Saturday sees the continued return of the Christ College – Llandovery College game when the Brecon school entertains its old rival (KO 12:45 pm), writes Huw S Thomas.
Fixtures between the two most famous rugby schools in Wales had been halted after Llandovery’s 46-10 win in 2012, when it was obvious that mismatches were being increasingly frequent.
It was Llandovery’s 86th win out of 124 games played between the schools since the first match back in 1879.
Agreement was reached that fixtures should be halted temporarily and it was not until last season that fixtures were fully restored.
Llandoveery won narrowly 24-19 after a hiatus of 11 years in a humdinger of a game that above all else confirmed the restored quality of Christ College rugby
The lead changed hands five times, and the game ended in one of the most dramatic ways in the history of the fixture.
Down 18-12 with two minutes to go, Christ College conjured up a great try by wing Matt Price which with a Jack Perkins conversion got them ahead by a single point.
Then, in the very last movement of the match, the Lilywhites drove a short range line-out for hooker Henry Nelson to plant the ball bang on the goal-line for the decisive score, followed by a conversion from full back Owain-Hari Davies.
It was cruel luck for the Brecon school who had in No 8 Owen Conquer and centre Gareth O’Callaghan the stand out players on the field but that performance will stand them in good stead for Saturday’s game.
There were a number of Breconians in the Welsh Academicals and Crawshay’s Welsh invitation sides that recently played on Tredegar Close, including Rhys Conquer, brother of last year’s star player, Owen who has already been shining for Ebbw Vale in this year’s Indigo Premiership.
They will have had a good insight into Llandovery strength and with the visitors short of a few key players because of regional and international obligations, Saturday’s 126th encounter promises to be competitive once again.
Llandovery College are the Welsh Schools and Colleges champions and whilst Christ College did well enough in the Conference B league, finishing in fourth place, it will be huge feather in their caps to overturn the national champions.