Gavin Roberts (born 1984) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer, currently playing at

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for

Caldy Caldy is a small, affluent village on the Wirral Peninsula, England, south-east of West Kirby. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and is in the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. At the ...

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

. Roberts is one of the most prolific points and try scorers in

National League 2 North National League 2 North is one of three, level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in the northern half of England, the North. The remainder of England is covered by the two counte ...

history with over 1,200 points including 114 tries.

Career

Mold

Growing up in

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

, Roberts attended

Argoed High School Argoed High School is a secondary school in Flintshire, Wales. In January 2022, a proposal for a new superschool was accepted, incorporating nearby Ysgol Mynydd Isa. History It was built in Bryn-y-baal in 1978 as the then Clwyd County's first ...

in Bryn Y Baal. He first started playing senior rugby at

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal seco ...

playing in the regional Welsh leagues, and was a regular in the side that went unbeaten in the league during the 2005-06 season and became the

WRU Division Four North The Welsh Rugby Union Division One North (also called the SWALEC Division One North for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby union league in Wales first implemented for the 1995/96 season. The league was known as Division Four North before the 2008-09 ...

champions. The next year, he was in the Mold that did the double, once more winning the WRU Division Four North league title, and also winning the North Wales Cup, 29-6 over

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...

Caldy

In 2007 Roberts left Wales to move across the border to England, signing for the Wirral-based club,

, playing in National Division 3 North. He first season at Caldy was as a squad player, filling in behind then regular, Simon Mason, making 16 league appearances and scoring 70 points, mostly from the boot. After an acceptable debut season in which his club would finish 5th in the league, the 2008-09 season would see Roberts become a first-team regular in a Caldy side that would finish up as league runners up to champions, Nuneaton. Usually there was a promotion playoff between the runners up of National Division 3 North and National Division 3 South but due to re-shake of the entire league system by the

RFU The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It pro ...

there would be no playoff that year. On a personal note the 2008-09 season was a career best for Roberts as he scored 290 points from just 22 games to finish as the league's top scorer. Despite missing out on promotion the year would end on a high for Roberts as he made a match winning performance in the

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

with 15 points (including a try) as his side overturned a 15-0 half time deficit to defeat

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

30-22 in the final of the

County Championship Shield The Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3 (formerly County Championship Shield) is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2005 when it known as the County Championship Pl ...

held at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team play ...

. The arrival of

Richard Vasey Richard Vasey (born 1985) is an English rugby union player, currently playing at Fly-half for Caldy in National League 2 North. A talented player who has experience of playing at a higher level with clubs such as Leeds Carnegie and Moseley, Vas ...

from

Moseley Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...

in the summer of 2009 would see Roberts give up his role as the main kicker at the club. However Roberts ability to score tries as well as kick points meant that he remained a first team regular in the Caldy team, contributing 13 as his side finished 3rd in the newly named National League 2 North, just missing out on the promotion playoff spot. Roberts would mix rugby with studying at

Glyndwr University , mottoeng = Confidence through Education , logo = Wrexham University logo.svg , image = Coat of arms of Wrexham Glyndŵr.svg , image_size = 180px , caption = ...

just across the border in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, gaining a sports award despite not playing for the university rugby team. Roberts try scorer would improve the following season as he scored a career best total of 24 tries from 28 games making him the 5th top try scorer in the league that year. Although Caldy only managed 5th in the division the season would end in silverware as Roberts was part of a Caldy side that shared the Cheshire Cup with Sale Jets after the final was cancelled due to fixture congestion. The 2011-12 season saw Roberts once more become the main kicker for Caldy as teammate Richard Vasey suffered a broken leg in the autumn. Roberts played 24 games in the league, scoring 163 points which included 16 tries, as Caldy finished runners up in the league, 1 point ahead of

Preston Grasshoppers Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team from Preston, Lancashire. The men's senior team play in the RFU National League 2 North, a level 4 league in the RFU league pyramid. History The club was founded on 28 Se ...

and qualified for the promotion playoff game. Although he missed the Cheshire Cup victory, Roberts was in the team that traveled down to south runners up,

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, eventually losing 13-20 to the London side in a razor tight match that went into extra time. The disappointment of missing out on the playoffs saw a downturn in Caldy's league fortunes during the 2012-13 season. Once more restored as backup kicker to the returning Vasey, Roberts still managed 152 points in the league, including 20 tries, as Caldy dropped to 10th. The season would end in silverware as Caldy managed to retain the Cheshire Cup with a 40-24 win over local rivals,

Birkenhead Park Birkenhead Park is a major public park located in the centre of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and opened on 5 April 1847. It is generally acknowledged as the first publicly funded civic park in the world. Th ...

. The next couple of seasons would see Roberts continue to play and score regularly in a Caldy team that had midtable finishes in the league. In 2015 Roberts played a key role in his club's Cheshire Cup victory, with 13 points from the point in the final 28-18 victory over Sale. In 2016-17 Roberts was part of the Caldy team that won National League 2 North and were promoted to National League 1 - the highest level the club had achieved in their history. Roberts had found chances limited over the past couple of seasons but he played in the last two league games, deputising for the outstanding Jack Lavin (the division's top scorer), kicking a number of points to finish off the title winning campaign. The 2017-18 season saw Caldy consolidate themselves in National League 1 with Roberts playing a big part following the departure of Lavin, scoring 156 points including 9 tries as Caldy finished a very respectable 11th. The following season was not quite as successful for Roberts as Caldy were relegated from National League 1.

Season-by-season playing stats

Honours and records

Mold *

champions (2): 2005-06, 2006–07 *North Wales Cup winners: 2007 Caldy * Cheshire Cup winners (3): 2011, 2013, 2015 *

champions (2):

2016-17 16-17 is a band from Basel, Switzerland. Their music combines punk rock, hardcore punk, jazz and industrial music. Biography 16-17 was founded in 1983 by Alex Buess, Knut Remond and Markus Kneubühler. When the group played its first conc ...

, 2019-20 *

top scorer (2): 2008-09 (290 points), 2019-20 (269 points) Cheshire *

winners: 2009 North Wales *Capped by representative side

References

External links

Caldy RUFCMold RFCCheshire RFUNorth Wales Rugby Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Gavin 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Mold, Flintshire Rugby union players from Flintshire Welsh rugby union players Rugby union centres