Principality Premiership
In the revised Premier League Pontypridd finished as league leaders, with Llandovery 2nd, Llanelli 3rd, Carmarthen Quins 6th, Aberavon 9th, Neath 10th, Bridgend 11th and Swansea 12th. How convenient for Swansea that the Premiership is ring fenced and they will not be relegated for finishing bottom!!!
In the Play offs to find the Premiership Champions, Pontypridd beat Bedwas in the 1st semi final and Llanelli beat Llandovery in the 2nd semi final. In The Premiership Champions decider Pontypridd beat Llanelli 47-15 to secure the crown. Congratulations Pontypridd.
Championship
Congratulations go to Ebbw Vale who are crowned the inaugural Championship Winners, but also to Lee Ratti’s Tata Steel who have finished a very creditable 4th. Well done Lee. Other West clubs are Narberth 6th, Bridgend Athletic 9th, Bonymaen 11th and Whitland 14th.
There is no promotion to the Premiership. Relegated to Division 1 are Glamorgan Wanderers and Whitland.
Division 1 West- Champions Tondu are promoted. Skewen and Aberavon Quins are relegated to Division 2. Our local neighbours Waunarlwydd finished 4th and Loughor 9th.
In Division 2 West, promoted are Champions Builth Wells and 2nd placed Crymych. Relegated are Penclawdd, Taibach and Haverfordwest. Dunvant are saddened to see Penclawdd in particular be relegated in 9th place. This is an injustice from the Tylorstown fiasco where clubs in 10th, 11th and 12th were to be relegated and Penclawdd are very unlucky to get relegated. Conversely, Abercynon , who finished 10th in 2 East have survived due to the stupidity of the rules. Penclawdd was our biggest home gate of the season and their supporters will be greatly missed at Broadacre. Hope you bounce straight back up Penclawdd.
In Division 3, Amman Utd are 3 West Champions, Mumbles are 3 South West Champions. Trebanos have won the play off 28-24 against Pontyclun. In the other play off Newcastle Emlyn beat Newport HSOB 27-22. Adding to the 8 teams left in 2 East will be Mountain Ash & Tredegar from 1 East, followed by Abertillery, Champions of 3 East and Dowlais, Champions of 3 South East to make up the 12 teams.

It therefore looks as if Division 2 West for 2013-14 will be Aberavon Quins, Aberystwyth, Amman United, Dunvant, Felinfoel, Maesteg, Maesteg Harlequins, Mumbles, Newcastle Emlyn, Seven Sisters, Skewen and Trebanos.

In Division 4 promoted are Tycroes and Llanybydder from 4 West and Penlan and Glyncorrwg from 4 South West. Relegated are Burryport and Neyland from 4 West and Abercrave and Birchgrove from 4 South West.
In Division 5 the Champions are promoted automatically, so Gowerton in 5 West, Cwmgors in 5 South West are promoted along with Nantyglo, Abertysswg and Glynoch. The 5 runners up are Swansea Uplands, Pontryhdyfen, St.Josephs, Penybanc and Bettws. The best runner up is automatically promoted with the other 4 in a play off situation with the 2 winners going up.
The rules: The Champion Club in each of Divisions 5 East, 5 South East, 5 South Central, 5 South West and 5 West will be promoted to Division 4 level at the end of the 2012 / 2013 Season.
In addition, the runner up with the best playing record, from Divisions 5 East, 5 South East, 5 South Central, 5 South West and 5 West, will be promoted to Division 4 level at the end of the 2012 / 2013 Season.
The remaining two promotion places will be determined by way of play off matches between the other four runners up. The Clubs will be drawn to create two fixtures. The winner of each fixture will be promoted to Division 4 level. To determine which of the runners up shall have the best playing record there will be a straightforward comparison, where the Divisions are of equal sizes, of playing records in the following order:-
League points
12 Clubs in each Division apart from 5 South Central of which there will be 11 Clubs.
(59 Clubs) where equal, Number of Wins, where equal Number of Tries, where equal Points ratio.
If the best runner up cannot be determined by this method,or Divisional sizes are different,then the number of matches will be divided into the total number of League points gained to give a ratio. The Club with the highest ratio will be promoted.
If the league point ratio is equal the Clubs will be ranked in order by dividing the number of matches played into the ratio of points recorded, that ratio being determined by dividing the points scored in league matches against the Club into the number of points scored by the Club. The Club with the highest ratio will be promoted.
The bottom Club in each of the five Division 5 Leagues will be relegated to Division 6 in the 2013/2014 Season.
Because there are fewer clubs in 5 South Central we have to use the ratio system of points won divided by games played.
Penybanc 20 games 99 points=ratio 4.50
Swansea Uplands 22 games 92 points= ratio 4.18
St.Joseph’s 22 games 86 points from 21 so far, maximum ratio= 4.136
Pontryhdyfen 22 games 76 = ratio 3.80
Bettws 22 games 82 points=ratio 3.727
As I see it, Penybanc, who are the leading points and try scorers in the whole of Wales with 1103 points and 173 tries gain the automatic runner up slot with a ratio of 4.50. Swansea Uplands, Pontryhdyfen, St.Josephs and Bettws need to play off to decide the other two promotion slots. Strangely, Swansea Uplands are already claiming they are promoted as best runners up on their website, and have started their celebrations.For their sake, I hope I have got it wrong.

For the future, it looks as if next season 2013-14 is the last of the current league structure with many clubs complaining about the amount of travelling involved. A WRU working party is in the advanced stages of looking at returning to more localised rugby. Rumour has it that this will apply to “West” only as it is less of a problem in the East with a higher concentration of clubs. The Championship and Division 1 East/West will still be as current but from Division 2 down it will be carved up.
The new rules will have to be published before the start of next season so we all know where we are likely to end up.