Skipper Lloyd misses Scarlets' success - but helps Welsh Accies beat Oxford University

When Pembroke won an exciting encounter against Dreigiau Emlyn by 36-32 at Crickmarren last Saturday, one notable absentee was skipper Lloyd Davies, who rarely misses a shift in the front row for The Scarlets.

But Lloyd was actually playing rugby at no less a famous ground than Cardiff Arms Park, now the home of the Blues’ regional team, where he was packing down for the Welsh Academicals in their annual match against Oxford University.

Enjoyed his previous Accies’ experiences

Lloyd had already played six times for the Welsh Accies, three of them before this against the Dark Blues’ university alongside two against Cambridge University and one at their traditional home of Mountain Ash RFC against a local team celebrating a special date - and on this occasion he was part of a team which won 29-10.

“I made my debut when I was at Swansea University - and this latest chance came after I had received an e-mail about a month ago inviting me to play - and of course I jumped at the chance.

“It was wonderful to play a game where the ball was thrown about from start to finish, in Barbarian style, and without any concern about the result”, (although he admits he was delighted by the win!)

“Sadly, us players are not allowed to keep our jerseys or be awarded a cap but on debut everyone gets the Welsh Academicals’ tie from this match, as did nine on this occasion, alongside the rest of us who had played already.

Great family support – and a gentle warm-up session

“In Cardiff with me were my parents Mark and Stella Davies, my gran Sheila John and my fiancée, Nirvana Thomas, and they said they enjoyed the game, which was really great.

“When we arrived at the ground we got changed and our warm up just dealt with a couple of line-out calls, two practice scrums and a brief warm-up under coaches Adrian and Huw - not quite as tough as we do with Gary Price and the other coaches at Crickmarren!

‘We scored our first try after five minutes as we got on top in the scrums, and we led 17-5 at half time as play was played at a serious pace and there wasn’t much time to draw breath -  and remember, we were playing against a team which trains together a couple of times a week and plays on Wednesdays in the BACs league, and most weekends as well.

“I was pleased with our scrummaging and general ball-winning and the committee members were also delighted by the result - but I must admit that the first thing I did when we got back into the changing rooms was to phone Simon Edwards (team manager) at Pembroke - and had the great news that we had won our game for the second time on the bounce.

“That really was the icing on the cake and then we were all looking forward to taking on Llangwm at Pill Parks in the first leg of the annual Palmer Cup - and after missing our win last week I was glad that Gary let me have my place back in the front row as we made it three wins on the trot!”