Chairman’s statement

Club Statement

The club has this week parted company with back 5 forward Josh Jacas following availability issues over the last five weeks. It is not a step that the club has taken lightly as Josh is a likeable and talented rugby player. To sustain the growth of the club over the last six years and develop further requires an ever-increasing commitment from the playing squad. The coaches have a limited amount of contact time with the playing group and maximising this is crucial to improving individual and team performance. Where this required commitment is not being met, the officers and coaching staff will continue to take action for the benefit of all associated with Ebbw Vale RFC.

The great strength of the club in recent years has been its unity as a complete entity, from officials to coaches, players, supporters and sponsors. This key component in our success will be safeguarded with a zero tolerance approach to anything that challenges this important element of our ethos.

The officials and coaching staff would also like to take the opportunity to outline our approach to the Fosters Challenge Cup. As a group, we decided that this would be the vehicle to give valuable game time and experience to the young talented players at surrounding clubs. As a group we are sure that this will assist in discovering players who will come into our squad quickly, but also ensure there is a development pipeline of talent that will secure our future as a leading Premiership club in the coming seasons. In some cases this will result in games being lost but the longer-term gain, we feel, is of significant importance to us as an organisation. I would like to thank Darren Venn, who has recently joined the club as Team Analyst with responsibilities for recruitment, along with Team Manager Martyn Cooke for driving this policy forward.

Jon Jones
Chairman