Spurred on by the performance of teams at Welsh rugby’s elite end, the domestic game thrived and a rich vein of form ensured an ever improving contest at the semi-professional level as the Welsh Premiership entered its second season since its restructuring.

If 2003-2004 belonged to Newport, then 2004-2005 was most definitely Neath’s season as they took the form that won them the 2004 Konica Minolta Cup into the new season and swept the opposition away to reach the Welsh Premiership summit emulating the achievement of their region in the Celtic League.

Rowland Phillips’s men suffered only five defeats in thirty-two matches in their run to the Premiership title, scoring an impressive 165 tries along the way. The Welsh All Blacks were easily the most consistent side in the league and their style of play was also one of the most attractive. Throughout the season, the Gnoll played host to large numbers of supporters eager to watch Neath play and the side did not disappoint its faithful fans.

Skippered by Gareth Morris, Neath finished their successful campaign with an unbeaten home record, running in 116 of their tries at the home ground. Head Coach Rowland Phillips, a former Wales and Neath star was ably assisted in his duties by scrum half Patrick Horgan as Player-Coach. Two Neath players also enjoyed individual success; centre Neil Clapham was the Premiership’s top try scorer with twenty for the season, whilst outside half and future Wales star James Hook finished leading points scorer with a total of 411. Hook scored thirty-nine of this tally in Neath’s 89-10 rout of Cross Keys at the Gnoll. Neath celebrated winning the title at home to Bedwas on 27th April 2005.

The 2003-2004 Champions, Newport, struggled to maintain their grip on the Welsh Premiership title, but still put in an admirable defence of their crown finishing in second.

Early season form appeared to suggest that the Black and Ambers’ run to a second title would be just a formality; as early as October 2004 a run of victories in the Welsh Premiership, including an opening day Gwent derby against Pontypool brought suggestions that a potential comparison with Arsenal FC would be likely for Newport come April 2005. Arsenal had earned themselves the tag ‘invincibles’ for their unbeaten and undefeated run to the 2003-2004 Barclays Premiership title; Newport started the 2004-2005 Welsh Premiership campaign with a very similar stride and sweep of the opposition before hitting glitches along the way.

The loss of three points for the non-playing of a scheduled fixture proved crucial and extinguished the Rodney Parade team’s title hopes; despite victory over Neath in the final match of the season, Newport finished nine points behind the newly crowned Champions.

Bridgend, separated regionally from Pontypridd in their feeder club capacity following the disbanding of the Celtic Warriors achieved third position in the final table, six points adrift of Newport in second, ensuring that the Ospreys region, that had subsequently absorbed them, had two finishers in the top three. Coach Chris Stephens and his side were pleased with the progress made as their finishing position was an improvement on the previous season’s seventh place, they were also one of the only teams able to take points, and indeed the spoils, from the eventual Champions.

Gareth David, who finished as Bridgend’s top points-scorer with 264 in the Premiership created a new club record as he scored thirty-five points against Newbridge. Ryan Howells crossed Premiership try lines thirteen times for the Ravens and finished top try scorer. Bridgend’s form also saw two of their younger players, Nick Griffiths and Chris Tossell, called up to the Ospreys U20 side to compete in the first U20 Reebok Regional Championship Final at the Millennium Stadium. Bridgend could have accumulated more points but like Newport, were also docked three for failing to play a scheduled fixture.

Llanelli squeezed out Bridgend for the most improved side in the Premiership. Coached by Scott Quinnell, they jumped a massive ten places from the previous season to finish 2004-2005 in fourth spot having languished near the basement of the of the league for most of 2003-2004.

Llanelli used their improved Premiership form to bag the Konica Minolta Cup in the process, knocking out Bridgend, who had pipped them to third place, in the semi-finals. Dan Gravell was the Premiership’s second most prolific try-scorer, touching down eighteen times during the course of the season.

Llanelli’s Konica Minolta Cup triumph over Pontypridd was achieved with the tightest of finishes, ironically, this was also a feature of the middle of the Premiership table where tight finishes all round saw just five points separating the clubs spanning fifth to tenth places. 

Aberavon and Cross Keys finished the season all square on fifty-seven points – with nineteen wins and thirteen losses apiece for the season, they were ultimately separated by their try counts.

Aberavon clinched fifth place, having scored ninety-four tries to Cross Keys’s seventy-seven. Sixteen of the Wizards’ tries were run in by winger Richard Carter, who was fourth in the Premiership’s leading try scorers list. Cross Keys’s season highlight was a nail-biting 23-21 victory over Bridgend early on. Prop Craig Gould scored a try in the dying minutes of the match and fullback Gethin Morgan succeeded with the conversion to give the Keys an excellent win away from home.

Carmarthen Quins slipped two places this time around to finish seventh, while a greatly improved Cardiff side climbed four places to finish eighth. Cardiff produced one of the more memorable victories of the season in the Welsh Premiership as they dished out a 64-0 thrashing to Ebbw Vale at the Arms Park; the home side succeeding in running in ten tries without response.

Swansea took a step backwards in the 2004-2005 campaign, falling from sixth to ninth in their final Premiership table position. Despite fifteen tries from winger Nicky Jones and 364 points from Luke Richards, the Whites only managed seventeen wins during the course of the season. The St Helen’s side secured a run of four wins in September and three in January, but inconsistent performances in the latter part of the season ultimately cost the club the opportunity of finishing higher.

Pontypridd had a poor Premiership by their standards, losing five of their opening seven games and sliding from third place in the previous season to tenth this time out; the worst performance drop by any team. Yet the club did impress at times and their best result was an imposing 71-5 victory over Bedwas at Sardis Road.

As the club entered a transition period following the disbanding of the Celtic Warriors and their subsequent absorption as a feeder club to the Cardiff Blues region, Ponty welcomed Paul John as Player-Coach, and took Simon King on board from Cross Keys as Forwards Coach.

The dip in form on the previous season could in part have been attributed to the early loss through injury of talisman Dale McIntosh but as the season progressed the squad gained momentum. When the live television match against local rivals Cardiff at Sardis Road produced a well-deserved home victory, it also served as a catalyst for a late spurt up the league and thus the club didn’t finish in the basement.

Jason Pocock finished as Pontypridd’s top points scorer with 140, rising Wales age grade star, Dai Flanagan, finished as the club’s second highest scorer with 121.

Ebbw Vale did much better than in their previous campaign, finishing in eleventh spot. A high point for the Steelmen was the 16-0 victory over Swansea at their home ground of Eugene Cross Park. That high was unfortunately compounded by the aforementioned 64-0 capitulation to Cardiff at the Arms Park. Following a complaint made by Carmarthen Quins after their match with Ebbw Vale at Eugene Cross Park early in the season, Ebbw the Steelmen were later deducted three points having caused unnecessary uncontested scrums in the final minutes of the match in question. However, with only fourteen wins under their belt for the season, this did little to affect their final placing in the league table.

Twelfth place went to Pontypool. The club won twelve matches and drew one during the campaign, with home victories over Cardiff and local rivals Newport being the season’s highlights. Bedwas and Llandovery finished level on thirty-six points apiece, with both clubs also notching up twelve wins during the season. Bedwas were gained thirteenth spot thanks to a superior try count, outscoring Llandovery by seventy tries to fifty-two. Llandovery’s high point of the season was doing the double over Ebbw Vale, winning comfortably on both occasions.

Caerphilly never really recaptured the form that led them to the 2004 Konica Minolta Cup Final and struggled in the 2004-2005 Welsh Premiership. With a ratio of three losses to every league win, Caerphilly’s eight victories were not enough to keep them afloat in the top flight and the twenty-four losses took their toll. A final tally of twenty-four league points saw them eight points adrift of safety and with the reduction of places dropping from seventeen to sixteen in the Premiership the following season, the promotion-relegation rule for the end of season of three down and two up saw the Cheesemen relegated.

Llanharan, newly promoted from Lloyds TSB Division One at the end of the 2003-2004 season found it difficult adapting to life in the Welsh Premiership. The team that had blazed a trail across the upper level of the Lloyds TSB Leagues the year before only managed four wins and a draw across the entirety of 2004-2005 spending the majority of the season staring at the trapdoor back down.

Newbridge struggled to maintain their Premiership status, whilst two out of their three regional rivals enjoyed a finish in the upper part of the table. Like Llanharan, they only managed four wins across the course of the season. A points deduction for failing to fulfil two fixtures across the course of the season further compounded their misery and although those missing points wouldn’t have saved them from relegation, they would have stopped them from finishing bottom of the table.

The move back to a sixteen team Welsh Premiership at the start of the 2005-2006 season saw three clubs relegated; Caerphilly, Llanharan and Newbridge. Following a promotion push from Lloyds TSB Division One, Maesteg and Glamorgan Wanderers earned promotion to the Welsh Premiership earning the right to line up against the likes of Neath, Llanelli, Cardiff and Newport the following season.