USW Sport

University Sports Teams - Success Stories 2011/2012

Men’s Football

During April Steve Savage (Sports & Business Development Manager) led the Welsh Universities Football Team on the biennial Home Nations tournament which took place in Nottingham. Glamorgan had a team of staff involved, Steve Savage ( Manager ), David Gough (Lecturer in Football Coaching & Performance Course & Coach) Jonathan Jones (Sports Studies Student & Analysis) and Angharad Llewelyn (Masters Students & Sports Therapist).

Glamorgan had 8 players in the 20 man Wales squad (Lee Kendall, Matthew Whatley, Dean Hudson, Craig Moses, Bobby Briers, Laurie Marsh, Rhys Kelleher & Atif Bashir).

Eventual player of the tournament Craig Moses and Ryan Batley (Llanelli), Chris Davies (Prestatyn Town), Neil Thomas (Bangor City), Matthew Whatley, Laurie Marsh & Lee Kendall (all Neath) and Kryzsztof Nalborski (Aberystwyth Town) all play in the top flight of Welsh domestic football.

Wales, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland were represented and scheduled to play a grueling three 90 minute games in three days.

Craig Moses scored the winner in the last minute on Tuesday as the Welsh defeated favourites England 1-0.

Captain Kendall pulled-off what was undoubtedly the save of the tournament just minutes before the final whistle in the next game but it was to no avail as Scotland went top of the group with a 3-1 win, Ross Frame (UWIC) scoring the Welsh goal.

Two years ago Wales had finished bottom of the tournament and failed to win a single game, so a point in the final match against Northern Ireland would have meant guaranteed improvement.
But Wales went one better with a penalty from Bobby Briers added to an earlier Davies strike making the score 2-1.

“I’m pleased for the players and the staff,” said manager Steve Savage.
“We had a plan 12 months ago to improve on our performance in 2010 and we have come back to Wales with the best performance by a Welsh football squad since 2004 – the players deserve the credit for the way they applied themselves.”

Coach David Gough added: “The manager was so meticulous in his planning, we had everything covered off the pitch.

“It was a real dream job for all of us on the technical staff, all we had to concentrate on was analyzing the opposition and winning our games and that is our team’s best performance in eight years.”

Two Glamorgan students competing in the Olympic Stadium

Two Glamorgan student swill be competing in the Olympic Stadium in the BUCS Visa Outdoor athletics Championships between 4th-7th May 2012.

The BUCS Visa Outdoor Athletics Championships in 2012 is the official London 2012 Athletics test event and is part of the London Prepares series. Chris Prothero a final year Law student will be competing in the 1500m and Richard Chappell, who is studying Computer Animation, will be competing in the 400m and 400m hurdles.

Richard said; ’I am really excited about the weekend. I am entering two events and hopefully could be involved in three days of competing if I get through the heats. Training has been going very well and I am looking forwards to the competition’.

Chris commented: ‘As usual the competition is during exam time, but the training has gone really well and I am really looking forwards to these championships.

Dr. Tudor Williams, Director of Sport commented; ‘Both Chris and Richard are sports scholarship students at the University and this is a fantastic opportunity to become one of the first competitors to use the stadium. Fifty six thousand tickets have been sold and there are 1728 entries to the competition. There will be a fabulous atmosphere in the stadium and an experience that Richard and Chris will never forget’.

Glamorgan student picked for Junior Rugby World Championship in South Africa

Jamie Sollis, a first year sports scholarship student at the University of Glamorgan, has been picked to the Welsh rugby squad for next month’s Junior World Championships in South Africa. Jamie also played in last season’s Junior World Cup in Italy and Wales face Fiji, holders New Zealand and Samoa in the group stage of the tournament that takes place in South Africa between 4-th – 22nd June.

Dr. Tudor Williams, Director of Sport commented: ‘This is fantastic news for Jamie. He has had a very busy season with the University team which has been promoted to the BUCS Premier League, as well as his commitments with the Dragons and Wales U20’s. We are delighted for him and I am sure that he will enjoy the challenge against some of the top rugby nations in the world.’

Glamorgan students lead Welsh Universities to retain the Hockey Home Nations Cup!

Three Glamorgan students were involved in the Welsh Universities Men’s Hockey team which won and retained the BUCS Home Nations competition in Nottingham between16-19 April 2012. The competition is the highlight of the season with teams representing Welsh, Scottish, Irish and English Universities in Basketball, Football, Netball, Hockey and Rugby 7’s. During the event 500+ competitors represented their country of residence with the ultimate aim of being crowned BUCS Home Nations champions.

Three Glamorgan students – Dave ‘Jasper’ Joyce (Manager), Ben Croxall (Head Coach) and Mark Whatling ( Captain), who were all previous winners in the last tournament in 2010 were all involved in this year’s campaign. Jasper commented; ‘We achieved some excellent results in very poor weather and we were rewarded for all the hard work that the players put in during the preparation for this tournament.

It was a real squad effort and all the players competed in the matches along with players from Cardiff Metropolitan and Cardiff University. It was particularly pleasing as two years ago the Welsh Universities team also won the tournament in Edinburgh. In addition, Glamorgan’s Mark Whatling also secured the Player of the Tournament prize for the 2nd Home Nations in a row.

This competition saw the end of a seven year hockey career at University for both myself and Ben Croxall It was nice to end with the highest achievement possible winning and retaining the Home Nation’s!’

Welsh Universities win BUCS Home Nations Rugby 7’s competition

Six Glamorgan students were part of the Welsh Universities Men’s Rugby 7’s team which won the BUCS Home Nations competition in Nottingham on 20th April. The competition is the highlight of the season with teams representing Welsh, Scottish, Irish and English Universities in basketball, football, netball, hockey and rugby 7’s.

Six Glamorgan students – Ollie Turton, Luke Cooke, Blaine Bonin- Ward, Sam Pincott, Matthew Smith and Efan Ellis- were part of the squad of 12 students which represented Welsh Universities in the Men’s rugby 7’s. The team beat English Universities 40-5, Northern IIreland Universities 24-19 and Scottish Universities 47-5.

Dr. Tudor Williams, Director of Sport and Manager of the team said; ‘These were excellent results and were a reward for all the hard work that the players put in during the preparation for this tournament. It was a real squad effort and all the players competed in the matches along with players from Newport and Cardiff Metropolitan Universities. It was particularly pleasing as two years ago the Welsh Universities team did not win a game in the tournament. For some of the Glamorgan players this finishes off an excellent season as the University team won their BUCS league and have been promoted to the BUCS Premier League for next year.’

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