Winter Sun, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, January 2023

Always nice to get a bit of winter sun R&R as a break from the Welsh winter.

Some images from the Canary Island of Lanzarote.

Ebbw Vale 22 Swansea 9, Indigo Welsh Premiership, 29/10/2022

Ebbw Vale were made to work harder for this home victory than may have appeared to be the case, with Swansea proving to be a tough nut to crack.

Two early penalties from the visitors spurred the Steelmen into action, with Carrick McDonagh continuing his fine form by finishing off an excellent handling move. The touchdown went unconverted, then Swansea kicked another penalty. Ebbw finished the half with a rolling maul leading to a Rhys Francis try, also unconverted, at which point Swansea seemed to be down to 12 or 13 men - it was difficult to keep up.

HT Ebbw 10 Swansea 9

Into the second half and Ebbw made their forward superiority count. Chad Thomas went over following forward pressure, Evan Lloyd converting.

The bonus point wasn't secured until late in the game, when Carrick McDonagh completed a brace following some great handling.

Match Ball Sponsor Eye For Finance

Ebbw Vale 24 RGC 8, Indigo Welsh Premiership, 24/09/2022

Ebbw Vale made it two wins out of two in the league as they followed up the opening day victory at Newport, with an excellent home display against tough opponents from the North, RGC.

Carrick McDonough opened up the scoring from the wing with a try converted by Evan Lloyd. RGC hit back to lead 8-7. Lloyd then added a brace of penalties, before a second McDonough try gave the home side an 18-8 lead at the break.

The second half was a more attritional affair, but two further penalties from Lloyd sealed the success for the Steelmen.

The Match Ball Sponsor was Eye For Finance.

Ebbw Vale 34 Carmarthen Quins 14, Premiership Cup, 17/09/2022

With the WRU Premiership Cup having been given a bit of a revamp, the Steelmen were placed in a group with RGC and today's visitors from the West, Carmarthen Quins.

Ebbw ran out comfortable winners with Jason Strange's made-over squad keen to show their qualities.

Totally on top in the first half, Ebbw led 24-0, at half time with tries from Morgan Richards and two from Carrick McDonough, all converted by Evan Lloyd, together with a penalty.

Quins showed a bit more fight in the second period, hitting back with a try after the interval, but a Luke Garrett crossover for the home side, together with more Lloyd kicks secured a comfortable afternoon for Ebbw Vale.

Glamorgan 2nds v Somerset 2nds, Abergavenny, 13-16 June 2022

One of the great shames of the modern-day county cricket circuit is that first team matches are played far less on out grounds than they used to be, and there is no finer example of this than Abergavenny.

In all fairness, it probably is a bit too small by today's standards, but you know you're getting older when the players on show during this match weren't even born when Hick and Botham played here, not even when the late Andrew Symonds plundered his sixes to all parts of Pen-y-pound.

Nonetheless, it was a really enjoyable couple of days at Avenue Road where the sun shone and the cricket was good. Even better, no stewards, no bag searches, stress-free walks around the boundary, and good cricket.

A high-scoring encounter, of course, won on the last afternoon by Glamorgan.

Details here

The Blorenge as backdrop

A boundary's edge view

Stunning

Perfect weather

Glamorgan v Sussex, County Championship, Day 1, Cardiff, 12/06/2022

Glamorgan returned to Championship action after a run of T20 Blast matches with a home encounter against Sussex.

Put into bat, the visitors from the south coast made slow progress on a typically slow and low Cardiff surface, closing the first day on 245/7, the highlight of which was an unbeaten 113 from Oliver Carter.

Glamorgan won the match by 5 wickets largely due to first innings scores of 176 from Ed Byrom and 178 from Colin Ingram. The full scorecard is here.