Cardinal Newman College Buenos Aires Argentina were in Torfaen this week. One hundred Rugby Players spent two days in our little corner of Wales to play four games.

The arrived from Ireland by Ferry to Liverpool on Sunday the 6th October and travelled straight down to Pontypool United who hosted them for the evening and provided training facilities and food before went to stay in an hotel in Cardiff. Early on the 8th they were able to take the now famous tour of the Millennium Stadium followed by a visit to Cardiff Castle.

By 2pm they were back at Pontypool United t prepare for four rugby matches that afternoon. The first took place at the famous Pontypool Park home of Pontypool RFC against St Albans Comprehensive School in Pontypool. This was hard fought game with how team taking the lead early in the first half but this was countered by oppositions number ten with a turn of speed after mistakes by St Albans left a gaping hole in their defence and Cardinal Newman were clinical and exploited this and several other mistakes. St Albans quickly pulled themselves together and Started to punish Cardinal Newman up to half time.

The second half started with some excellent rugby and both team put on a fabulous display of Rugby thy any harden fan would have been delighted to have seen The final Score was St Albans 27 Cardinal Newman 10

At the same time Newport High School had KO against a second Cardinal Newman Team at Pontypool United. This was a hard fought game both teams were supported and lifted by the strong support. They were the final Score Newport High 18 Cardinal Newman 10 All the teams returned to Pontypool United for post match refreshments and to socialise with each other.

There were still two more games to go when at 7pm Pontypool United Youth team played Cardinal Newman. This time Pontypool were led on to the pitch by Ella aged 8 an avid United supporter and a regular visitor to this family oriented club. Which supports an excellent mini and Junior rugby section which welcomes players from as young as 7 years. Many of them were there to watch the games and meet the Cardinal Newman Players

This match was very well balance and both teams put on a fantastic display of rugby. End to end rugby with bone crunching tackles. Pontypool emerged the eventual winners but they had to work hard and the game ended with a 18 to 15 win.

The final match was played at Blackwood RFC were they faced Caerphilly District Players This was a first class game of rugby and the stand of the players involved was extremely high The final score was 17- 10 to the home side.

Wales rugby had proved to strong in the end for our visitors.

There were presentations at each of the clubs followed by true welcome in the hillside and a great time was had by everyone A big thank you to all the teams which took part and to the clubs who put in so much effort to make this a big success. We hope to welcome the visitors back next year.