Ponty Anger at Squad Selection

By Neil Hughes
February 5 2006

Chris Jones, the Rhondda Schools rugby coach is devastated that none of his highly successful young team has been included in the Wales Under 16 Squad.

In the Rhondda Leader this week: Chris is upset and disappointed that none of his Rhondda Under 15’s squad from last season have been considered for international honours. He said “I cannot truly express in words how I feel. It is a personal opinion but I just do not see how the selectors cannot consider any of the players worthy of inclusion.”

The under 15’s that he refers to were finalists in last seasons Dewar Shield competition, the premier district competition in Wales and contained some of our very own Pontypridd RFC players. They only lost two games all of last season, one being the final where they were defeated by a very good Cardiff team, whom Rhondda had defeated previously in the season. A sign of their success was the selection of a dozen of their players for the Blues North Academy, yet none have progressed further?

Chris stated “It just makes me wonder what these young players have to do to be selected? I really feel for them because they have proved themselves on the field and yet have been side tracked. In the ten years I have been coaching youngsters I have never known a situation like this, the young players need all the encouragement they can get, but in my opinion they are not getting it at the highest level. The young players are very down at the moment and it is my job to lift them back up again.”Ken Morgan, the chairman of the under 16 selectors stated “First of all I would like to say that I have the highest admiration for Chris Jones who I regard as an outstanding coach. The Rhondda under 15’s did have much success last season, but that was in essence a team effort and we have to select the individuals we feel are the best performers. I can assure Chris that as selectors we ensure that the process is carried out properly and fairly.”

Yeah right, we at Pontypridd really believe that too! It’s relevant to us as several of the players concerned actually play for Pontypridd RFC Under 16’s and are in the academy. I have yet to have it confirmed, but according to Chris only two Pontypridd District players have been selected, if true this was probably just a token gesture. We all know that with the WRU it’s not how good you are that matters, but your postcode. The age old barriers to selection at Welsh level seem to be back, they did disappear for a period. Now it appears to have rearred it’s ugly head again, it appears that the blazer and tie brigade have control again with the return of the age old preferential treatments!

We at Pontypridd know how Chris Jones feels, our clubs very successful under 16's squad has also been ignored, despite beating two of England's top academy sides this season alone...


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