Youth rugby, in the words of Jimmy Greaves "is a funny old game". It usually covers a 3 year cycle, when in the first year a team ends up getting some hidings. In the second year you start winning some games and by the third year there's a tendency to win more than you lose. Then the cycle starts again with new players. During the 20 years i coached Llanharan Youth we went through this cycle many times. Some times we could just about field a team but it always pays to struggle through because at the end of the day you never know who will play for he club in the future. I believe this photo was taken 1981 and if you count the number of players, you will see there are only 14! However in this 14 there are one Welsh International, at least 5 players who played more than 400 games each for the First Team and another 4 who played 400 games for the club or came very close. The point i am trying to make here is that no matter how many games you lose, there will always be some players who come through to play for the 1st Team or 2nd. Team and some go on to help the club via the Committee. To the current Youth Team, coaches and management, i would say keep going boys, it's not all about results at this level, it's about learning and very often you learn more in defeat than by going on a long unbeaten run. That's end of todays Sermon.
