There will be a whiff of revenge and reconciliation in the air at Principality Stadium when the WSC Rugby U18 Final between Coleg y Cymoedd and Ysgol Glantaf kicks-off on Wednesday night (7.30pm).
Cymoedd will be looking to make up for last year’s defeat by Llandovery College in the final, while Glantaf will be hoping to repay Cymoedd for knocking them out at the semi-final stage. It all points to an amazing contest that will showcase some of the best young talent in the country.
When the two sides met in their Conference A league game it ended in a 29-29 draw. Glantaf went through their seven match campaign unbeaten before comfortably beating arch-rivals Whitchurch HS in their semi-final.
Cymoedd got rid of some of their demons after the 72-19 final defeat last year by twice beating the reigning champions Llandovery College on their way to booking a 10th final appearance in 15 years.
But now comes the acid test. Can Ben Coomer inspire Cymoedd to another win over Glantaf as he did in the semi-final last year?
That game contained 14 tries and 95 points before Cymoedd triumphed 49-46 – with Coomer scoring 19 points as he ended up with eight successful kicks from 10 attempts to go with his side’s six tries.
“After the pain and embarrassment of last year’s final we have become such a tight knit. We are ready to go on Wednesday night,” said Wales U18 outside half Coomer.
“Last year’s final became a bit a story about the battle between the two No 10s with me and Carwyn Leggatt-Jones. I let that get to me a bit and I just tried to beat him.
“He played more of a team game and was man of the match again, so I’ve learned to try to do things for myself. Now I know how to manage matches much better and it will be great to play at the Principality Stadium in front of another good crowd.
“For most of yus it will be the last time we wear the Cymoedd jersey. We are passionate about pulling on the jersey and we intend to show that in the final.”
Coomer has already made an appearance off the bench for Cardiff RFC in Super Rygbi Cymru this season and co-captain’s Cymoedd along with his Cardiff Rugby Academy colleague Ioan Dacey. They both play under Glantaf skipper Alfie Prygodzycz in the Cardiff U18 side.
“We may have been teammates for Wales and Cardiff U18 but we will definitely be putting our friendships on hold for 80 minutes in the final,” said Wales U18 back row man Prygodzycz.
“We enjoyed some good times last season in the Academies tournament, and we are a close-knot group once again this season. But we’ll be on opposite sides at the Principality Stadium.”
This is the third season Glantaf have gone through the league campaign unbeaten and the only two defeats they have suffered in that time have been in the 2023 final against Llandovery College and last year’s semi-final against Cymoedd.
Will it be third time lucky? Glantaf will have Wales U18 squad member Will Adams and Wales U19 cap Bailey Cutts behind the scrum but will be without Wales U18 and U19 hooker Tom Howe, who will be playing for Wales U120 in their game against Scotland at Merthyr on Friday night.
“We have developed a lot over the last three months and the feeling is that our best is still to come. Alfie has come on really well and Isaac Jones at prop is a powerful scrummager,” said Glantaf director of rugby Llywarch ap Myrddin.
“Over the last three years the intensity in this tournament has ramped up enormously by creating two Conferences of eight teams. There are no miss-matches and the standard has risen.
“This league is all about preparing boys for the step up to playing in a Cardiff and even Welsh shirt. I’ve been in this job for the past 10 years, and I know that we’re now able to better prepare our players than even five or six years ago when the likes of Max Llewellyn were coming through the ranks.”
Two of the Cymoedd coaches, former Welsh internationals Geraint Lewis and Gareth Wyatt, both have sons playing in their side – Rhys Wyatt at full back and Jack Lewis at centre – and they have been pleased with the resilience shown by their squad in the wake of last year’s cup final disappointment.
“It was painful last year, but we’ve moved on. We’ve played Llandovery College twice this season and come out on the right side on both occasions,” said Lewis.
“Failure is a big part of sport whether we like it or not. We had 11 first years in the team last season and they’ve all taken valuable lessons out of that defeat and there’s a really good feeling in this group.
“It’s not the fact you lose heavily that matters most, it’s about how you recover for it. Reaching this final is the culmination of a lot of hard work.
Cymoedd No 8 Dacey learned one major lesson last year and that was not to drop off after taking the lead.
“We went ahead early on and then found ourselves on the wrong end of a 70-point defeat. We need to strike early once again but then not take our foot off the gas,” added Dacey.