Swansea travelled north to take on Caernarfon and came away 41-14 winners while Pontyclun hosted Whitland and secured a 45-18 victory. In the remaining game, Cardiff Met drew 17-17 against Llandaff North.
The competition has been devised to support the Premier clubs to ensure there are competitive games staged throughout the Six Nations campaign. A lot of teams have players released for international duty but still have high numbers of players who need quality and competitive rugby.
WRU National Manager for Women’s Rugby, Caroline Spanton, said, “It is key we worked with the clubs to support them to keep playing so as not to lose momentum mid –season. It is really positive to see that these teams have increasing player numbers to warrant this new competition and even after just week, I we know this will be a highly contested competition that the clubs will enjoy.”
The opening round of fixtures saw Swansea record the biggest win of the day but the final scoreline didn’t do Caernarfon justice.
Swansea opened brightly and brought their threatening backline into action constantly. Elli Norkett’s first touch saw her in space on the wing and her pace and shimmy created enough confusion to see her clear to open the scoring. Beth Preece added the conversion.
Caernarfon responded and went through what in retrospect was their best period of the match. Beth Davies went close from full-back but it was second row Ceris Davies who added her momentum to a forward drive from a scrum to cross the whitewash on seven minutes. This effort was also converted to tie the score by Beth Davies.
Following sustained period with no reward, Swansea capitalised when standout performer Robyn Lock broke clear from distance to power over on the half hour to grant Preece another conversion and conclude the first half’s proceedings.
With the slope at their disposal, Swansea began exerting more sustained pressure whilst the Cofis were in some respects masters of their own downfall since they didn’t have a commanding presence to clear their lines when in their danger zone.
Loaned Nia Davies drove well before Natalie Watkins rounded off the move by charging over. Watkins soon scored her second by taking a quick tap penalty from five yards and charging over, this following a cracking try saving tackle by Emma Edwards on Norkett that prevented the expected grounding.
The Cofis had debutant Gabriella Rossetti to thank for much good work and with familiarity with her team mates will become a valuable addition to the team. The one telling Cofi break of the second period by Beth Davies appeared to be try-line bound but for the telling intervention of centre Ffion Bowen. However with the new high tackle law under such scrutiny she was a little unlucky to see her intervention being penalised and a penalty try being granted. Beth Davies brushed herself down to add the extras.
Another on-loan Cofi to the Swansea ranks, Sophie Richardson, ventured amongst the forwards for the first time and appeared to revel in being close to the action. Her initial drive was the catalyst for Natalie Watkins to once again be in support to beat the cover, score her third and with another Preece conversion cross the 30 point barrier.
Two tries were added during the final five minutes, the first seeing the ball pass swiftly amongst the backs for Norkett to squeeze in at the corner before Watkins rounded off with her fourth of the day, supporting intelligently, before picking up from close range and barging over once again.
WRU Women’s Premier Cup
Round 1: Results
Pontyclun 45 Whitland 18
Caernarfon 14 Swansea 41
Cardiff Met 17 Llandaff North 17
Round 2 – 29/1/17
Whitland v Llandaff North
Swansea v Cardiff Met
Pontyclun v Caernarfon
Round 3 – 19/2/17
Caernarfon v Whitland
Cardiff Met v Pontyclun
Llandaff North v Swansea
Round 4 – 5/3/17
Whitland v Swansea
Pontyclun v Llandaff North
Caernarfon v Cardiff Met
Round 5 – 26/3/17
Cardiff Met v Whitland
Llandaff North v Caernarfon
Swansea v Pontyclun
