The best youth rugby team in Wales nobody can beat

There has been much negativity swirling around Welsh rugby of late, but in the Towy Valley the game is thriving.

The rural farming town of Llandeilo, situated some 15 miles outside of Carmarthen, has developed into a real hotbed of rugby talent. This season the Scarlets U18s won the Regional Age Grade competition and Llandeilo played its part by providing eight players for the regional side.

Llandeilo RFC's senior team reside in Division Three West but they undeniably have the best youth side in Wales having won 21 out of 21 games this season, with just six of those played at home. Last Friday's epic 29-22 victory over Carmarthen Quins was the icing on the cake and ensured Llandeilo finished the season with three trophies - the WRU National Youth Cup, the Scarlets Carmarthenshire Youth League Cup and the Carmarthenshire GMG Youth Cup.

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The team, who have become the first youth side from Carmarthenshire ever to win this treble, are coached by former Llandeilo hooker Chris Rooke, a regional sales manager by trade, who also helps coach Ysgol Dyffryn Aman.

"It's been a really special season and the boys have all bought into what we are trying to achieve," Rooke told WalesOnline. "To be able to stay unbeaten throughout the whole season has been amazing and to pick up three trophies at the end was unbelievable. This group I've coached them from U12s all the way through to youth.

"To see them develop from kids into men and then into the number one youth team in the country has been amazing. The highlight was winning the National Cup at the Principality Stadium.

"It was always our goal to try to get there due to the talent we believed that we had. The boys really dug in and put in some huge performances along the way.

"We only had one game at home throughout the whole national cup as well. We had a tough route all the way through. We try to be as elite as we can while making sure it's as fun as possible.

"We use video analysis, we provide players with their statistics and stats and we also use GPS data to track how hard each player is working. We are trying to provide as elite a provision as we can on a very small budget."

Many have questioned the viability of the community game in Wales but it appears to be in rude health in Towy Valley, at least, where rugby remains at the heart of the community. There has been a lot of hard work put in by the Welsh Rugby Union to create a better pathway which they hope will pay dividends over the coming years, and in the Scarlets regional pathway, Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford has become one of the best rugby schools in west Wales.

"The rugby club is the centre of the community in Llandeilo with the first team, youth team and we've got juniors all the way down to minis," said the 41-year-old. "Everybody in the town has got some sort of connection to the town and if it's not themselves it's through a brother, sister or child.

"So, everyone is linked to the club. We link up with the primary schools for the minis and then Bro Dinefwr for the juniors and all the other schools for the seniors.

"The club is very much at the centre of the town. The amount of talent which comes through the Aman and Towy Valleys is unbelievable.

"We've given them a pathway where they don't have to go somewhere else and can just continue in the school while getting a high level of training and provision is great. If you look at the Towy Valley Llandovery College won the schools & Colleges league, Llandovery have won the Welsh Premiership and we've dominated at youth level.

"Llandeilo seniors are also starting to benefit from our youth team with players starting to transition into the senior team. The senior side have been unbeaten since Christmas as well and have won 12 games on the trot.

"Over in Ammanford Ysgol Dyffryn Aman have started up an academy there as well where I also work. It's a real strong area for rugby.

"This year Ysgol Dyffryn Aman got given a licence after they extended the schools and colleges league to include four new teams. We are competing in conference B and came fifth in that. We now have a full-time rugby programme there with strength & conditioning, analysis and regular rugby sessions.

"We are recruiting boys to come in and have that elite pathway. We are officially part of the Scarlets pathway now.

"They've also got a good training facility, they've got a new 3G pitch built there, there's a gym, there's analysis and they have access to physios."

Llandeilo RFC have a rich history. They were formed 153 years ago and were among the founding members of the WRU. They also produced their first international, George Davies, in 1899. Davies played in Wales' first golden generation, winning nine caps, while he played a central role in the Triple Crown campaigns of 1901 and 1905.

Legend has it that Davies invented the dummy and while the truth of the matter will never be ascertained, he played a central role in establishing rugby at the heart of Llandeilo. In more recent times Luke Charteris and Rhys Priestland are two players who have climbed up through the ranks there before going on to make their mark on the international stage for Wales.

It is very likely there will be more Llandeilo boys following in their footsteps over the next few years, with eight players in a strong Scarlets U18s side, while 10 have represented Scarlets U17s over the last two seasons. A further four Llandeilo Youth players have recently represented Welsh Students and Welsh Crawshays.

But Rooke is particularly excited by Scarlets and Wales U18s tighthead Jac Pritchard who he predicts will one day become a senior international.

"We've got Llyr James who is a prop, Osian Rees is another prop in the Scarlets U18s," he said. "So we had four props in the Scarlets U18s this year. We've had Ioan Thomas and Sion Jones in the Scarlets U18s squad.

"Sion scored three tries in four games for them in their unbeaten RAG competition. Ollie Harries our centre has also been involved with the Scarlets U18s this season.

"Jac Pritchard is a beast of a player and he's been with us since U14s. He was lifting 120kg when he was 13 years of age on a bench press.

"Jac is a good example of the difference between a good player at a young age and someone who goes on to be a top player. He's so dedicated, doesn't drink and it's all rugby with him.

"He's a good scrummager but he's very good around the pitch as well. While he hasn't got explosive pace his tackling, his skills at winning turnovers and his handling skills are really underestimated.

"His older brother Tomas Pritchard is also a Wales U20s international so he's been learning off him from a young age. I can 100% see him going on to become a full time Wales international."