News

Everybody at the Club sends out their best wishes to our former player Tom Riley after his announcement to retire from the game.

Tom has had an illustrious career and it all started on the fields around Beddau where he learnt the game and built up friendships for life.

His talent was noticed at an early age and he went on to win Wales International caps at under 18, 19 and 21 level.

His first class playing career started with Pontypridd before he moved to the Blues Regional set up. He then made the switch to Newport RFC in 2008 before he made the step up again to regional rugby with the Dragons for three seasons. Tom then made the switch to the English Championship and enjoyed a hugely successful stint with the Cornish Pirates.

He returned to Welsh rugby in the Summer of 2017 joining up with Merthyr where he played a pivotal part of the double League and Cup success. After a year with the Ironmen he returned to Pontypridd where his starts were far and few after battling with several injuries.

It was typical of Tom though that he wanted to return to Mount Pleasant Park and play in the Green and Gold before he retired and he did so with the same attitude as the kid that turned up at the same ground over twenty five years ago.

Tom also won a Wales sevens cap during his career and also played for the world famous Barbarians.

Tom was not just a class player on the field. He was and is a top class Gentleman off it. We are very proud to have played a part in what you can see has been a quite remarkable career.

We wish Tom every success in the next chapter in his life and look forward to welcoming him to the Club more often in the future.

Once a green and gold always a green and gold.