Saturday 12th January

CAERNARFON 41– 05 Newtown

The result was in little doubt as high flying Caernarfon did the demolition job in racking up the required four tries in less than fifteen minutes to claim the vital bonus point win. With 20 points massed in such a short time the large crowd could have been forgiven for sitting back and relaxing while the cricket score was racked up. Whilst more tries did come the final count was a mere seven, six of which were scored by the interval.

At the break the Cofi’s held a 34-0 lead with tries from centre Rhydian Jones who bagged two, wing Robert Farrah, flanker Andrew Williams, second row Alan Mark and outside Kelvin Morris who also added two conversions. The pick of the try was the opening score when Robert Farrah collected a defensive kick out from the Newton half. Collecting the ball on his own 10m line, Farrah got his first real chance this season to turn on the gas. With dazzling pace he sped all the way down the wing, leaving defenders stranded as he went over on the corner. Caernarfon’s second try went to another youngster, Andrew Williams, who showed typical back row commitment in racing across the field to support his backs after the Cofi’s won a Newtown scrum against the head. The tries kept coming but the feeling on the sidelines was that had a little more composure been taken the score could and should have been a lot higher.

With the game won a number of changes were made at the interval to save a few legs for next week’s crucial fixture against Colwyn Bay. It was also an opportunity for coaches, Ieuan Jones and Richard Williams to have a look at some of the up and coming talent. The reorganisation took time to gel and the Cofi’s were far from convincing. As for Newtown they came out determined to play their part and put in a spirited performance and limited the second half score to a mere 7-5 to the Cofi’s. It was the captain, Trystan Gwilym, who added the Caernarfon try with Mathew Thomas adding the conversion with prop Darren Evans getting on the score sheet for Newtown. The final score 41-5 and the nine point lead maintained at the top of the table.