Following report kindly supplied by Caernarfon RFC.
The long awaited Welsh Plate quarter final clash took place on the Morfa on Saturday when Dragons League outfit Penallta RFC made the long journey North to play, what was on paper, an extremely strong Caernarfon team.
Pre-match drills are always interesting and with the Cofis looking sharp and focused it was noticeable that many a furtive glance was cast their way by the opposition. Games, however, are not won or lost in the 'warm-up' and with a sense of nervous anticipation the players lined up for the first kick.
Playing with the slope, in perfect conditions, a misplaced kick off saw the first set piece of the day and a scrum to the visitors on the halfway line. Seeking to make clear their intentions a powerful shove by the home forwards found the ball back in the hands of second row Sam Williams and his powerful run up-field saw hooker Cai Griffiths on hand to take the final pass and cross over for theopening try.
Successfully converted by winger Owain Williams play resumed in the oppositions half. Under some considerable pressure the visitors would have been relieved when a penalty kick gave them the opportunity to take play back up-field. A misplaced kick however again found the ball with second row Williams who set off on a weaving run into opposition territory. With players flailing around him the seemingly unstoppable Williams (and ultimately man of the match) powered down field crossing over for a richly deserved try.
Penallta were clearly shell shocked after these two early setbacks, however worse was to come when the kick off was comfortably taken and swiftpassing by the back line took play back deep into their opponents half. A resulting penalty to the visitors would have appeared to offer the opportunity to relieve some pressure but another misplaced clearance found winger Jack Davies and his mazy cross-field run soon found the young Cofis back deep in opposition territory. Sure enough a score was to follow with man-mountain prop Pedr Jones picking up and crashing over near the posts.
With barely twelve minutes played and a healthy twenty one point lead Caernarfon could almost have been excused for taking their foot off the pedal. This they did, however there is no room in the game of rugby for complacency and some excellent phase play by the visitors saw them open their account near the corner flag. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful.
The try seemed to inspire the visitors with the home side soon again defending their own try line. With the away side now looking dangerous a scrum inside the Cofis twenty two appeared to be the perfect launch pad for further Penallta success. Incessant pressure by the back row, however saw the ball knocked on, flanker Shaun Owen picking up and charging downfield, where, despite some desperate defending, he opened his account near the posts.
With winger Williams maintaining his 100% strike rate play resumed, a long kick finding centre Sunny Start whose long pass saw flanker Dafydd Thirsk enter the line, his perfect off-load allowing winger Davies the chance to stretch his long legs, outstrip the covering defence and score under the posts.
The re-start again saw Caernarfon encamped on the visitors try line where another crash over try to prop Jones saw them increase their advantage to thirty points.
With the referee signaling last play of the half and cries of 'one more' echoing across the park Caernarfon were quick to oblige with, again their indomitable forwards crashing through despairing tacklers and allowing prop Jones the chance to complete his hat trick.
Going into the second half with a 49 - 5 lead, Caernarfon coach Dafydd Roberts was afforded the luxury of utilizing his bench and to this end, saw five pairs of fresh legs enter the fray.
With the result in almost no doubt and an early shower on the cards it is with no end of credit to Penallta that play in the second half developeddeep in the Cofis half, this following some excellent inter play by their clearly talented back line. What followed were a series of penalties near the Cofi try line culminating in a rather unfortunate yellow card for replacement scrum half Guto Wiliams. Now down to fourteen men it was only some excellent defense by the Caernarfon pack that prevented a score, successfully repelling wave after wave of attack.
The young Cofis were not in such a commanding position for no reason however, and the watching faithful would have been confident that given possession normal parity would be resumed. And so it came to be when a rare opportunity to clear their lines saw fly half Josh Eden break in-field out of defense. Taking play up toward the half way line a perfectly timed pass to centre Start saw him unselfishly swing the ball out wide, winger Williams collecting and heading for the whitewash. A try to the winger looked inevitable, however, with an excellent cover tackle halting his run, it was to take full back Callum Jones to complete the days scoring, gratefully accepting the pass and charging in under the posts.
A successful conversion brought the game to a premature end and an overwhelming victory to the Cofis by 56 - 5. The result, while not in doubt for much of the game, does not reflect the balance of play, particularly by Penallta in the second period. Saying that, every player has a part to play and whilst much of the success of the first half could be accredited to one or two players, Caernarfon's success in keeping a clean sheet in the second could be largely attributed to the steely defense of their replacements.
So, with eight tries, eight conversions and 50 + points it's on to the semi final where it will be likely that the Caernarfon team, coaches and supporters will be checking out potential opponents.
What is certain, however, is that all the other teams will be doing the same - and none will want to be drawn against Caernarfon RFC. .
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