CAMBRIAN WELFARE 29 WATTSTOWN 18
Cambrian Welfare retained the Worthington Welsh Districts Cup after defeating favourites Wattstown 29-18 at the Millennium Stadium.
Julian Huntley, who scored 15 points in last season’s final, notched another nine, while centre Paul Martin, the star of Cambrian’s 18-11 final win over Wattstown, in 1997, repeated his act of 12 years ago, by again scoring a try.
Thus, Cambrian became the fifth club to score successive cup final wins, following Girlings (1974-75), Rumney (1978-79), Baglan (1983-84) and Trefil (2004-05).
The game started with both sides showing respect for each other before a clean break by Martin penetrated the Wattstown defence which ended with him being held up on the line.
Minutes later, flanker Steve Daniels went over for a try, though Wattstown got back into the game and on 20 minutes were awarded a penalty which fly half Nathan Bruford slotted, only for Cambrian to hit back as a charge down allowed flanker Anthony Jones to drive over for a try, that fly half Huntley converted.
Cambrian kept playing a running game and an excellent break by winger Bryan Evans nearly resulted in a score, while Wattstown in the last minutes before the break were awarded a penalty from halfway which just fell short of the posts.
The second half began with Cambrian full back Ian Jones following a bouncing ball to score a try that Huntley converted, yet Wattstown retaliated with centre David Gibbs making a break only to be stopped just short of the line before continuous pressure enabled No 8 Brett O’Hagan to drive over for a try.
More Wattstown pressure saw Cambrian give away a penalty which lock Martin Davies slotted over and both sides upped the tempo until a nice break by Huntley saw him send Martin over and Huntley converted for 26-11.
Wattstown conceded a penalty which Huntley goaled as Cambrian took complete control with No 8 Chris Davies making yards with drives up the middle as he forced Wattstown into making mistakes, but they fought back and right on time, Bruford scored a try under the posts which he converted.
