So many important games from play-offs for RGC to Cup semis and North Wales Cup finals.
Caernarfon 34 v Colwyn Bay 5 - North Wales Senior Plate Final
Following match report kindly supplied by Caernarfon RFC.
Caernarfon took the honours and accolade after this encounter following an effective first half display that saw them amass twenty unanswered points. Colwyn Bay, to their credit, rallied well during the second period but weren't quite clinical enough in the red zone to trouble the Cofis.
After a competitive opening Caernarfon began to use their backs to good effect, thus creating space for their speedy wingers to gain valuable yardage. Forwards Ilan Davies and Gruff Ifor also secured quick turnover ball to hamper Colwyn Bay from getting any forward momentum.
Fullback Aled Jones opened the scoring with a sweetly struck penalty a feat he repeated from near the halfway line a few minutes later to establish a six point cushion. Wings Dylan Gwyn and Ellis Roberts had posed a constant threat out wide, beating the first up tackler only to be collared later. However with twenty minutes played a move from deep brought Aled Jones on to the ball at pace and the timing of the pass was sufficient to put Ellis Roberts in space and step inside the final defender to score. Jones continued with his kicking prowess to stretch the lead to thirteen points.
Minutes later Dylan Gwyn stepped infield and with the help of supporting cast Gruff Ifor, Dafydd Lloyd Hughes and finally Ellis Roberts again, the try line was breached to give the Cofis a fairly firm hold on proceedings. Aled Jones again added the extras.
Colwyn Bay made a stern effort to get themselves back in contention before half time with centre Cal Morris and wing Matt Jones aggressive and determined with ball in hand but Caernarfon defended in numbers and coped with the threat posed.
During the third quarter Colwyn Bay were dominant territorially with lineout ploys working well to establish an attacking platform. One effort ended with the ball being held up whilst another saw the ball squirm free over the try line. The Cofis on the other hand made their first incursion into Bay's danger zone count. Replacement fullback Dominic Yau gained ground along the touch line before being bundled into touch and although Colwyn Bay had secured the ball from the resulting lineout it was stolen and quickly fed to standoff Carwyn Roberts who was able to power over from close range. Yau on this occasion added the conversion with ten minutes remaining.
Colwyn Bay to their credit mounted one other telling attack and after having been camped near the Cofi try line following a series of close quarter surges prop Krystan Yeomans detached himself and ploughed over in the corner.
However there was still enough time for the Cofis to venture back up field and following a series of surges by Mac Jones and Gareth Pritchard the ball finally fell into the hands of replacement second row Ieuan Owen who crashed over between the sticks to draw proceedings to a close. Dominic Yau's conversion granted a final score of 34 points to 5 in Caernarfon's favour and the Cofi celebrations could begin in earnest.
Dinbych 28 v Dolgellau 27
Following report kindly supplied by Dolgellau RFC
A dramatic try from Denbigh full-back, and man of the match Gruff Roberts, with less than a minute of normal time remaining, sealed a memorable victory in a thriller of a match at Eirias Park, having trailed Dolgellau all game, and significantly by 24-6 at half time. It was an agonising return here for Dolgellau, as they lost, also by a single point, to Nant Conwy two years ago in the Senior Cup.
Dolgellau got off to the perfect start and went ahead after eight minutes. Flanker Marius Jones gaining some hard yardage, the ball being swept to the left where wing Rhys Lewis’ neat inside pass to centre Dylan Evans saw him over. Full-back Henri Roberts converted to put Dolgellau 7-0 ahead. Denbigh replied with two quick fire penalties to centre Owain Davies to make it 7-6 after a quarter of an hour, but from a scrum five metres out from the Denbigh line, Dolgellau made inroads towards the try- before line and second row Rhys Roberts surged over for the score. Again Henri Roberts added the conversion to make the score 14-6 going into the second quarter.
Henri Roberts added a penalty after half an hour, and as half time approached, the full-back again started from deep and set up skipper Gerwyn Thomas’ clever dummy to feed centre Dylan Evans in for his second try of the game. Roberts’ conversion made the half time score 24-6 to Dolgellau.
Three minutes into the second half, Denbigh centre Owain Davies put over his third penalty to narrow the gap to 24-9 before both sides lost a player each to yellow cards. This upset Dolgellau’s poise, and after quarter of an hour wing Kieran Bonar made ground down right side to find full-back Gruff Roberts to break through to score. Davies added the conversion to make the score 24-16.
As Dolgellau’s discipline crumbled, Denbigh took full advantage and were awarded a penalty try as Dolgellau collapsed a 5 metre scrum just as Denbigh scrum half Jamie Winning was about to score. Davies added the conversion to make it a one point game at 24-23 to Dolgellau with ten minutes to play
With the tension mounting Dolgellau struck back from the kick-off, with Henri Roberts slotting over a penalty to make it 27-23 and with only six minutes to go, Roberts saw a similar effort rebound off the post. Denbigh seized the initiative going into the last minute as no.8 Niall Duke took a quick tap penalty and their backs released full back Gruff Roberts in for a spectacular winning score.
Referee : Sion Wynne
Dinbych 28 v Dolgellau 27
Following report kindly supplied by Clwb Rygbi Dinbych
Dinbych came back from the dead as the trailed Dolgellau by twenty four points to six at the interval to recover with a dominant second half display to claim victory in the closing minutes when they took the lead for the only time in the match to claim the North Wales Intermediate Cup by the narrowest of margins.
It was fitting that despite desperate Dolgellau defence the crucial winning try was scored by the Man of the Match youth full back Gruff Roberts. Centre Owain Davies also played a vital role as he nailed four vital goal kicks in the difficult windy conditions.
Dolgellau played with a stiff diagonal wind in their favour in the first half and soon began to exert pressure at the scrums and took the lead in the fourth minute after pressurising close to the Dinbych line when they counter attacked from a relieving kick on half way with Dylan Evans going over for a try after good handling by the backs. Henry Roberts added the conversion points before Dinbych capitalised from a series of forward drives in which prop Harri Evans and No8 Niall Duke were prominent taking play deep into the Dolgellau 22.
When Dolgellau offended in front of their posts Owain Davies opened the Dinbych scoring with a penalty from 15 metres then added a second from 35 metres when Dolgellau offended at a scrum to reduce the deficit to a single point.
Dinbych were well in the game despite struggling at the scrum where inside half Jordan Wynne did well to rescue possession from a retreating scrum and they obtained quality possession at the line out from lock Gareth Beach and flanker Jonathan Morgan. They also defended well near set pieces and the breakdown areas to halt forward drives by Dolgellau.
However Dolgellau were clinical finishers whenever they were in the Dinbych 22 and with outside half Gerwyn Thomas pulling the strings they went further ahead with a try by Rhys Roberts converted by Henry Roberts. They increased the lead further when Roberts then kicked a monster penalty from half way.
Dinbych tended to use the power of Mat Hulse in the centre to make ground in attack but full back Gruff Roberts gave indications of his attacking threat with a blistering run deep into Dolgellau territory just before the interval. Dolgellau then eased further ahead in first half injury time when clever play again by Gerwyn Thomas put Dylan Evans for his second try converted by Henry Roberts.
Trailing by twenty four points to six at the interval Dinbych now had the elements in their favour and soon started chipping away at the deficit when Owain Davies kicked his third penalty with a well judged kick from forty five metres.
They reduced the deficit further from a short range line out when slick handling in midfield gave Gruff Roberts the opportunity to squeeze over in the corner converted with an excellent kick from the touchline by Owain Davies. With Dinbych now on a roll and with an improving scrum they now began to dominate both territory and possession and reduced the deficit to a single point when Dolgellau under pressure close to their line conceded a penalty try converted by Gruff Roberts.
Unfortunately Dinbych then knocked on the restart kick and compounded this by being offside leaving an easy penalty kick from in front of the posts by Henry Roberts to increase the Dolgellau lead to four points and leaving Dinbych with a try to win the match.
With time running out Dinbych resumed their territorial dominance as they pressurised Dolgellau close to their line through a series of forward drives and mauls with Gruff Roberts supplying the coup de grace as he went over in the corner to take Dinbych into the lead for the first time in the match.
Although the conversion attempt from the touchline narrowly failed Dinbych learned from their previous mistake by securing the restart kick and then used the forwards to keep possession to close out the game.
The second half revival was a testament to the character of the Dinbych team who recovered from their set piece problems of the first half to give the coaching team of Russ Rowlands and Huw Edwards the best possible end to a successful season.
Merthyr 35 v RGC 1404 7
Following report supplied by RGC News.
Merthyr ran in 4 tries in a 12 minute period to claim a place in the Principality Premiership Final.
Head Coach Mark Jones couldn’t fault the result “I thought we started well, and it was going pretty much to plan from what we discussed during the week. We had 3 or 4 good chances when we were in the lead but didn’t take them and paid the price. Our line-out didn’t function today, and we looked lethargic with no tempo. Credit to Merthyr and they were excellent in disrupting it and were clinical when they had the man advantage. The best team won on the day in the end.
The game opened with a few penalty chances, and the boot of Jacob Bodica couldn’t find the mark on a couple of occasions, but Merthyr fly-half Mathew Jarvis opened the scoring with his boot.
As expected it was a physical opening with both sides looking to gain that upper hand. RGC were being penalised for not releasing in the tackle, and it was easing any pressure the Gogs were building.
They were also putting pressure on themselves with a couple of poor kicks as well, which was giving Merthyr some ball and territory.
When they did build some phases they made some good line-breaks with Rhys Williams, Tom Hughes and Evan Yardley all creating chances.
Taking the collisions and shifting the ball quickly was causing Merthyr problems and the opening try came with some good footwork from Botica before he passed to Andrew Williams to score. Botica added the extras.
RGC were playing some lively rugby, but the Merthyr defence was answering all the questions asked from the Gogs backline.
The RGC line-out wasn’t firing either, which meant they couldn’t build on any platform.
Merthyr picked up try number 1 after the won some turnover ball, and punished RGC when the ball found space and Edward Siggery scored. Jarvis added the extras.
The advantage swung in the Ironmen’s favour when Henri Williams was yellow carded and the home side ran in a brace of tries before halftime. Phil Reece was impressive at the breakdown all game, and he picked up a try along with winger Kyle Evans. Jarvis manged the conversions to make it 24-7 at halftime.
Merthyr started the 2nd half as they ended the 1st with a try early from Rhys Williams to make it a huge challenge for RGC.
The 12 minute try spell clearly knocked some confidence out of RGC, as they struggled to get hold of the ball for any period of time. The set piece was again struggling and the Merthyr forwards were making the most of it.
Any of the attacking precision of the opening 30 minutes was gone from RGC, and Merthyr dealt with everting that came their way.
The pace of the game slowed as Merthyr controlled the ball, and the lead was extended with a couple of penalties from Jarvis and one from Dean Gunter.
RGC were still working hard in defence and they managed to keep Merthyr out on a few occasions, but it was telling the RGC backs were having to work without the ball rather than in hand. They did cross the whitewash with a driving maul, but were held up by a raft of bodies.
It may have been a tough day for the players, and it showed as they walked over to the fans at the end of the game, but as the dust settles RGC will look back on this season with some great memories and an historic Cup Final win which will never be forgotten.
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