This weekend sees the culmination of the Welsh junior domestic rugby league season as Porthcawl RFC hosts the first ever Junior Origin festival.

The Origin festival will see the best young players from all over Wales competing in an East Wales versus West Wales competition at under thirteen and East versus West along with the addition of a North Wales team at the under fifteen age group.

This season has seen more rugby league played in Wales at the under thirteen and fifteen age groups than ever before. This success was reflected with all the junior grand finals sharing centre stage with the senior teams in Wales biggest ever weekend two weeks ago. This included the Welsh conference grand final and Super League bound Celtic Crusaders at the Brewery Field.

Wales Rugby League development officer Dan Clements is delighted "This will be a fantastic couple of days of rugby league showcasing some of the best young talent playing the game in Wales at the moment." Clements added "We've definitely seen an increase in interest in the game this year with far more games being played every weekend than ever before. This along with the addition of two new junior clubs at the Bridgend Blue Bulls and the Tydfil Wildcats bodes well for the future."

"This weekends teams have been selected based on their performance throughout the season along with last weeks selection festival. I'm sure the lads will be keen to impress and want to finish the season on a high so I'm very excited"

Saturday kicks off at Porthcawl RFC with the under thirteen East versus West Origin game at mid day. Sunday sees three games for the under fifteens starting at 12:30 with the West Wales facing North Wales. This will be followed by East Wales versus North Wales and finally East Wales v West Wales.

West Wales U13 Squad
1. Evan Williams - Bridgend Blue Bulls
2. Ceri Rees - West Wales Sharks
3. Lewis Cox - NPT Steelers
4. Ieuan Evans - Bridgend Blue Bulls
5. Josh Stebbings - NPT Steelers
6. Liam Bell - Swansea Dragons

7. Ffoard Cooksley - NPT Steelers
8. Rhys Hopkins - NPT Steelers
9. Jake Price - NPT Steelers
10. Ben Smith - Bridgend Blue Bulls
11. Jordan Collier - NPT Steelers
12. Sam Grant - Bridgend Blue Bulls
13. Chris Forshaw - Swansea Dragons
14. Chris Leyshon- NPT Steelers
15. Paul Sherwood - NPT Steelers
16. Carl Leyshon - NPT Steelers
17. Huw Consitt - Bridgend Blue Bulls
Head Coach: Terry Cooksley

East Wales U13 Squad
1. Rhys Bowe - Tydfil Wildcats
2. Darius Wheatle - Newport Titans
3. Ieuan Winterburn - Valley Cougars
4. Daniel Gains - Valley Cougars
5. Lloyd Paget - Valley Cougars
6. Jordan Cranton - Newport Titans
7. Kyle Andrew - Cardiff Demons
8. Rhys Pugsley - Newport Titans
9. Ryan Davies - Newport Titans
10. Rhys Anderson - Newport Titans
11. Dion Holland - Valley Cougars
12. Jamie Lee Mathers - Tydfil Wildcats
13. Jack James - Valley Cougars
14. Alex Gwynne - Tydfil Wildcats
15. Connor Farrer - Valley Cougars
16. Garyn Smith - Tydfil Wildcats
17. Edward Jones - Valley Cougars
Head Coach: Colin Neale

West Wales U15 Squad
1. Daniel Davidson - West Wales Sharks
2. Joleyn Jones - Swansea Dragons       
3. Micheal Pinayatiou - Swansea Dragons
4. Ben Leek - Swansea Dragons
5. Dafydd Evans - West Wales Sharks
6. Ioan Kemp - Swansea Dragons
7. Olly Olds - Bridgend Blue Bulls
8. Tom Evans - NPT Steelers
9. Liam Harris - Swansea Dragons
10. Ben Coates - Bridgend Blue Bulls
11. Tom Owen - NPT Steelers
12. Scott Bryant - Bridgend Blue Bulls
13. Andrew Waite - NPT Steelers
14. Aaron Evans - West Wales Sharks
15. Evan Yardley - NPT Steelers
16. Courtney Davies - NPT Steelers
17. Andrew Hughes - Swansea Dragons
Head Coach: Rob Stubbs

East Wales U15 Squad
1. Tom Mace - Cardiff Demons
2. Jordan Purcell - Cardiff Demons
3. Louis Denton - Cardiff Demons
4. Callum Ranse - Tydfil Wildcats
5. Adam Clark - Cardiff Demons
6. Joshua Crew - Cardiff Demons
7. Bradley Hill - Cardiff Demons
8. James Williams - Cardiff Demons
9. Steve Williams - Cardiff Demons
10. Dewi Morris - Tydfil Wildcats
11. Jamie Sollis - Cardiff Demons
12. Ryan Matson - Cardiff Demons
13. Nathan Facy - Cardiff Demons
14. Mark England - Cardiff Demons
15. Shay Ralph - Tydfil Wildcats
16. Daniel Crump - Tydfil Wildcats
17. Joshua Flye - Tydfil Wildcats
Head Coach: Aled James

article by Mark Harris
18 August 2008