Heol Sardis | |
House of Pain [1] | |
![]() The Grandstand at Sardis Road | |
![]() | |
Location | Pontypridd, Wales |
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Coordinates | 51°36′5″N3°20′53″W / 51.60139°N 3.34806°W |
Owner | Ponty Rugby Limited |
Capacity | 7,861 |
Surface | Artificial Grass / 3G |
Opened | September 1974 |
Tenants | |
Pontypridd RFC (1974-present) Celtic Warriors (2003-2004) |
Sardis Road (Welsh : Heol Sardis) is a rugby union stadium situated in Pontypridd, Wales. It is home to the Indigo Group Premiership team, Pontypridd RFC and previously the Celtic Warriors, the now defunct regional rugby union team. It is commonly known as the "House of Pain".
Pontypridd RFC originally played their games at Taff Vale Park in Treforest, later they moved to the People's Park before finally moving to the Sardis Road ground. It was officially opened in September 1974 and currently holds 7,861 spectators. [2]
It has been host to Argentina verses Western Samoa in the 1991 Rugby World Cup in which Argentina lost 12–35.
The Celtic Warriors used Sardis Road between 2003–2004, however with their demise, Pontypridd RFC have become a semi-professional club and Sardis Road has been mooted as being too big for the crowds that attend their matches. [3] A planning application for a retail store on the Sardis Road ground was turned down by the National Assembly for Wales. The owners of Sardis Road, Ponty Rugby Limited had hoped to sell the ground to a property developer, Morbaine Limited. It was envisaged that a new 3,000 seater stadium would be funded from the sale of the Sardis Road ground.
In 2009, Sardis Road hosted the Wales versus Ireland rugby league semi-final of the European Cup. [4]
The Celtic Warriors were a rugby union team from Wales, who played in the 2003–04 Celtic League and the 2003–04 Heineken Cup following the introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales. They were effectively a temporary merger of Pontypridd RFC and Bridgend RFC. The Celtic Warriors played just one season before disbanding.
The Ospreys, formerly the Neath–Swansea Ospreys is one of the four professional rugby union teams from Wales. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team formed as a result of Neath RFC and Swansea RFC combining to create a new merged entity, as part of the new regional structure of Welsh rugby, that began in 2003. They are also affiliated with a number of local semi-professional and amateur clubs, including Welsh Premier Division sides Aberavon RFC, Bridgend Ravens, and original founding clubs Neath and Swansea. The regional area represented by the team has widely become known for rugby purposes as 'Ospreylia'.
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Pontypridd Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It competes in the Indigo Group Premiership, that it won for four consecutive seasons between 2012 and 2015, and the WRU National Cup, that it has won on 6 different occasions, the most recent being in 2014.
Gethin Jenkins is a Welsh former professional rugby union player who played as a prop for Pontypridd, Celtic Warriors, Cardiff Blues and Toulon. At international level, he won 129 caps for Wales. On his 105th appearance in 2014, he became Wales' most-capped player, overtaking the record held by Stephen Jones; having earned his final cap in November 2016, his record was surpassed by Alun Wyn Jones in September 2019. He is one of a small group of Welsh players to have won three Grand Slams. He also won five caps for the British & Irish Lions on three tours in 2005, 2009 and 2013. He is the sixth most-capped player in rugby union history and the most-capped front-row forward.
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Matthew Rees is a Welsh former professional rugby union footballer who played as a hooker. After beginning his career with Tonyrefail RFC and Merthyr RFC, he made his professional debut for Pontypridd RFC in 2001. With the arrival of regional rugby in Wales in 2003, he joined the Celtic Warriors, but their closure a year later led to him signing for the Llanelli Scarlets. He played more than 180 matches for the Scarlets, captaining them on several occasions, leading to his first Wales call-up in 2005.
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Lee Jarvis is a former international Welsh rugby union player who was known as a top points scorer with the boot. His career has been spent in both Wales and England including top level rugby in Wales and in the Celtic League, winning a number of trophies in both countries. He has represented Wales from school level to full international honours as well as being selected by the Barbarians. Despite being tipped as the "next best thing" during his early career and being a great points kicker Jarvis only earned one cap for Wales at full international level. After retiring from rugby union as a player, Jarvis took up coaching. He is currently head coach at Rhydyfelin RFC.
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Parc y Scarlets is a rugby union stadium in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, that opened in November 2008 as the new home of the Scarlets and Llanelli RFC.
Leighton Samuel is a Welsh businessman, and former owner of several sporting teams in South Wales.
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The North Wales Crusaders is a professional rugby league club based in Colwyn Bay, Wales. They are the successors to the former Super League club Crusaders Rugby League. Crusaders compete in Betfred League 1, the third tier of English rugby league. Until the end of 2016 they played their home games at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham. From 2017 to 2020 they were based at the Queensway Stadium in Wrexham, but also played several games at Hare Lane in Chester. In 2021 the club moved to the Eirias Stadium in Colwyn Bay.