Ponty Youth (juniors) to host the "Grasshoppers"

The Pontypridd Youth (junior) team will play hosts to a touring squad from Preston Grasshoppers RFC on Saturday 29^th March.

The match will be played at the Abercynon RFC ground, kicking off at 11am, with the Grasshoppers touring party then attending the Principality Premiership tie between Pontypridd and Llanelli at Sardis Road as guests of their host club.

The fixture came about as Preston Grasshoppers Youth team manager Stuart Griffiths, originally from Treherbert , contacted Pontypridd RFC in search of a game. Although having “emigrated” to Lancashire about thirty years ago, Stuart has always retained his links with the Rhondda Valley, and had promised his team a good game of rugby back in his homeland against Pontypridd.

Preston Grasshoppers will bring a touring party of fifty-two, with five county capped players amongst them, to offer Pontypridd a tough test in this high profile youth fixture.

The two opposing sides will represent clubs with similar proud histories and traditions. Lancashire based club Preston RFC was formed in 1869, and later was christened the “Grasshoppers” by some old boys of Cheltenham College, the name taken from a traditional college game between the “Fireflies” and the “Grasshoppers” – a tradition which still continues to this day. The club has produced a number of notable England and British Lion internationals in recent times – Wade Dooley, Paul Grayson, Will Greenwood and Steve Borthwick.

The Youth squad which travels to play Pontypridd contains five Lancashire capped players and one Wales Exiles international, and have won their way through to the semi final of the under 16s County Cup.