LAMPETER Town Council needs to “take advantage” of the designation of the town as the ‘birthplace of rugby in Wales’, a town councillor has said.

Rugby authorities have now accepted that the first match in Wales took place in Lampeter and the University of Wales Trinity St David is planning a series of commemorative events on Wednesday, 23 March.

Cllr Selwyn Walters, who has written a book to commemorate the first match and Lampeter’s role in developing rugby in Wales, said the status could be a huge boost to Lampeter and was something the town should look to capitalise on.

He said: “This could be huge. I think we, as a council, should look to take advantage of this.

“It could be quite big if it’s publicised and people from the rugby world want to come and see the birthplace of rugby in Wales.

“We’ve been agonising over the future of Lampeter and what we are and this could be something special. We should be prepared to take advantage of this.

“The college is doing a lot and they’re happy to share it with us.”

As part of the special event, two matches will be played.

The university women’s team is taking on Lampeter Town’s women at 1pm at the rugby club. That will be followed by a match at 3pm between the university team and a Welsh Academicals team.

There will also be a special exh­ibition at the university and the unveiling of a special memorial.