Everlasting fame awaits Ebbw Vale’s warriors

EVERLASTING fame awaits Ebbw Vale’s warriors this weekend with the Steelmen just one game away from rugby immortality.

With high stakes to play for, Vale go into tomorrow’s Principality Premiership Grand Final the more relaxed with the pressure piled on their opponents Pontypridd.

The odds will be stacked against Ebbw at Ponty’s Sardis Road fortress with the hosts smoking hot favourites to record their third successive league title – especially against a side back in the top flight for the first time since 2010 after their promotion last year from the Swalec Championship.

But rugby’s rich history is full of winner-takes-all upsets – South Africa’s 15-12 World Cup final triumph over New Zealand in 1995 or Wales’ tournament exit at the hands of Fiji 38-34 eight years ago easily spring to mind.

And Ponty’s own humiliating 19-15 defeat to the spectacularly unfancied Bridgend in the Swalec Cup final at the Millennium Stadium just a fortnight ago torpedoed their hopes of a treble double.

Vale have suffered a blow beforehand however with up-and-coming back rower Harrison Keddie, 18, ruled out with a neck injury sustained during last weekend’s epic 27-17 play-off victory over Cross Keys.

Head coach Jason Strange broke the news: “It’s such a big disappointment for Harrison who has been one of our best players this season.

“But his well-being is our most important concern and he is hoping to be okay for the Junior World Championship with Wales Under-20s in a fortnight.

“It is a great opportunity for Cameron Regan who had been in great form up until Christmas and for Gareth Rusby-Davies who comes in for him on the bench.”

On the challenge awaiting them, Strange added: “I’ve just told the players to go out and enjoy themselves.

“They would deserve the victory, not just for this season, but for all of their hard work over the last few years.

“We are hoping to take about seven bus-loads of fans down there and it should be a superb atmosphere.”

A win for Ebbw would be like something scripted by a Hollywood writer looking for that archetypal fairytale triumph over adversity dynamite finale.

Things looked bleak for Vale when they were relegated from the Premiership in 2010 and they suffered further heartache a year later when any hopes of a swift return were scuppered by a crushing defeat to Glamorgan Wanderers in promotion/relegation play-off.

If this wasn’t bad enough, they found their path blocked to any future prospect of getting back among the club rugby’s elite when the Welsh Rugby Union controversially, and completely unnecessarily, ring-fenced the league for two seasons.

Their long-awaited homecoming to the Premiership, after storming the Swalec Championship for a successive season, has been a remarkably successful one for head Strange, his coaching staff and their magnificent players, their second place finish in the table meant they secured home advantage last weekend in the play-off.

They duly beat Keys last weekend in front of more than 2,000 fans at Eugene Cross Park after a titanic showdown at Eugene Cross Park to set up a crack at taking Ponty’s crown.

As well as the grandeur of securing their first ever Premiership title, Vale would also chalk up their fifth piece of silverware in a row after lifting the Division One East titles in 2011 and 2012, followed by the Swalec Championship in 2013 and 2014.

Ebbw Vale: Dan Haymond, Owen Williams, Jordan Howells, Carl Meyer, Tom James, Iain Smerdon, Chris Thomas, John Lavender, Mathew Williams, Rob Sevenoaks, Damien Hudd (capt), Ashley Sweet, Rhys Clarke, Ronny Kynes, Cameron Regan.

Replacements: Ross Jones, Rhys Francis, Luke Leddington, Gareth Williams, Gareth Rusby-Davies, Rhys Downes, David Langdon, Adam Jones.