BAE Ceredigion Dolphins wore their new kits in recent home games across three age groups.

They certainly looked the part with impressive performances in their smart kit sponsored by Cyrl Cymru, LJV Construction, Aber Heating Engineers, Two Hoots Cafe Devils Bridge and Aber Instruments.

The Under 14s beat Aberteifi Aces 32-7 in a friendly at Plascrug in their opening game of the season on Sunday, 22 September.

The visitors were short of numbers, so four Dolphins played for them in each half.

As expected for a first game with teams playing together for the first time, it was a scrappy affair from the outset and despite avoiding the worst of the weather the conditions were still very wet, which made handling difficult.

An early break by Hali Stockley-Jones led to a fine individual try, beating four defenders on her way to the line.

Soon after, another break from the Dolphins backline created a try for Tia Ashcroft, who led by example with her hard work throughout the game.

Aberteifi responded well and worked their way down into the Dolphins half, where a quickly taken penalty and some poor tackling let to a well deserved try.

The Dolphins worked hard off the kick off and some hard graft inside the Aberteifi 22 allowed Anni Davies to get over the line at the end of the first quarter.

A shift in momentum in the lead up to half time saw some excellent passages of play by Aberteifi, putting the home side defence on the back foot repeatedly and they scored some excellent tries either side of half time, with the second being the first converted try of the game.

Aberteifi now had their tails up and continued to put pressure on the Dolphins, whose defence eventually cracked, allowing the very impressive Aberteifi backs to break away for the line once more.

The Dolphins regathered and some slick handling allowed Ariana Lloyd-Williams, who had been impressive in defence all day, to use her impressive pace to get around the defenders and over the line.

A powerful 40 metre linebreak off the kick off by Lleucu ap Llywelyn got the Dolphins straight back into the Aberteifi 22, where some confident running allowed Emily Heard to cross near the corner.

With five minutes left of the game Aberteifi were leading by two points so the Dolphins went all out for the try.

Consistent pressure on the Aberteifi line eventually allowed debutante Lois Roberts to cross the whitewash in her first ever game of competitive rugby.

All in all, a good day for the Dolphins in a close fought game with many of the younger players in the squad showing their excellent capabilities.

Three of the try scorers have graduated from last season’s Under 12 side, showing the success of the Dolphins’ developmental pathway.

The team will look to build on this as they look forward to the competition fixtures starting in October.

The Under 14s will start their matrix league on 6 October with an away game against merched Mynydd Mawr.

It was the U16s second matrix game of the season and this time with a home game after travelling to play the Stradey Sospans the previous Sunday where they won 24-22.

The Eagles were a strong side and took advantage of some ball handling errors due to the poor playing conditions and them breaking away to score a few tries.

The team will play their next matrix game away on 6 October against the Eagles.

This friendly was the opportunity for the team to play their first game together, with only three of last year's team taking to the field.

A strong Kites side dominated the first half but some excellent tackling from a few of the Dolphin newbies soon stopped the tide with the Kites finding it harder to score as the half developed.

The second half was a different story as the Dolphins showed what this new team is capable of.

The defensive line became almost impenetrable as communication amongst the team improved. This also resulted in some fabulous support play.

This along with the injections of pace from a few of the older players meant the losing Dolphins could finish with their heads held high after dominating the second half.

The enthusiastic Dolphins support all agreed it's a season to look forward to.

The Under 12s start their Matrix league with a home game against Y Wiberod on 6 October.