SULLY Sports are raring to go when the new Admiral National League Division Six East Central season kicks off with a home fixture against Whitchurch on Saturday, despite a less than perfect pre-season.
Head coach John Dimond, having spent the summer building a new-look squad, has been left frustrated by a lack of pre-season matches. One was abandoned, and two others have been called off late. Sully managed to arrange a last-minute home match against Llandaff Athletic at the weekend.
Dimond ended his career as head youth coach at Barry last season on a high, his team winning the WRU National Youth Plate final in May, and has used his contacts in the sport well, recruiting several players who have worked with him before, as well as some former Sully players, and others from outside.
“We’ve had a massive influx of former youth boys, players I’ve coached over the last three seasons, along with some former Barry first team players. And I have a nucleus of rugby friends, who are ready to help out,” said Dimond.
He has also spoken to a number of players currently at university and is hopeful they will be available at times during the season.
Add the tie-in with Cross Keys, where former Barry Youth players Daf Jones and Victor Corrihons are currently playing, and there is the possibility of borrowing players from the Valleys club. “Good contacts in the right areas will allow me to bring players in and hopefully use the connection to work both ways.”
Dimond feels he has a strong squad, but his first season at Sully is something of a building exercise. “Sully have struggled for a few years and didn’t really have the player base. That corner has been turned. This first year we build as much as we can, and next year the younger players will be a year older and a year wiser,” he said.
Sully will not be competing in the Division Six Cup competition, a consequence of pulling out last year, but will compete in the Mallett Cup and other Cardiff area cup competitions as there are only 14 league games in a season that ends in February.
Although the emphasis has to be on the First team – “building from the top” – Dimond hopes to be able to put a Second/Development XV together, and at the end of the season he aims to approach the WRU to see what the club needs to do to set up a youth team.
On and off the field things have been falling into place. Player recruitment has gone well and sponsorship efforts have proved fruitful. But the acid test is yet to come, with all eyes on Saturday.
“We are champing at the bit to get going, getting on to the pitch and getting a bit of rust off. The system is in place, we’ve been recruiting well,” said Dimond. “We just want to get going.”
*Sully beat Llandaff Athletic 38-36 on Saturday, a match played with passive scrums throughout, at Llandaff’s request, clinching victory in the closing minutes. Both sides used space to their advantage to score tries out wide.
With John Dimond away, Sam Bowditch took charge. “The last five minutes showed a lot of maturity from the boys,” he said. “A huge positive for me was the number of penalties given away could be counted on one hand, showing that the visitors had to work hard for their points, as there were no easy outs.”
Ken Watkins
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