Jordan Williams was a winner once again at the home of Welsh rugby as he led New Dock Stars to the WRU Division 3 Cup with a 32-29 triumph over close neighbours Tumble.
The former Wales U20, Scarlets, Bristol and Dragons professional played three times in Judgement Day at Principality Stadium during his career and returned for the penultimate final in the ‘Go Compare Road to Principality 2026’ series.
A winner on his last two occasions with the Dragons against Scarlets, he made it an impressive hat-trick to leave with his head held as high as ever.
“This is special and best of a lot of other rugby achievements I’ve had because I’m playing with all my mates. It is my local rugby club and growing up as a little boy this was the team I wanted to play for,” said Williams.
“It was a nervy ending after we had put ourselves in good positions earlier in the game. As a club we like to do it the tough way and let games go right to the end.
“We’ve played Tumble three times this year and they’ve all been the same, so I’m just chuffed we got across the line.
“We’ve still got some work to do to win the Division 3 West league title, but we will be looking to carry on winning.”
Despite being an accomplished goalkicker, the 32-year-old Williams was happy to let his full back Adam Geary take on that task. He did it pretty well, adding three conversions and two penalties to his try for a match haul of 17 points – and a Man of the Match award.
“I’ve been at the club since the U16’s and we’ve had loads of good wins down the years. But nothing comes close to this – this tops the lot,” said Geary.
“Everybody wants to play at Principality Stadium, and we’ve now done it and won. Jordan asked me if I wanted to kick for goal and I told him I was happy to take on the responsibility.
“I was a little bit nervous lining up my first kick, and I missed, but I told myself not to lose my head because I knew I’d get more opportunities. The next one sailed over, and I thought ‘here we go’ and I kicked on from there.
“We’ve picked up a bit over the last few years and last season we won the Division 4 West title and the West Wales Cup. That boosted our confidence, as well as knowing Jordan was coming back to us – it has been class having his experience and leadership back at the club.
“We’ve still got a bit of work to do in the league with three games left and hopefully we can go on and do the double.”
For Tumble it was a case of what might have been. Two more conversions would have clinched the win for them in the end, but skipper Steff Price was still very proud of his side’s efforts.
“It showed a lot of character from the boys to come back at the end. We beat ourselves a little bit in the first half by making too many errors,” said Price.
“It was just too big a hill for us to climb at the end, but I’m really proud of every one of my players for the effort they put in. It has been a fantastic experience for all of us.
“The surroundings were really unfamiliar and maybe there were a few big stage nerves at the start – perhaps being in the final got to us a little bit. It could have turned nasty after their fast start, but we dug deep and stayed in the fight.”