Torfaen Crisp

Torfaen Tigers 58 v Bristol Sonics 12

Original plan was to head to Leamington Royals v Sherwood Wolf Pack in the Midland RL, but a late offer to spend the night on the Network Rail test train getting some yellow tractor action on the Thames Valley branches was too good to miss so instead a couple of hours kip was had before heading off to South Wales for this
  

Bristol Sonics had pulled out of Torfaen’s RL South league at the beginning of the season, dropping down to the West of England League. With both teams not having fixtures, this was a friendly but on the same date the fixture should have been played. First time the two sides had met since 1993.

Move was an HST to Newport. A desert for GBGs, only the Lamb obliging, but driven out by a bloke screaming along to ACDC at the bar. No time to head for Madame Fromage so instead Newport Market obliged with some cheap Colliers, a no name farmhouse cheddar and off cuts from the carvery. An ATW 175 ‘hippo’ up to Cwmbran, which still challenges for Britain’s most desolate station.

I’d been to Cwmbran once before on the Caerwent Cannonball Railtour in 1980, whereby my uncle thought an infant might be interested in a Railway Correspondance and Travel Society DMU tour to Blaenavon blast furnace High Level sidings. Although this did clear for me the now long closed ex-Monmouthshire Railway lines through Cwmbran.

A quick check-in at the adjacent Stagecoach bus depot, where the chargeman confirmed that they didn’t have any depot lends and the only mis-allocation was a Dennis Dart SLF vise an Optare on Route 1, so it was a walk to the game. Torfaen Tigers play at Cwmbran RFC’s Kings Head Ground.

As well as the usual team pictures, the clubhouse had a cracking display of club ties from all the teams it had played. Not seen this before.

As with most Welsh RFU clubhouses, there was a display of players from the club who had won international caps. Good to see Graham White adopting the pose of an 1890s Wanderers captain, against the pressure of a conventional pose from all the others.
  

Anyway, game started with Sonics having the advantage, and almost straight away scored very easily and converted.

Despite Cwmbran having previously had some RU success, ground is very basic. Behind the far try line is the embankment where the railway used to be.

View from said embankment. The cross bar really was that bent.
  

If you long for crumbling terraces, this is your ground.

Unexpectantly, Torfaen then scored 58 points, with Sonics getting another try right at the end.

A quick check of the GBG showed that their was a tick 15 minutes walk away. What I hadn’t check was the gradient charts, as the walk was pretty much vertical. However, on arrival at the pinned location, it was obvious the CAMRA app was amiss as instead of being greeted with this…..

….I was instead greeted with this.

A further check on the pubs own website gave clear instructions to ignore sat nav or on-line instructions, instead it was a further 30 minutes up the rain swept hillside.

When I finally arrived, the good news was that there was another GBG tick a few minutes walk away, promising ‘live guinea fowl swimming in the pubs own stream’…

….and the perhaps less obvious ‘stunning views over the Bristol Channel’

Stroll back down the hill, through the hell-hole that is Cwmbran Shopping Centre, and onto the 1713 Milford Haven into the 1739 London at Newport.