I missed the last two games of the season as I was sunning myself on holiday in Malta. The most important thing was that Pooler got a bonus point win against arch rivals Newport (winning 27-17) and although they were outclassed by league leaders Llanelli (18-45) in the final game of the season finished level on points with the Black and Ambers. By all accounts the Newport game was scrappy and full of mistakes but we will take the win with glee. So at the end of the season we are officially in 12th position on the basis of tries scored as we won the same number of games as Newport. The point we got from a draw is not used as a differentiator for some reason.
As I have written in previous posts, the fact that we are not one of the bottom two clubs doesn't really matter as we were doomed to relegation from the start of the season. It is sad to see that three of the four bottom clubs are from the Dragons; region and include such great clubs as Pontypool and Newport. Cross Keys have been the only club from the region that have done anything to be proud of in a dismal season for the region.
Out of curiosity I looked at the mission statement for the Welsh Premiership:
"Developing the game in Wales and creating a stable and progressive environment for players of the future"
It made me wonder how the WRU will have thought they have done at the end of the season.
Development - the clubs are starved of money to try and keep the failing regional structure afloat. The Scarlets region apart, I have not seen much evidence of the game moving on at club level. There still seem to be too many regional fringe players not playing enough rugby.
Stability - it seems that every season so far it has been unclear what is going to happen at the end of the season. The criteria for achieving the A licence essential for participation in the Premiership have changed and have clearly not been rigorously enforced. At the start of the season the premiership was to be cut to ten clubs for next season but this was changed on a whim to twelve. Stable is certainly not a word that I would not use to describe the Welsh rugby leagues or indeed Welsh rugby in general.
Progressive environment - I would hardly describe a shrinking league with falling attendances progressive.
So I guess I would not be paying out banker style bonuses to the bosses for this important aspect of their role. No doubt they will do very nicely out of Wales' brilliant grand slam.
While I was in Malta I took the opportunity to was Malta play Sweden at rugby. The atmosphere generated at a small ground with just a stand on one side of the ground was stunning. The place was absolutely buzzing with an enthusiastic crowd of around 2000 generating an incredible amount of noise. Yes the sun was shining which helps but you still wondered why we cannot get anywhere near this at club or even regional level in Wales. The standard of rugby was reasonable, I would estimate at the top end of the Welsh Premiership and I thoroughly enjoyed the match experience. For the record Malta defeated a previously Swedish side 22-14 which gives them an outside chance of promotion. The Maltese players were staying in the same hotel as us and were adamant that the crowd noise was a big factor in them pulling off a shock victory.
Well the season for Pooler is over and we move on to who knows what next season. Maybe the letter of reprieve is in the post but there again.....
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