St Peters and Pontyclun take three titles on thrilling weekend of Defender Cup finals

St Peters and Pontyclun were the big winners as the Defender Cardiff Rugby Cup came to a thrilling conclusion at the Arms Park;

The two clubs won three finals apiece of the best of grassroots rugby was showcased across three days. 

What a weekend at the Defender @cardiffrugbycup finals.

Thank you to everyone who took part and those that helped make it such a successful weekend.

Diolch pawb 🩵🖤 pic.twitter.com/GUN89fM6Sj

— Cardiff Rugby (@Cardiff_Rugby) May 13, 2024

St Peters picked up the Under-15s Cup, the Youth Cup and Under-14s bowl, while Pontyclun scooped the Under-12s Cup, the Under-14s Cup and the Youth Shield.

Ioan Evans, the WRU’s Rugby Officer for the Male Game in the Cardiff rugby region, said: “It’s the culmination of a season-long competition from under 12s up to under 16s. They've been playing out in their groups starting back in September, getting to the knockout stages in the early part of this year, to where they've all ended up. 

“We've got down to the 17 finals now where we've introduced a youth section as well. The last time we did the data analysis, it was about 8,000 to 9,000 kids playing in this competition this season, and 1,000 of those are out on the park behind me. 

“For the players out there, you see it's massive. It's the first time they get to play in front of a massive crowd. It's the first time all the social media is around it. They get that pre-build. They see it coming and it's their first time where they get a touch of what it could be like as a professional rugby player. 

“They get the taste here now on the finals weekend, they want that every weekend so they're going to work and play as much as they can.

“At the WRU and Cardiff Rugby, we run this as a partnership and that's what we look at. We're not just looking at the player, it's the coaching experience, the team manager's experience and then it's the spectators and parents.

“Everyone is part of this journey with this child wanting to play rugby and we understand that. We want to make it enjoyable for them off the field as it is on the field for the players. It's a 360 of rugby if anything because the more support you can give to that player off field throughout their rugby career the better the player they'll be and person growing up so that's what's really important to us.”

Full results: