{"id":541230,"date":"2026-04-20T15:21:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/541230\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T15:21:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:21:28","slug":"welsh-rugby-star-keeps-up-principality-record-as-boyhood-club-lift-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/541230\/","title":{"rendered":"Welsh rugby star keeps up Principality record as boyhood club lift cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Dock Stars came out on top in the battle of the west at the Principality Stadium, beating Tumble 32-29\"walesonline\"Joseph Gough and Ben James<\/a> Rugby correspondent<\/p>\n

18:03, 19 Apr 2026Updated 11:40, 20 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jordan Williams (background on left) watches as one of his New Dock Stars team-mates carries into contact(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)<\/p>\n

New Dock Stars won the battle of the west as they ran out 32-29 winners against Tumble in the WRU Division 3 Cup Final at the Principality Stadium.<\/p>\n

Player of the match Adam Gealy scored 17 points in a fine individual performance as captain Jordan Williams once again enjoyed success in the Welsh capital.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old tasted victory at the stadium on a handful of occasions during his professional career, coming out on top in three different Judgement Days. The first was with the Scarlets<\/a> against Cardiff<\/a> in 2014, before beating his old side with the Dragons in 2019 and 2023.<\/p>\n

This time around, Williams – who was an unused replacement for Wales against Tonga back in 2013 – was pulling the strings for his “proper club” as they edged out neighbours Tumble in a high-scoring affair.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to be back playing with mates I\u2019ve grown up with, especially at the national stadium \u2014 it\u2019s something most people can only dream of,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to thank the 500 fans who came down from Llanelli<\/a>. Their support means everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s planned (in terms of celebrations), but I want it to start sooner rather than later! I\u2019m very thirsty!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New Dock Stars captain Jordan Williams lifts the trophy with the team(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New Dock Stars Captain Jordan Williams lifts the trophy with the team(Image: Gareth Everett\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n

While former Wales U20s star Williams was at fly-half for New Dock Stars, it would be the forwards who set the tone in this final.<\/p>\n

A driving maul four minutes in saw hooker Jonny Harries dive over for the opening score.<\/p>\n

Former Wales U20s prop Ben Leung then powered over for their second, after the ex-Scarlet arrived late onto Jason Baxter’s short ball.<\/p>\n

\"Ellis<\/p>\n

Ellis Dickeson of New Dock Stars is tackled by Iwan Morgan of Tumble(Image: Gareth Everett\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n

\"Dafydd<\/p>\n

Dafydd Daniel of New Dock Stars races in to score try(Image: Gareth Everett\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n

New Dock Stars’ fast start continued after wing Dafydd Daniel raced onto Garen Davies’ inside ball to go over virtually untouched.<\/p>\n

Tumble, to their credit, hit back. Centre Steffan Price wriggled through a gap to get them up to the tryline, with second-row Nathan Willard sneaking over a few phases later.<\/p>\n

The boot of Gealy moved New Dock Stars’ further ahead from the tee.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New Dock Stars power over for their first try(Image: Gareth Everett\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n

But a superb flowing move just before the break saw Tumble grab their second, with centre Dafydd Thomas on hand to finish it off nicely.<\/p>\n

New Dock Stars began the second half well, with full-back Gealy crossing out wide after a lovely floated pass by Williams.<\/p>\n

Another penalty by the full-back took his tally to 17 points.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New Dock Stars celebrate the win(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)<\/p>\n

Tumble hit back, with prop Garin McPherson-Williams spinning through two tackles to score from close range.<\/p>\n

They made a game of it late on, with centre Thomas crossing for his second to set up an exciting final 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

A superb tackle by Gealy ended a Tumble attack after fly-half Ellis Payne had glided down the left flank.<\/p>\n

Chasing the game, Tumble found some spaces behind late on, but weren’t able to find a fifth try until after the clock had gone red.<\/p>\n

No. 8 Steffan Owen forced his way after a driving maul, but it was too late to deny New Dock Stars from lifting the cup.<\/p>\n

\"Dafydd<\/p>\n

Dafydd Thomas of Tumble races in to score try(Image: Gareth Everett\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n

Tumble<\/p>\n

Tries: Nathan Willard, Dafydd Thomas x2, Garin McPherson-Williams, Steffan Owen; Cons: Steven Hewitt x2<\/p>\n

New Dock Star<\/p>\n

Tries: Jonny Harries, Ben Leung, Dafydd Daniel, Adam Gealy; Cons: Adam Gealy x3; Pens: Adam Gealy x2<\/p>\n

\"Player<\/p>\n

Player of the Match Adam Healy of New Dock Stars(Image: Gareth Everett\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New Dock Stars Captain Jordan Williams receives the trophy from WRU President Terry Cobner(Image: Gareth Everett\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n

Tumble: Steven Hewitt; Scott Jones, Dafydd Thomas, Steffan Price, Rhys King; Ellis Payne, Iwan Morgan; Iago Richards, Dafydd Humphreys, Garin McPherson-Williams, Ryan Williams, Nathan Willard, Leonard Ellery, Harri Bennet, Steffan Owen.<\/p>\n

Replacement: Osian Flint, Ifan Samuel, Ryan Lewis, Jack Morris, Owen Bunford, Dafydd Griffiths, James Owens, Liam Willard.<\/p>\n

New Dock Stars: Adam Gealy; Rhys Howells, Luke Morris, Garen Davies, Dafydd Daniel; Jordan Williams, Jason Baxter; Ryan Tovey, Jonny Harries, Ben Leung, Matthew Cherry, Elis Evans, Keane Davies, Ellis Dickieson, Iestyn Bunyan.<\/p>\n

Replacements: Rob Jones, James Evans, Josh Davies, Liam Doran, Jordan Evans, Tom Lewis, Alex Kwan, Dale Watts.<\/p>\n

\"Dafydd<\/p>\n

Dafydd Daniel of New Dock Stars races in to score try(Image: Gareth Everett\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Dock Stars came out on top in the battle of the west at the Principality Stadium, beating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[8934,5903,101,56,54,55,9051],"class_list":["post-541230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-premium","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-welsh-rugby-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}