Saturday 5th January 2008

Llandudno 18 CAERNARFON 22

To come away from Llandudno with win and a bonus point may have been high on Caernarfon’s agenda going into the game, but with less than five minutes to play the reality was looking distinctly different with Llandudno holding a slender one point lead. A lead that many observers would claim to be worthy of their determination and commitment. The reality is that the home side effectively lost this game in a ten minute period when ill discipline became the order of the day. If you look for crucial passages of play then look no further than the last ten minutes of the first half. In that ten minute period Llandudno reduced themselves to 13 men with two yellow cards for killing the ball and saw their line breeched to the tune of 12 points.

Caernarfon had the wind at their backs in the first half and expected to rack up the points. Llandudno had other ideas and against the elements chalked up a twelve point lead with tries from prop Danny Barlow and scrum half Pat Coy, with Rhodri Carlton-Jones adding one conversion. The Cofi’s struggled to put the phases together as the Llandudno pack played out of their skins. Caernarfon finally got some phases together crossed for their first try when Kelvin Morris found the gap and glided over for the score. Then came the moment of madness as Llandudno first went down to 14 men which saw Alan Mark cross for his first try of the afternoon following some excellent week at the base of the scrum from no. 8 Rhys Evans. Not content with loosing one man Llandudno were reduced to 13 men when the Rhodri Carlton-Jones was given his 10 minute break for preventing Trystan Gwilym taking a quick penalty. From the resulting penalty the Cofi’s put the ball through the phases and just waited for the gaps to appear. In the end they were queuing out on the wing for the final pass. It was wing Llion Williams who took the final pass and crossed for his fourth try of the season. With Morris adding the conversion the Cofi’s went into the break 17-12 up.

Llandudno came out determined to get back into the game and stunned the travelling supporters by regaining the lead within fifteen minutes of the restart with two penalties from Rhodri Carlton-Jones. With the score at 18-17 to the hosts it was time for the tense finale. Caernarfon were continually frustrated as Llandudno dug deep and prevented the Cofi’s from getting anywhere near the hosts try line. Llandudno managed to hold out the Cofi’s attacks until a mere three minutes before full time. It was in fact the first full blown attack that saw the Cofi’s venture into the Llandudno 22. With the phases flowing the inevitably penalty was concede. The difficult decision, go for the posts in the tricky wind or for the five pointer. Fortune favours the brave and the tap penalty was taken. Possession retained and the phases put together. The ball was finally sent out wide and delightful bit of work from outside half Kelvin Morris put in the killer pass to second row who crashed over for his 13th try of the season. It was now the Cofi’s turn to keep possession and hang on for a welcome and at certain times of the day could only be described as an unexpected away win. A win that keeps them 9 points clear at the top of the table.