Merthyr RFC set to become new force in Welsh Rugby

First topic message reminder :

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/merthyr-rfc-set-become-new-9377183

Thoughts?

Coleman wrote:

Irish Londoner wrote:With regard to getting kids in from Cardiff and the other cities/large towns, is rugby still a major school sport in the state schools?
The way to engage minority kids (and kids from families with no rugby tradition) is take the game to them and show them that it's not just a game for posh/white kids.
How much do the WRU/clubs do in this area?

I've not seen a lot if i'm honest. When i was younger we used to have Cardiff RFC players at my primary school every other week doing coaching sessions that everyone took part in. But that has died off now it seems. I thought Josh Lewsey was trying to increase rugby in schools as part of his role in the WRU. You need to get them at primary school in my opinion and follow up in secondry. Also i think there is some cultural myths that need to be dispelled. Such as it's all beers, sausages and chips after the games. That is instantly a barrier to some communities.

Could it be that as you're out of school and away from it some of it goes unnoticed? Just guessing really.  In the Dragons region I know a lot goes on in schools as I was involved in it in my former job.  Right across Gwent too, not just in Newport.  We did skills sessions, community work, open days, education sessions, you name it.  Dragons were really good at sending players if schools requested one.  Dragons (like all regions I'm guessing) have a community department who are outward facing and who bid for funding to do collaborative projects, etc.  The problem has always been the vast number of schools - off the top of my head there is something like 25 secondary schools and over 100 primary schools in Gwent.  Quick maths tells you that to get to 100 primary schools in Gwent you can either visit 2 primary schools a week for a year, and then never see them again that year, or alternatively lucky primary schools will get more than others e.g. regular sessions.  It's almost an impossible situation!  It could be a full time operation running schools sessions.  The players would never be on the pitch!

Being our of school dosn't help i know. I have three nephews who are all doing football as an after school now and my gf is a primary school teacher (Bridgend) who has been told the school are not keen to take up rugby due to costs. It just sounds different from my time when we had a cup for primary schools in Cardiff. 

I know there is only so much money to go around but targeting schools is the best way of attracting a more diverse player base and attracting more people to the game. A big issue is the cross over between playing at school and a club. We seem to lose a lot of players there. 

I understand that the amount of players to go around isnt ideal but you could extend that to the Acad and U18's. I think a lot of schools have lost the teachers who used to take the rugby sessions and the ones left are maybe a bit lost or daunted by the idea of leading a session of a contact sport they're unfamiliar with. That is where the Region can step in to help assist.

You always see stuff on twitter about Dragons players visiting schools and colleges. They are also doing skills camps at Rodney Parade and Ystrad Mynach.

Griff wrote: It's never been a game for posh people in Wales though, so this should be a fairly easy hurdle to overcome.  It's always been a working class sport.  A sport played by the tough miners after a hard day at the coalface (traditionally).  A game played by teams in poor towns and villages across the country, some of which have the highest levels of deprivation in Europe!

Griff, I was thinking more about the perception that kids from minority backgrounds (and their parents) might have - very few of them would have connections to the village communities which did so much for rugby in Wales, most wil live in the larger urban areas like Cardiff.

Whilst the clubs getting involved is good from the point of profile and giving the already engaged kids the chance to meet their heroes, maybe the development in schools needs to come from training teachers and/or volunteers to coach mini rugby to get the kids involved, there are minimum risks with tag or touch games for example.

Irish Londoner wrote:

Griff wrote: It's never been a game for posh people in Wales though, so this should be a fairly easy hurdle to overcome.  It's always been a working class sport.  A sport played by the tough miners after a hard day at the coalface (traditionally).  A game played by teams in poor towns and villages across the country, some of which have the highest levels of deprivation in Europe!

Griff, I was thinking more about the perception that kids from minority backgrounds (and their parents) might have - very few of them would have connections to the village communities which did so much for rugby in Wales, most wil live in the larger urban areas like Cardiff.

Whilst the clubs getting involved is good from the point of profile and giving the already engaged kids the chance to meet their heroes, maybe the development in schools needs to come from training teachers and/or volunteers to coach mini rugby to get the kids involved, there are minimum risks with tag or touch games for example.

I'm getting tired of this myth. You'd think no one from the cities ever played the game.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

Irish Londoner wrote:

Griff wrote: It's never been a game for posh people in Wales though, so this should be a fairly easy hurdle to overcome.  It's always been a working class sport.  A sport played by the tough miners after a hard day at the coalface (traditionally).  A game played by teams in poor towns and villages across the country, some of which have the highest levels of deprivation in Europe!

Griff, I was thinking more about the perception that kids from minority backgrounds (and their parents) might have - very few of them would have connections to the village communities which did so much for rugby in Wales, most wil live in the larger urban areas like Cardiff.

Whilst the clubs getting involved is good from the point of profile and giving the already engaged kids the chance to meet their heroes, maybe the development in schools needs to come from training teachers and/or volunteers to coach mini rugby to get the kids involved, there are minimum risks with tag or touch games for example.

I'm getting tired of this myth. You'd think no one from the cities ever played the game.

Same for those of us from the west coast.

Coleman wrote:Being our of school dosn't help i know. I have three nephews who are all doing football as an after school now and my gf is a primary school teacher (Bridgend) who has been told the school are not keen to take up rugby due to costs. It just sounds different from my time when we had a cup for primary schools in Cardiff. 

I know there is only so much money to go around but targeting schools is the best way of attracting a more diverse player base and attracting more people to the game. A big issue is the cross over between playing at school and a club. We seem to lose a lot of players there. 

I understand that the amount of players to go around isnt ideal but you could extend that to the Acad and U18's. I think a lot of schools have lost the teachers who used to take the rugby sessions and the ones left are maybe a bit lost or daunted by the idea of leading a session of a contact sport they're unfamiliar with. That is where the Region can step in to help assist.

Schools rugby in Wales is an absolute joke. My son is in year 10 in the Pontypridd area and did not play one school game this year. He was selected for the district team (Dewar Shield) which was also a shambles. Unfortunately I don't think schools rugby will ever come back as the teachers are not interested unless it impacts their national curriculum. I am not blaming the teachers as they are targeted on the curriculum. The future of junior rugby is now in the hands of the clubs and this is where the WRU and Josh Lewsey should be concentrating and not on the school system. My son plays for a local club and has not once in 6 years have they had a visit from a regional player or coach.

Pyleboy65 wrote:My son plays for a local club and has not once in 6 years have they had a visit from a regional player or coach.

what in the mighty Blues region ? No way. I was being sarcastic by the way.

I remember a few years back, I used to help out with Glyn Coch youth rugby, we asked the Blues to send somebody up for our presentation evening, and we asked if we could have Ceri Sweeney as he is a Glyn Coch boy, and he was playing for the Blues at the time, we were told that ALL their representatives were too busy, so we gave the Scarlets a call and told them about our predicament and that the Cardiff Blues were to busy to help us, and they sent Mark Jones up, and what a nice guy he was too.

It's very sad to see where the school system is now. I didn't realise it had been removed from the curriculum. Is that not a devolved matter? I honestly think schools is the best gateway for newer players as clubs have limited places per age grade team. 

LD it's very poor for the Blues not to be able to find you a player to come up for the M&J evening let alone none coming up to a few training sessions. I don't like the way the Blues "assign" players to clubs and only have two nights a years for them to attend sessions. I know that players have lives but two nights in a season is lazy and not every club is so lucky to have a former player in a pro team.

Pyleboy65 wrote:

Coleman wrote:Being our of school dosn't help i know. I have three nephews who are all doing football as an after school now and my gf is a primary school teacher (Bridgend) who has been told the school are not keen to take up rugby due to costs. It just sounds different from my time when we had a cup for primary schools in Cardiff. 

I know there is only so much money to go around but targeting schools is the best way of attracting a more diverse player base and attracting more people to the game. A big issue is the cross over between playing at school and a club. We seem to lose a lot of players there. 

I understand that the amount of players to go around isnt ideal but you could extend that to the Acad and U18's. I think a lot of schools have lost the teachers who used to take the rugby sessions and the ones left are maybe a bit lost or daunted by the idea of leading a session of a contact sport they're unfamiliar with. That is where the Region can step in to help assist.

Schools rugby in Wales is an absolute joke. My son is in year 10 in the Pontypridd area and did not play one school game this year. He was selected for the district team (Dewar Shield) which was also a shambles. Unfortunately I don't think schools rugby will ever come back as the teachers are not interested unless it impacts their national curriculum. I am not blaming the teachers as they are targeted on the curriculum. The future of junior rugby is now in the hands of the clubs and this is where the WRU and Josh Lewsey should be concentrating and not on the school system. My son plays for a local club and has not once in 6 years have they had a visit from a regional player or coach.

I actually think this competition is well run with a high level of standard - it is the start of the conveyorbelt, those who excel here generally get picked up by their regional academies at u16's.

There are also some very strong teams at this level - Rhondda Schools u15's for example, perennial challengers who also recently toured South Africa playing school teams from there and if I am not mistaken, came back undefeated.

Then you have the colleges league which is televised - that appears to be going well.

I am not saying that participating in schools isnt declining but it is not all bad

munkian wrote:You always see stuff on twitter about Dragons players visiting schools and colleges. They are also doing skills camps at Rodney Parade and Ystrad Mynach.

Does that make us the No.2 true region, or do we not fit the criteria? Hang on.... What even is the criteria?

Coleman wrote:It's very sad to see where the school system is now. I didn't realise it had been removed from the curriculum. Is that not a devolved matter? I honestly think schools is the best gateway for newer players as clubs have limited places per age grade team. 

LD it's very poor for the Blues not to be able to find you a player to come up for the M&J evening let alone none coming up to a few training sessions. I don't like the way the Blues "assign" players to clubs and only have two nights a years for them to attend sessions. I know that players have lives but two nights in a season is lazy and not every club is so lucky to have a former player in a pro team.

I think it depends where you go to school, and for that reason I don't think it's a curriculum thing. My understanding of curriculum is that it is pretty standardised across the country/UK. Therefore if rugby is off the curriculum then it would be for all. My experience is that that some primary schools have teams and even their own rugby pitches, while others don't. In terms of curriculum I expect they all have a 'sports' remit, with flexibility to deliver that how they want. Remember that at primary level you don't have dedicated sports teachers like in secondary. Rather, a year teacher might be the sport lead for the school having maybe taken a sports option module during their PGCE. They might have picked up a coaching qual or two along the way too. Now, if their sport is football then the school will likely be a football school. Cricket, then a cricket school. Etc., etc. So without a rugby specialist it may be off the radar. The tastes and interests of the headteacher come into this too. Schools also have to promote equality so I guess they focus less on one sport and try to offer a range or a taster of many, with maybe some after school clubs focused on those sports with the greatest interest.

Ironically, given what others have posted here, I'm nearly 40 and went to a Catholic primary school in Newport yet I never once touched a rugby ball in school. Could be as we had no grass maybe. Just a concrete playground and a tennis ball! But probably because the headteacher was a table tennis fan and ran a few clubs in this 'sport'.

Irish Londoner wrote:

Griff wrote: It's never been a game for posh people in Wales though, so this should be a fairly easy hurdle to overcome.  It's always been a working class sport.  A sport played by the tough miners after a hard day at the coalface (traditionally).  A game played by teams in poor towns and villages across the country, some of which have the highest levels of deprivation in Europe!

Griff, I was thinking more about the perception that kids from minority backgrounds (and their parents) might have - very few of them would have connections to the village communities which did so much for rugby in Wales, most wil live in the larger urban areas like Cardiff.

Whilst the clubs getting involved is good from the point of profile and giving the already engaged kids the chance to meet their heroes, maybe the development in schools needs to come from training teachers and/or volunteers to coach mini rugby to get the kids involved, there are minimum risks with tag or touch games for example.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. It would be great to see minority communities playing the sport more. Community engagement would be the best way IMO.

I must admit I'm a bit uneasy when discussing minority groups and sport. Firstly, there's a danger that when we see that rugby (or any sport form hat matter) isn't representative of the make up of society we try to mess with it and artificially change it to make it more representative, e.g. Wales is (hypothetically) 70% white, 10% black, 10% Asian, 10% Other and so we feel we need to try to mirror this in sport participation. It's noble and understandable to think this way, but I wonder whether we need to put so much energy and resource into doing it? Should it just be allowed to happen more naturally? Promote the sport yes, but often cultural ties, cultural issues, tastes, traditions, etc. will dictate sporting choices rather than trying to fit square pegs into round holes. Without wanting to sound stereotypical, my local cricket club in Newport is predominantly Asian but there are no calls to make that more representative of the population by increasing the White make-up of the team. And rightly so. It's catering for current tastes and demand and long may it continue. I Think there's a fine-ish line between making participation more representative and going down the quotas route, which I think is bad on many levels.

The second thing is that, unfortunately, the 'big' traditional school sports such as football and rugby, hockey for girls, are often blamed for poor physical activity participation levels in school. Schools are now trying to move to cater for more kids' tastes in a bid to get more pupils active. Inclusion is the buzz word. Not everyone likes or is suited to team sports, so we now see programmes like 5x60 (in Wales) with all sorts of wierd and wonderful extra curricular activities to cater for all sorts of tastes. Unfortunately (for me) I think that means we'll see less rugby coaches and more multi-sports coaches in schools going forward.

Griff,

Spot on and I don't think you see many 'specialist' coaches in schools these days, they are more as you say mulit/generic coaches who can turn their hand to suit the needs of the school.

I remember (though long time ago) that when I grew up a lot of the schools in and around Ebbw, Tredegar, Abertillery etc had sports teachers who played first class rugby so that helped attract the kids to playing that game as the teachers were local idols as such.

I miss the days of the PE teacher being a prem player, or former top player.

Just to add the WRU have targeted high schools in and around Cardiff and Newport and placed rugby development officers there full time, this should go a long way to helping grow the sport more, if done correctly. I know in Scotland they place these development officers at clubs, who target the local high schools, however a lot of these 'development officers' are used to pay first team players first and foremost, and grow the game second.

Griff wrote:Ironically, given what others have posted here, I'm nearly 40 and went to a Catholic primary school in Newport yet I never once touched a rugby ball in school. Could be as we had no grass maybe. Just a concrete playground and a tennis ball! But probably because the headteacher was a table tennis fan and ran a few clubs in this 'sport'.

When I was in school, it was rugby during the winter, and cricket during the summer, we used to play football every now and then as a treat, but it was always rugby first. We done that in the games class, and athletics in the P.E class.

Same for me. Played rugby at both my primary schools and both my secondary schools. We also had inter house cups at one school. I guess it's very teacher dependant. Had a few Pe teachers who were mad for the game.

LordDowlais wrote:

Griff wrote:Ironically, given what others have posted here, I'm nearly 40 and went to a Catholic primary school in Newport yet I never once touched a rugby ball in school. Could be as we had no grass maybe. Just a concrete playground and a tennis ball! But probably because the headteacher was a table tennis fan and ran a few clubs in this 'sport'.

When I was in school, it was rugby during the winter, and cricket during the summer, we used to play football every now and then as a treat, but it was always rugby first. We done that in the games class, and athletics in the P.E class.

Yeah, we did that in secondary school. I'm on about primary school. No PE and games then. Just some jumping about in the hall. Tag and football at lunch time with bin lids for goal posts.

In and around Ebbw it seemed football led the way at Primary school but soon as you hit Junior Comp it was pretty much Rugby all they way.

The two main Junior Comps in Ebbw Vale had PE teachers who were current Ebbw Vale players so am guessing that had lot to do with it.

GavinDragon wrote:

Pyleboy65 wrote:

Coleman wrote:Being our of school dosn't help i know. I have three nephews who are all doing football as an after school now and my gf is a primary school teacher (Bridgend) who has been told the school are not keen to take up rugby due to costs. It just sounds different from my time when we had a cup for primary schools in Cardiff. 

I know there is only so much money to go around but targeting schools is the best way of attracting a more diverse player base and attracting more people to the game. A big issue is the cross over between playing at school and a club. We seem to lose a lot of players there. 

I understand that the amount of players to go around isnt ideal but you could extend that to the Acad and U18's. I think a lot of schools have lost the teachers who used to take the rugby sessions and the ones left are maybe a bit lost or daunted by the idea of leading a session of a contact sport they're unfamiliar with. That is where the Region can step in to help assist.

Schools rugby in Wales is an absolute joke. My son is in year 10 in the Pontypridd area and did not play one school game this year. He was selected for the district team (Dewar Shield) which was also a shambles. Unfortunately I don't think schools rugby will ever come back as the teachers are not interested unless it impacts their national curriculum. I am not blaming the teachers as they are targeted on the curriculum. The future of junior rugby is now in the hands of the clubs and this is where the WRU and Josh Lewsey should be concentrating and not on the school system. My son plays for a local club and has not once in 6 years have they had a visit from a regional player or coach.

I actually think this competition is well run with a high level of standard - it is the start of the conveyorbelt, those who excel here generally get picked up by their regional academies at u16's.

There are also some very strong teams at this level - Rhondda Schools u15's for example, perennial challengers who also recently toured South Africa playing school teams from there and if I am not mistaken, came back undefeated.

Then you have the colleges league which is televised - that appears to be going well.

I am not saying that participating in schools isn't declining but it is not all bad

Perhaps I should have phrased it differently. The Dewar Shield competition was not a shambles, although it was changed this year and don't think it was as good as previously. What I was trying to get across was the school system leading into the districts. From personal experience of my son, hardly any of the boys in his team played school rugby but were all developed by their clubs. Rhondda are a unique case as they tend to do their own thing although they did get beaten by an excellent Pontypool team in the final.

I was just trying to convey the frustrations felt by many with regards to the state of school rugby. I don't think you can rely on teachers any more and the WRU should do more to send coaches, players, former players into help.

The thing is we're all into rugby on this forum. We'd love all kids to be playing it in school because we like it and we see that the more kids playing it the more teams we'll have, the more pro players and the better Wales will do as a nation. Plus it's great for developing character, team building, etc., etc. However, with my sports development and education hat on it is with a heavy heart that I have to say that the schools system needed to move away from forcing everyone to play rugby (during school lessons). As I said earlier in the thread, inclusion is a massive agenda in schools. Rugby does not suit everyone so schools need to use a broader approach to engaging kids in physical activity. To put it bluntly, the thought of rugby terrifies a lot of young people, so to increase rugby teachers, rugby provision, etc. is not going to happen as it only caters to one crowd. Schools need to teach physical literacy, which you don't do by getting kids to stand on the wing waiting for a ball that never comes to them, or running a mile when it does. That's just the world we live in - increasingly we're judged on the equality of opportunity and the broadening of horizons, so the educational offer is broad rather than narrow. What therefore needs to happen IMO is for schools to offer more extra-curricular sports activity such as rugby so that those who are interested can still get the chance while those that don't want to can do something else. We're talking after school clubs and leagues. Otherwise, rugby WILL be diluted and we WILL lose players going forward as they may only get a taste of it in school rather than play it regularly.

I'm sure someone will come on and say 'those kids want to just toughen up and get on with it', but that's just anti-modern education agenda. It may be that actually we need to focus on youth club rugby rather than schools, as schools may not be the place to focus on one sport anymore.

More interesting news at Merthyr, do not quote me on this but I have it from quite a reliable source that Dale McIntosh aka the Chief has just signed for Merthyr.

LordDowlais wrote:More interesting news at Merthyr, do not quote me on this but I have it from quite a reliable source that Dale McIntosh aka the Chief has just signed for Merthyr.

Ponty didn't want him ? They don't usually turn down people from the Blues...

munkian wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:More interesting news at Merthyr, do not quote me on this but I have it from quite a reliable source that Dale McIntosh aka the Chief has just signed for Merthyr.

Ponty didn't want him ? They don't usually turn down people from the Blues...

TBH Munk, I think he was PUT up here by certain powers/people.

LordDowlais wrote:More interesting news at Merthyr, do not quote me on this but I have it from quite a reliable source that Dale McIntosh aka the Chief has just signed for Merthyr.

Good signing for Merthyr if true. I always felt he was out of his depth at The Blues and is more suited to a development role with younger/ less experienced players who are more in awe of him than seasoned professionals would be. Think you can only get so far as a coach with the "scare them" method.

If true best of luck to him. I was one of the Blues fans that always wanted to give him a shot at regional level. We did and it didn't work out. He still has a lot to offer as a coach. I agree development may be his strong suite.

Him and John done well back end of previous season but didn't work out this time after Hammett left.

LordDowlais wrote:

munkian wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:More interesting news at Merthyr, do not quote me on this but I have it from quite a reliable source that Dale McIntosh aka the Chief has just signed for Merthyr.

Ponty didn't want him ? They don't usually turn down people from the Blues...

TBH Munk, I think he was PUT up here by certain powers/people.

Blydi MisCHIEF makers.

bedfordwelsh wrote:Him and John done well back end of previous season but didn't work out this time after Hammett left.

Its tricky to tell if that success at the tail end of last year was just a honeymoon period of players responding to new coaches. Confidence does play a big part in a lot of areas of the game so cant be understated but I do think these guys may be out of their depth a little. Don't forget they did play in a amateur era and most of their experience has come from coaching at a semi pro part time player basis. The Pro game is a different standard altogether. That's not to say they don't have the ability to eventually do the job but rarely does the sink or swim approach in top end sport work and I do question if they are ready for this kind of step up at the moment.

I have just heard some interesting news, Swansea, Pontypool, RGC and Merthyr up to the prem This season! Some Prem clubs have had the fixtures already!
They play each other once throughout the season, then it will go into 2 tiers.... top 8 fight it out for the title.

Again I do not know how true this is, I am just passing on info.

LordDowlais wrote:I have just heard some interesting news,  Swansea, Pontypool, RGC and Merthyr up to the prem This season! Some Prem clubs have had the fixtures already!
They play each other once throughout the season, then it will go into 2 tiers.... top 8 fight it out for the title.

Again I do not know how true this is, I am just passing on info.

Great news if true

It was Bargoed set to go up, but I guess their club and ground still doesn't meet the requirements for Premiership rugby? I guess they will be feeling pretty upset, again. But I've always said teams like Pontypool and Swansea are too good for Division 1 anyway. Now I'd scrap the relegation bit too.

The Saint wrote:It was Bargoed set to go up, but I guess their club and ground still doesn't meet the requirements for Premiership rugby? I guess they will be feeling pretty upset, again. But I've always said teams like Pontypool and Swansea are too good for Division 1 anyway. Now I'd scrap the relegation bit too.

It is coming in three years time apparently. There is going to be a massive restructuring of Welsh rugby below the regions.

I still think 16 teams is too many

LordDowlais wrote:

The Saint wrote:It was Bargoed set to go up, but I guess their club and ground still doesn't meet the requirements for Premiership rugby? I guess they will be feeling pretty upset, again. But I've always said teams like Pontypool and Swansea are too good for Division 1 anyway. Now I'd scrap the relegation bit too.

It is coming in three years time apparently. There is going to be a massive restructuring of Welsh rugby below the regions.

Again? I don't know what else the can change. They've "localised" the games. Other than having regional district leagues i cannot see how changing them again helps anything.

They have to get rid of this grade a. This other covered terrace is a bit of a joke. Take Ebbw's as an example, which is classed as Grade A, but obviously the roof on the terrace side barely covers anything

I can't believe Bargoed will take this lying down. There must be some way they could've been eligible. They walked the league last season mun.

LordDowlais wrote:I have just heard some interesting news,  Swansea, Pontypool, RGC and Merthyr up to the prem This season! Some Prem clubs have had the fixtures already!
They play each other once throughout the season, then it will go into 2 tiers.... top 8 fight it out for the title with Pontypridd RFC winning it yet again.

Again I do not know how true this is, I am just passing on info

Fixed that for you LD

congratulations you win a development competition every year by paying many players over 30 far too much money

GavinDragon wrote:congratulations you win a development competition every year by paying many players over 30 far too much money

Cheers mate. It's a nice feeling winning something

Steff, fair play Ponty have won more silverware than Clermont in the last decade.

Steffan wrote:

GavinDragon wrote:congratulations you win a development competition every year by paying many players over 30 far too much money

Cheers mate. It's a nice feeling winning something

sorry I couldn't resist, but for what it is worth I think you should make overtures to the RFU to join their pyramid because unfortunately you are not going to get anything from the WRU or current set up in wales

London Pontypridd? Good luck fighting it out with London Welsh and London Scottish.

"Merthyr coach confirms bids for Matthew Rees and Andy Powell

Merthyr rugby coach Lee Jarvis says he is hopeful of signing two British and Irish Lions for the 2015-16 season.

The former Wales international says hooker Matthew Rees and back-row Andy Powell are both considering offers to join the Welsh Championship club.

Rees, 34, began his career with Merthyr before going on to play 60 times for Wales and three Tests for the Lions.

Powell and Rees are free agents after spending last season with the Dragons and Blues respectively.

"[Rees] has got to weigh everything up, really. We've offered him a good deal and we're just fingers-crossed that he will come on board," said Jarvis.

"And it's the same with Andy, we're just waiting now."

Powell played 23 times for Wales and toured with the Lions in 2009, but failed to make the Test squad.

Merthyr finished third in the Championship last season, but the Ironmen could be part of the Premiership next campaign if proposals to expand the semi-pro division to 16 teams are accepted.

Multi-millionaire Sir Stan Thomas, brother of Blues chairman Peter, is supporting Merthyr's recruitment drive and is ready to help finance a significant ground redevelopment at the Wern."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/33153133

Cardiff Dave wrote:"Merthyr coach confirms bids for Matthew Rees and Andy Powell

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/33153133

Not sure what Powell is like nowadays but Rees would be a great signing going back to his old club

Steffan wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:"Merthyr coach confirms bids for Matthew Rees and Andy Powell

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/33153133

Not sure what Powell is like nowadays but Rees would be a great signing going back to his old club

Looking forward to watching Ponty/Merthyr fixtures.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Steffan wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:"Merthyr coach confirms bids for Matthew Rees and Andy Powell

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/33153133

Not sure what Powell is like nowadays but Rees would be a great signing going back to his old club

Looking forward to watching Ponty/Merthyr fixtures.

And me. Hopefully get some good crowds as well. The champions v the new boys in town

That explains the Richie Rees confusion from a week or so ago. It was Matthew Rees, not Richie (who has taken up a Dragons coaching/development role)! Or is Richie still linked too?

Merthyr v Ebbw and Merthyr v Ponty (and the two reverse games) will be two well attended games, for sure.

I haven't seen anything to confirm anything more of the Richie Rees rumour. Would be a big ask to combine his academy role and playing semi pro though and a bit of a conflict of interests.

Matthew Rees has been linked with Worcester as well last time I heard.

Well, here's the first signing then:-

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/ambitious-merthyr-rfc-make-first-9497899

Ambitious Merthyr RFC make first international signing as Tongan back row pens deal.

Also there is this, £20,000 a year for the Bedwas captain to come to Merthyr:-

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/merthyr-rfc-set-land-bedwas-9495848