Newcomers to the competition this year, the North Wales side secured their place in the latter stages with an impressive 22-8 victory over Cowbridge Comprehensive School.
It means they join Coleg Sir Gar, Bridgend College, Coleg y Cymoedd, Neath Port Talbot College and Coleg Gwent in the second part of the tournament with the winner taking home the WRU Wednesday Under 18 League Cup.
Pembrokeshire Schools, Newport High School, Cowbridge Comprehensive, Gower College and Llandovery College will now challenge for the WRU Wednesday Under 18 League Trophy.
Morgan Williams was Llandrillo’s inspiration against Cowbridge on Wednesday, the young full back scoring one of his side’s three tries and kicking two conversions and a penalty. Ryan Pike and replacement Dewi Bowen added further scores in what was eventually a comfortable win.
“It wasn’t pretty, nor was it our best performance but it was all about getting the win and making it through to the next round,” said Leach.
“We did struggle in attack at times and made some mistakes but our defence was solid and we dominated the contact area. That was particularly pleasing as we’d worked a lot on that in training.
“We said we wanted to go through to the Cup tournament at the start of the competition and we’ve achieved that now. It wasn’t the complete performance and we could have won by more but we’ll certainly take it.”
Alongside Llandrillo, Coleg Gwent were the other side to secure their place in the Cup competition, despite going down to a narrow 10-7 defeat away to Llandovery College. The losing bonus point proved enough in the end though as both Gwent and Llandrillo finished the first stage with 10 points apiece.
Looking ahead to the Cup competition in stage two, Leach added: “We’ve got some tough games coming up now against some top teams but it will be good for the boys to test themselves against sides like Coleg Sir Gar.
“It’s not easy to travel away a lot of the time but we’ve done it this week and got the right result so hopefully we can keep that going. We’ll look forward to welcoming sides to Parc Eirias and there’ll be some long trips on the road but that’s what we’re in the competition for. Everyone at the College is excited about our progress.”
In the other games to take place yesterday, Coleg Sir Gar made it three wins from three with a narrow 19-17 victory over Bridgend College. Owen Watkins produced a superb individual performance but it was not enough to prevent Bridgend being on the wrong side of the result. Nonetheless, both sides can look forward to facing each other again in the Cup competition.
“It’s going to be a big challenge to defend our title. The quality of the competition gets better and better each year and that’s what it’s all about,” said Sir Gar head coach Euros Evans.
“We’ve got a young side who are learning all the time and we’ll certainly be giving it our all to win the competition again.”
At Taffs Well, Coleg y Cymoedd were convincing 47-5 winners over Neath Port Talbot College, their meeting with Coleg Sir Gar next week already looking like a mouth-watering encounter. Fly half Jared Evans was the star of the show scoring 22 points including two tries.
Newport High School got their first win of the competition with a 38-17 defeat of Pembrokeshire Schools.
WRU Wednesday Under 18 League. Week 3 results (Wednesday, October 9):
• Coleg Sir Gar 19-17 Bridgend College
• Pembrokeshire Schools 17-38 Newport High School
• Llandovery College 10-7 Coleg Gwent
• Cowbridge Comprehensive 8-22 Llandrillo College
• Coleg y Cymoedd 47-5 Neath Port Talbot College
WRU Wednesday Under 18 League Stage 2 Fixtures:
Cup competition:
October 16: Coleg Y Cymoedd v Coleg Sir Gar, Coleg Gwent v NPT College, Coleg Llandrillo v Bridgend College.
October 23: NPT College v Coleg Y Cymoedd, Bridgend College v Coleg Sir Gar, Coleg Llandrillo v Coleg Gwent.
October 30: Coleg Y Cymoedd v Bridgend College, NPT College v Coleg Llandrillo, Coleg Sir Gar v Coleg Gwent.
November 6: Coleg Llandrillo v Coleg Y Cymoedd, Coleg Gwent v Bridgend College, Coleg Sir Gar v NPT College.
November 13: Coleg Y Cymoedd v Coleg Gwent, Coleg Llandrillo v Coleg Sir Gar, Bridgend College v NPT College.
January 29: Coleg Sir Gar v Coleg Y Cymoedd, NPT College v Coleg Gwent, Bridgend College v Coleg Llandrillo.
February 5: Coleg Y Cymoedd v NPT College, Coleg Sir Gar v Bridgend College, Coleg Gwent v Coleg Llandrillo.
February 12: Bridgend College v Coleg Y Cymoedd, Coleg Llandrillo v NPT College, Coleg Gwent v Coleg Sir Gar.
February 19: Coleg Y Cymoedd v Coleg Llandrillo, Bridgend College v Coleg Gwent, NPT College v Coleg Sir Gar.
February 26: Coleg Gwent v Coleg Y Cymoedd, Coleg Sir Gar v Coleg Llandrillo, NPT College v Bridgend College
Play Off and Play Off Final dates to be confirmed.
WRU Wednesday Under 18 League Stage 2 Fixtures:
Trophy competition:
October 16: Cowbridge Schools v Pembrokeshire Schools, Llandovery College v Gower College, Newport High School v Free (Brynteg).
October 23: Gower College v Cowbridge Schools, Newport High School v Pembrokeshire Schools, Free (Brynteg) v Llandovery College.
October 30: Cowbridge Schools v Newport High School, Gower College v Free (Brynteg), Pembrokeshire Schools v Llandovery College.
November 6: Free (Brynteg) v Cowbridge Schools, Llandovery College v Newport High School, Pembrokeshire Schools v Gower College.
November 13: Cowbridge Schools v Llandovery College, Free (Brynteg) v Pembrokeshire Schools, Newport High School v Gower College.
January 29: Pembrokeshire Schools v Cowbridge Schools, Gower College v Llandovery College, Newport High School v Free (Brynteg).
February 5: Cowbridge Schools v Gower College, Pembrokeshire Schools v Newport High School, Llandovery College v Free (Brynteg).
February 12: Newport High School v Cowbridge Schools, Free (Brynteg) v Gower College, Llandovery College v Pembrokeshire Schools.
February 19: Cowbridge Schools v Free (Brynteg), Newport High School v Llandovery College, Gower College v Pembrokeshire Schools
February 26: Llandovery College v Cowbridge Schools, Pembrokeshire Schools v Free (Brynteg), Gower College v Newport High School.
There are no play-off matches in the Trophy competition.
