Pencoed had opened brightly with their driving play forcing Caernarfon to concede penalties. On entering the danger zone it was No8 Aimee Stevens who gathered, caught Caernarfon cold and charged over. The try was improved by Sam Trickey’s conversion.
Slowly the Cofis regrouped with forwards Leoni Webster and Brea Leung driving at the heart of the defence, others followed their example and soon play became more concentrated in Pencoed territory.
Following numerous charges a quickly taken tap penalty was fed to Webster and she crashed over to afford Sera Bailey an easy conversion. During this stage Jess Kavanagh was dominating proceedings by seizing opportunities to test the defence by varying play effectively.
Little thought that from a take against the head on Caernarfon’s 10 metre line that she would set off on a solo run that took her clear to score a fine individual try again added to by Bailey.
Lengthy clearances were putting pressure on the home defence and on being caught in possession the Cofis once again found a foothold in Pencoed’s red zone. A short penalty charge by Brea Leung was thwarted as was the follow up from Kirsty Holdsworth but enough defenders had been sucked in to allow Kavanagh to find a gap to score her second of the half.
To their credit the Pencoed Ladies rallied and as the half was drawing to a close they mounted one final effort to score what was possibly the inspiration they needed to inspire their second half comeback.
Stevens again gained good ground and on being tackled she found second row Charlotte Mundy at hand to complete the move and stretch over to reduce the arrears to one score.
The second half saw a reversal of fortunes for Caernarfon with the strengthening wind resulting in them being pegged back in their own half and the one less player becoming more of an issue.
After only four minutes of the half a failed lineout gather fell kindly for the Pencoed chasers and Stevens was able to sprint clear from 30 meters to score her second of the day in the corner.
Play became congested in midfield for a while with both backs and forwards tackling aggressively. However one long downfield clearance caused confusion in Cofi ranks and a series of mauls and scrums paid dividend when winger Leanne Burnell nearly crossed in the corner. The resultant recycle was brought back infield to allow Abby Read to crash over and following Sam Trickey’s fine conversion Pencoed found themselves five points clear.
Numerous positional changes were forced due to injury, Caernarfon being reduced to 13 and uncontested scrums being introduced. To their credit the travelling band stuck to their task admirably and put pressure on Pencoed on occasions.
They were also able to ensure that only one further try would be scored during the remaining 20 minutes. The score in question was a true opportunist effort by speedy wing Leanne Burnell who chased a Sam Trickey clearance and had the good fortune of seeing the ball bounce kindly into her hands for her to sprint clear and score besides the posts. Trickey again added the conversion to place some daylight between the two teams.
The final whistle was a relief for all concerned as everyone had given of their best throughout and to the neutral it had been an interesting and entertaining encounter.
