Caernarfon were narrowly beaten after a spirited second half comeback by Pencoed in this Division 1 clash played at Llangefni. Both sides had not had the best of starts to their seasons so it was anticipated that the whole affair would be close from the off.
This was exactly the way it panned out with the opening exchanges being very even and the game flowing from one side of the field to the other. The tackling was as always uncompromising with numerous bumps and bruises needing treatment but the game was played in excellent spirit by all involved.
Dyddgu Hywel at fullback began posing problems with her long kicks or her tactic of running strongly at the heart of the Pencoed defence. On twelve minutes she caught a high ball and decided to challenge her opposition down the tramline. Seconds later she had succeeded to break free of numerous tackles and found herself free to run in from twenty meters. Sara Bailey slotted over the conversion to extend the point’s tally.
Good harassing and early tackles was the order of the day so Pencoed were kept at bay despite some valiant efforts from around the rucks and mauls to gain ground. Mid way through the half with flanker, Isi Rees, putting pressure on everyone with ball in hand, the ball was shovelled to Robin Wilkins, who’s one error of the day granted Bailey the time to charge down the clearance kick and with some deft footwork was able to control and ground the ball close to the posts. Another successful conversion followed after having regained composure.
The beginning of the second half saw a repeat of last week’s weaknesses with the Cofis failing to clear their lines thus allowing Pencoed momentum and belief that they could salvage the match.
The Cofi scrum was under pressure and consequently the tiring bodies were failing to counter ruck with the same enthusiasm as before. Following a series of scrums close to the Cofi line the ball popped out untidily and Louise Jones the Pencoed scrum half was quickest to react and score Pencoed’s opening points. Fly half Wilkins added the extras.
Caernarfon’s centres, Felicity Smith and Alaw Davies chased and harassed everything and gave Caernarfon an occasional foothold in Pencoed territory but they were not able to sustain pressure and capitalise. On the contrary one long downfield kick by Pencoed saw the winger burst clear and although she was eventually halted, good, quick hands saw assured Robin Wilkins squeeze in by the corner flag for a well worked try. The conversion missed but only two points separated the sides at that point, with twenty minutes remaining.
Caernarfon regrouped and staged a mini revival gaining a penalty opportunity on the twenty-two that Sara Bailey struck very sweetly to extend the advantage to five points. Pencoed however reverted to the pick up and go tactic and soon edged ever closer to the Cofi try line.
With Cofi captain Cenin Eifion injured the scrums became uncontested for the remaining five minutes and one such scrum gave Pencoed the attacking opportunity required to leash one series of drives that eventually saw centre Nerys Lloyd crash over with numbers in attendance to gain favour with the official as regards grounding. With scores tied Wilkins was coolness personified as she slotted the winning conversion to screams of joy from Pencoed’s travelling faithful.
The Caernarfon Ladies have a well-deserved rest this Sunday before travelling to Kidwelly in early October to attempt to overturn the one point deficit they suffered in the final minute of last seasons campaign.
Please note that this game was played last Sunday (23rd September) and accidentally missed out of last weekend's match reports.
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