Captain’s Christmas Blog

We are coming to the end of another year, and have just rounded off the first part of this season with the east / west split in the Premiership.

The view within the camp is that we have done really well and exceeded our expectations. If anyone at the start of the season had offered us a second place finish in the east division with eleven wins to our name coming up to Christmas, I think we would have bitten their hands off.

The youngsters and newcomers in the squad have settled in really well, and have brought into what this club is all about both on and off the pitch. We have had our injury problems but those are now clearing up and with some influential players such as Jake Thomas and Lloyd Rowlands set to return before long, that will offer us even more strength in depth.

We have done well to keep our focus, with the periods of inactivity when the BIC games were played, and coming back after a heavy defeat up at Merthyr, re-grouping to claim important wins away to Cross Keys and of course in the big derby match at home to Cardiff.

That win against Cardiff will bring an early Christmas present to all our supporters, who again turned out in big numbers for the game and spurred us on to a hard fought victory live on TV.

The boys can now relax a little over Christmas and enjoy the day with their families. We will be back for a training session on Boxing Day then in as normal on Thursday evening, preparing for another big game against Bedwas next weekend.

That match will be the first in the full sixteen team Premiership programme to the end of the season, with all to play for. As I said, we think we are in a good place and will be gearing up to improve and put in a big push for honours.

In the meantime may I take this opportunity to thank our supporters again for their loyalty and their backing through the past year, and to wish everyone concerned with Pontypridd RFC a very merry Christmas – enjoy!

Dafydd Lockyer

24/12/17