Taibach Rugby Football Club are 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 ...

club based in

Taibach Taibach or Tai-bach ( en, Little Houses) is a community and suburban district of Port Talbot, Wales. It is a settlement centered on the main A48 road, sandwiched between the river Ffrwdwyllt and Margam. Parts of Margam are within the community bo ...

of Port Talbot in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, UK. The club is a member of the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running ...

and is also a feeder club for the

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

. Taibach RFC were the winners of the inaugural

Glamorgan County Silver Ball Trophy The Glamorgan County Silver Ball Trophy (also known as the Glamorgan County High Motive Silver Ball Trophy) is a Welsh rugby union competition open to all non-premier Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) clubs playing in the Glamorgan , HQ = ...

competition during the 1956-57 season beating

Skewen RFC Skewen Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the village of Skewen, South Wales. Skewen RFC is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Ospreys. Club history There's evidence of a Skewen rugby team playing as earl ...

Youth policy

Current Junior & Mini Section Coaches. Dev / U7, U8’s - Dean Scully, Stuart Evans, Chris Thomas Under 9’s - Sam Coombes, Dafydd Johnston, Marcus Francis Under 10's - Phil Evans, Stuart Mason, Mike Kelly, Ryan Thomas Under 12’s - Matthew Hare, Andrew Roche, Gary Jenkins, Carl Hillier Under 15’s - Rob Shaw, Simon Rees, Anthony Terry, Steve Lloyd, Andrew Morris, Alan Davies Junior Section Coordinator- Simon Rees Taibach has a history of producing young talent. Coached by Phill Terry and Steve Gadd the 1999-2003 team were a success. In recent years Taibach have produced two full British Lions, James Hook and Richard Hibbard, as well as three Welsh youth player (under 18's) Michael Kelly, Matthew Bradley and Richard Hibbard. In 1999 no fewer than seven Taibach youth players gained international honours with the 'Boys Club of Wales' Andrew Gadd (Captain), Matthew Bradley, Richard Hibbard, Michael Kelly, Andrew Redmore, Daniel Cumberlin and Craig Harding. In the youth team's first year, the young side finished second, losing a title decider on the last game of the season to

Tonmawr Tonmawr is a village in Neath Port Talbot county borough, south Wales. It is part of the community of Pelenna and is located around four miles east of Neath. The village is home to a rugby union team (Tonmawr RFC Tonmawr are a Welsh rugby uni ...

, and losing in the final of the Neath/Port talbot cup to

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a distri ...

. In their second season the team proved to be unbeatable in the league, winning 18 out of 18 games and narrowly losing, again to Aberavon, in the cup final. The season saw notable performances from Michael Kelly, Matthew Rowland, Richard Lewis, and Richard Hibbard with Matthew Bradley and Mark Fender finishing joint top scorers with 26 tries apiece. The final season saw the team promoted to the 'Premier' league of youth rugby, but a mix of injuries, international call ups and college rugby affected the team's results, who finished mid table and lost both cup final semi finals to

Skewen Skewen ( cy, Sgiwen) is a village within the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, in Wales. The village is served by Skewen railway station and has its own rugby club. History Skewen was once an industrial village. There were a number of colli ...

and Resolven. The team did however claim the Neath/Port Talbot 7's and 10's tournaments. The club have a vibrant Junior & Mini Section made up of under a teams including:- Development Squad, Under 7's, 8's, 9’s, 10's, 12's and U15’s. The mini section of Taibach RFC are nicknamed "The Tiger Cubs".

Club honours

*Glamorgan County Silver Ball Trophy 1957 - Champions

Notable former players

International players

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

Hibbard *

James Hook James Hook may refer to: * Captain Hook, the villain of J. M. Barrie's play and novel ''Peter Pan'' * James Hook (composer) (1746–1827), English composer and organist * James Hook (priest) (1771–1828), English priest, Dean of Worcester * Jame ...

* Dan Jones * Trevor Lloyd *

William Mainwaring William Henry Mainwaring (1884 – 18 May 1971) was a Welsh people, Welsh coal miner, lecturer and trade unionist, who became a long-serving Labour Party (UK), Labour Party Member of Parliament. Both as a trade unionist and a politician he strugg ...

Alan McCarley Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *Al ...

Bryn Phillips Brinley "Bryn" Phillips (11 October 1900 – 6 May 1980) was a Welsh dual-code international rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Wales, and at club le ...

Walter Vickery Walter Vickery (25 October 1909 - 7 April 2000) was an international rugby union back row who represented Wales national rugby union team, Wales and played club rugby for Aberavon RFC, Aberavon. His father, George Vickery, also played for Aberavon ...

Evan Williams Evan Williams may refer to: __NOTOC__ People In sport * Evan O. Williams (c. 1889–1946), American football and basketball coach * Evan Williams (footballer) (born 1943), Scottish football goalkeeper * Evan Williams (jockey) (1912–2001), horse ...

Gerwyn Williams Gerwyn Williams (22 April 1924 – 10 February 2009) was a Welsh rugby union player, coach and author. Biography Williams was born in Glyncorrwg, Glamorgan, the son of Ephraim and Catherin (Hopkins) Williams. He attended Port Talbot County ...

Andrew Millward Andrew Millward (born ) was a rugby union player for the Ospreys in the Celtic League. Millward's position of choice was as a prop. He is now Rugby General Manager for the team in the Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual r ...

Senior players

Players who went on to represent 'Premiership' clubs at senior levels are. * Swansea RFC- Richard Hibbard, Matthew Bradley, Mark Fender, Richard Lewis * Aberavon RFC-

Denzil Jones Denzil Jones (birth registered second ¼ 1926 – 25 December 2010), also known by the nickname of "Buck" (after actor Buck Jones), was a Welsh rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. He playe ...

, James Jones, Matthew Bradley, Michael Kelly, Mark Fender * Bridgend RFC-Michael Kelly * Neath RFC-James Hook * Ospreys-James Hook, Richard Hibbard

Notes

{{Rugby Wales links Welsh rugby union teams Rugby union in Neath Port Talbot