to Bridgend, “I loved my time at Cardiff, but injuries and a lack of game time knocked me back a bit. When I had the opportuinity to go back to Bridgend there was no doubt in my mind.”

“I’m really looking forward to getting back into it. It’s a really exciting time to be at the Ravens, it’ll be nice to see some old and new faces.”

“The squad has so much potential along with a top-quality coaching core. With a good pre-season I’m sure we can push on and shock a lot of people.”

Ravens Coach Jeff Pick added, “At 6ft 8in it would be easy to say that as a lineout forward Kieran takes some beating. But I believe he’s much more than that, he’s an intelligent player with bags of experience at Premiership level. It’s great to have him with us and I look forward to working with him again.”

by Tobias Hunt

After the unfortunate events of the Coronavirus outbreak the Indigo Group Welsh Premiership has been Cancelled with no team announced as Champions, no relegation or promotion via the Championship.

Team: Bridgend Ravens

Position: 12^th

Bridgend Ravens are lucky not to have been relegated this season after finding themselves eight points adrift of Ebbw Vale at the bottom of the table with four games to go. The Brewery Field based side only won three games all season with home victories against Merthyr and Swansea, and a victory on the road at Ebbw Vale.

The Ravens’ opening game of the season was at home to Aberavon and they led 26-24 going into the last minute. A late Aberavon penalty resulted in a 26-27 defeat, which was just one of six last minute losses for Bridgend this season. These were at home against Pontypridd and Carmarthen Quins, and away to Llanelli, Newport and Pontypridd.

Their first win of the season came in October in a 17-12 victory over Merthyr. The Ravens led 17-0 at the break and held off a late Merthyr comeback. December was the highlight month on the field for Bridgend, with two consecutive wins against Ebbw Vale and Swansea. An 18-15 win at Eugene Cross Park came courtesy of the boot of Full-Back Owen Howe who kicked six penalties. Howe finished as their top point scorer with 99 points this term. A week later a 17-3 win at home over Swansea came via tries from Winger Dewi Cross and Back-Row Ryan Hall.

In off the field news, in January the Ravens confirmed the Club would return to a community owned, members run club. They will continue their relationship with the Ospreys as part of their development pathway system.

In a season full of ups and downs, the one standout player throughout was 20-year-old Dewi Cross. The young Osprey Winger from Pencoed RFC has impressed this season, finishing as their top Try-scorer after crossing the line five times. He has also been a nuisance to many sides’ defences throughout the season.

Bridgend knew they were in for a tough season after narrowly avoiding relegation last year, but they were optimistic about their chances at the start of the season. Captain Nathan Edwards said “Overall the season was disappointing as a squad, we didn’t achieve what we wanted too.

“We did show glimpses of class in some of our performances and I couldn’t have asked for more from our squad, the resilience we showed to overcome some of the adversity that we faced was a testament to the team.”

On how the last-minute defeats affected the squad Edwards said, “There have been some extremely dark times this year, especially after the last-minute defeats we’ve overcome. To lose once in the last play it damages morale but to do it six times is indescribable. Some of the performances in those games were our best of the season.”

“We never gave up, we’d come in every Tuesday, refocus ourselves then think of ways we could improve ready for the next game. The atmosphere at the club never changed, we pride ourselves on being together.”

On the chances of being relegated, Edwards emphasised that they were realistic about the challenge ahead of them, “We were prepared for any eventuality, but that didn’t mean that we’d accept it. We had a number of games left and were still mathematically capable of staying up.”

On the improvements for next season, “the biggest thing we can improve is the consistency of our performances. There’s been times when we’ve played extremely well and followed it up the next week with a dreadful performance.”

“I don’t think we’re the weakest team in the league despite the fact we finished 12^th. It’s a matter of us being more focused next season week in week out.”

by Tobias Hunt