Following report kindly supplied by Llangefni RFC.
It was ultimately an emphatic win, but the visitors made Cefni work very hard for the4 precious points. The Cefni pack enjoyed consistent dominance at scrum time , even when down to a 7 man pack either side of half time. This superiority proved crucial over the 80 minutes, allowing man of the match Declan Griffiths to make regular inroads beyond the Mold defensive line.
Mold missed a very kickable penalty after 2 minutes, and the opening salvos were error strewn as both teams seemed nervous. However, Cefni soon started to control matters as they brought their ball carriers into play. A loose Mold clearance allowed Greg Horsman , Richard Foulkes and Ioan Jones to combine and take play to within 5 metres of the try line. From Mold`s defensive scrum, Declan Griffiths charged down the would be clearance kick and Cefni attacked through backs and forwards, only to be denied by some stout Mold defending.
When Mold used an attacking line out to set up a driving maul, they were stopped just short, but then lost the ball on their own put in at the ensuing scrum. Then a clever dink by the Mold 9 put the hosts under pressure in their own 22. This time Cefni`s line speed in mid field led to a Mold knock on. Cefni went back up the other end after pivot Tom Owen made a fine break, which was taken on by Dominic Owen. When Mold were penalised under their posts , Cefni chose to scrummage: their one up runners were comfortably repelled, but finally Cefni moved the ball wider with Mold on the back foot and Rhys Hughes was able to canter over for the 1st score. No extras, but 5-0 after 35 minutes, and Cefni nerves seemed to settle as they started to move the ball around more confidently. Rich Foulkes added a penalty and Cefni were to go in at the break 8-0 up. However ,not before they had been reduced to 14 men when captain Tom Owen was carded for a high tackle.
Cefni opened the 2nd half determined not to lose their grip on the game and after 47 minutes Foulkes added his 2nd penalty for 11-0 . Cefni were in the ascendancy, but lacked the required accuracy to finish off some good moves. Foulkes added his 3rd penalty for 14-0, then his powerful break into the 22 ended with another knock on.
With Mold`s scrum in constant reverse, small wonder that the 2nd try came from a scrum , when ever alert Tom Owen pounced on a loose ball from a retreating Mold scrum. Foulkes added the extras for 21-0. When Mold reverted to the driving maul, Cefni soon had them on the retreat and Foulkes was able to put in a huge clearance kick. Then sub Gethin Jones broke in midfield and the move ended with Cefni being held up on the try line. Cefni`s 3rd try was their best: after the ball was spun left Greg Horsman was stopped short, but rapid recycling saw the ball moved quickly to pivot Tom Owen, whose short pass propelled prop Bedwyr Williams on a superb angle to the try line. Rich Foulkes added the extras for a personal tally of 13 points and that final score of 28-0.
Mold denied Cefni the bonus point with tenacious tackling and never say die scramble defence. The visitors were unlucky with injuries on the day, the game being stopped six times for the treatment of various injuries. Indeed, at times it seemed that the Mold physio was the busiest player on the park.
Cefni`s next game is away at Pwllheli on March 2nd.
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