Action Replay (Bridgend Programme Notes)
2025-26 in a nutshell
by Paul Williams
Not a vintage campaign, in any kind of measurable sense. Pre-season began in August (and also in earnest) with a trip up the M4 to Berkshire for a 38 – 24 win over Reading Rams. That was followed by a warm welcome at the Bridge Field, home of our old friends Bedwas RFC, and finally August bowed out with a last-kick-of-the-match penalty from Scott Delnevo securing a 13-12 win over Carmarthen Quins.
September: A two-week break then followed before Super Rygbi Cymru began, in mid-September, its second season, with history repeating itself as the Wizards once again started their season ‘proper’ with a trip to Ebbw Vale, with the more experienced Gwent outfit recording a 36-17 win. Things then began to look up when Newport visited the Talbot Athletic Ground and were defeated 28-24. The month ended with a Thursday evening visit to Bridgend, where both sides produced an absorbing encounter in which the lead changed hands tantalisingly. With time running out, and with Bridgend leading 35-30, history repeated itself as Joe Gage took an inside pass and went racing through midfield, with his change of pace and deft footwork taking him over for a typical try, with Owen Erasmus slotting the conversion to make the final score 35-37.
October: Nine days later, Bridgend were again the opposition, this time at the Talbot Athletic Ground. Things began well enough for the Wizards, who reached the interval with a wind-assisted 21-7 lead. The visitors, however, took full advantage of the conditions in their favour after the break and left with a 26-36 win. That was followed by defeat at Cardiff (45-26) and an impressive home win over RGC-1404 (45-35) before a Thursday-night nailbiter at a wind- and rain-swept Pontypool Park that saw the Wizards battle their way back from a 19-nil deficit which was reduced to 19-7 just before the interval thanks to Scott Whitlock touching down for Charlie Thomas to convert, and repeated the feat early in the final quarter to keep the Wizards in touch as the scoreboard crept up to 24-17. Good work from Charlie Herdman and Ashton Evans then paved the way for Caelan Carson-Jones to race over with Keillen Cullen’s conversion making things all square at 24-24. In a tense finale, a long clearance kick from Pontypool was fielded by Cullen deep inside the Aberavon half, and returned with interest as he kicked along the left-hand touchline, with the ball bouncing tantalisingly just inside the touchline until it went out of play deep inside Pontypool ‘22’, giving the Wizards the advantage of throwing into the ensuing lineout. Indiscipline from the home side at the lineout, however, yielded a penalty and Cullen duly obliged with the final kick of the match.
November: What should have been a confidence booster at Pontypool proved to be anything but. History will tell us that the win at Pontypool would be the last win for several months, as a crippling list of injuries combined with a loss of confidence. The month saw defeats at home to Carmarthen Quins (19-28) and away to Llandovery (14-30)
December: A cold Thursday evening at Aberavon saw Ebbw Vale prevail (24-45) then away trips to Newport (10-76 – a real low-point of the season) and Swansea (22-37), with the return fixture against Swansea also ending in defeat (21-31).
January: The SRC Cup competition did nothing to brighten the mood. 14-15 defeat at Bridgend preceded a 12-43 home loss to Llandovery.
February: The disappointments continued. Ebbw Vale (away 25-31) and Swansea (home 22-28).
March: Some signs of improvement, with Cardiff relieved to head for home with a win (24-28), although the always-difficult trip up north to RGC-1404 yielded a not unexpected loss (12-39). However, the visit of Pontypool, still smarting from that last-minute defeat at the end of October, saw the Wizards produce what was by some margin their best performance of the season, made all the more remarkable given the seemingly endless list of injuries to key players and the inclusion of five debut-making teenagers in the Aberavon matchday squad. Once again the two sides were confronted by a strong wind, but the Wizards managed the conditions better than their opponents, and with a degree of confidence unseen for quite some time adopted a running game that paid dividends. They got the ball rolling with a Keillen Cullen penalty in the first minute, while Scott Whitlock got the headlines for his hat-trick of tries (all converted by Cullen), they were very much the result of an adventurous approach by the Aberavon team, and although the visitors were able to claw back two converted tries with the wind at their backs, the Wizards finished far stronger and sealed a deserved victory with second-half tries from Ashton Evans and Scott Delnevo, with Cullen again converting both.
April: The Wizards made it two consecutive wins for the first time since October with a hard-fought win at Carmarthen Quins. In contrast with the previous week’s clash, this was an uncompromising and often attritional affair, with the Wizards’ tenacious defensive performance taking much of the credit, with the goalkicking prowess of Scott Delnevo and Tomi Booth tipping the scales Aberavon’s way. Which brings us to last weekend’s home clash with an experienced Llandovery outfit. For the sake of completeness a 17-47 loss is included here, but the focus will already be on preparations for next season.
