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Blaenavon is a town in south eastern Wales, north of Pontypool, within the electoral ward of Torfaen County Borough Council. The town lies high on a hillside with a population of approx 6,000. Blaenavon literally means “front of the river” or loosely “river’s source” in the Welsh language. Parts of the town and surrounding country form the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape, inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.

HISTORY:
Blaenavon grew as a town around the ironworks which opened in 1788. The steel-making and coal mining industries followed, boosting the town’s population to over 20,000 at one time, but since the ironworks closed in 1900 and the coal mine in 1980, the population has declined.

Attractions in the town include the Big Pit National Coal Museum, Blaenavon Ironworks, the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway and the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre. Blaenavon is twinned with Coutras, situated just off the Bay of Biscay in France.

Blaenavon Rugby Football Club:
Blaenavon RFC were founded in 1877 and play their home matches at the Recreation Ground. Blaenavon RFC first game was against local rivals Abergavenny on Thursday November 8th 1877 and ended in a draw. Since the inception of the regions within the WRU, Blaenavon has been a feeder club for the Newport Gwent Dragons. 
Over the past 130 years, Blaen have provided many players for the W.R.U. and Premier divisions as well as a long list of Welsh internationals, the most notable are listed below (courtesy of Blaenavon RFC club website):

1. R.T. Skrimshire. 1899 Wales (3 Caps).
2. C Pritchard. 1928-1929 Wales (4 Caps).
3. Ken Jones – 1947-1957 Wales (45 Caps) British Lions, Barbaraians, Newport and also Empire Games medalist. 
4. Allan Lewis – 1966-1967 Wales (6 Caps) & British Lions, Abertillery.
5. Allen Forward – Wales & Pontypool
6. Fenton Coles – 1960 Wales (3Caps)& Pontypool
7. Colin Evans – 1960 Wales (1 Cap)
8. Terry Cobner – Wales , British Lions , Barbarians & Pontypool.
9. John Perkins – Wales & Pontypool. 
10. Laurie Daniel – 1970 Wales (1Cap)
11. Mark Taylor – Wales , Barbarians & Swansea. Mark scored the first International try on the Millenium Stadium against South Africa.
12. Chris Huish – Wales B , Barbarians & Pontypool.

RECENT HISTORY:
In the past decade Blaenavon have risen from division 5 east back to Division 1, winning 3 promotions, two as runners up and one as Champions. 
From 2006 to 2010 Blaenavon played their rugby in Division 5 East. A consistent finish of 5th, 4th and 4th set them up for a promotion push in 2009-10 when they secured the runner up spot behind run away champions Oakdale.
Their stay in division 4 east was for just 3 seasons. Their opening season finish of 4th was followed up with a 7th place finish the following season. Then came possibly their best season in recent times when they won 21 of their 22 games to claim the Division 4 East title. On the way to lifting the trophy Blaen only dropped 8 point all season, losing only to Oakdale, finishing on 102 points 13 clear of nearest rivals Cilfynydd.

2013-14 was another successful season with a 2nd place finish, a point behind Risca, in Division 3 East. Not only did this secure promotion but with the reshuffle of the leagues resulted in a place in Division 1 East for the following season.

The last few seasons Blaenavon have hovered around mid table with two 6th place finishes. Remarkably 7th position is the lowest the club has finished in the past decade, a testament the continued improvements the club have made both on and off the field.

THIS SEASON:
It wasn’t a great start to the season for Blaenavon, winning just 1 of their opening 6 games. That win came against, at the time, bottom club Nantyglo (21-8) when they visited the Recreation Ground. The season started with a narrow 8-18 loss at home to Penallta before being beaten by two of the promoted sides. A defeat away at Caerleon (6-22) was followed by a 2nd home defeat by Abertillary BG (18-24). Having lost all 4 games a visit to Nelson was not the game to kick start the season as Blaen went down by 14-50. A narrow defeat, again at home, this time to Risca (22-23) meant that this was the worst start by the club for a decade, however the narrow margins of the defeats gives a lot of encouragement that just a few minor tweaks could turn the season around.

In the return fixture Blaenavon travelled to Rhydyfelin with a thread bare side, only fielding 3 of the permitted 5 substitutes. A first half hat-trick by hooker Scott Pritchard helped establish a 31-5 half time lead and there was no let up in the 2nd half. A try from David Gratton completed a personal haul of 17 points and a convincing 62-5 win for The Village.

The week after our fixture Blaenavon secured what’s turned out to be their last win in the league, at home v Senghenydd 27-0. Their form since then has plummeted, recording 8 defeats and a solitary draw away at Abertillery BG (20-20) in their last 9 fixtures. Last weekend Nantyglo were the latest side to take away the spoils in a hard fought 3-6 victory in Nanty. That defeat leaves Blaenavon just 5 points above Nantyglo, having played 4 games more than their local rivals.

To date Blaenavon have scored 208 points and conceded 438, scoring 26 tries and conceding 60. They sit in 10th place in division 1 East with 14 points from 16 games.

RECENT MEETINGS:
Last season our clubs met on three occasions, twice in the league and once in the Plate competition. On each of the three occasions it was the home side that came out on top. This seasons meeting was a little more one sided as Blaenavon travelled to Hawthorn Rec with a depleted squad.

• October 3rd 2015 – Division 1 East – Blaenavon 15 Rhydyfelin 13 
• December 12th 2015 – Swalec Plate – Rhydyfelin 17 Blaenavon 3
• January 23rd 2016 – Division 1 East – Rhydyfelin 25 Blaenavon 17
• October 22nd 2016 – Division 1 East – Rhydyfelin 62 Blaenavon 5

Information from www.wru.co.uk, www.wikipedia.org & http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/blaenavonrfc 

PITCH/CLUB POSTCODE - NP4 9DU