Goodchild produced a spectacular dive to earn Cardiff a 13-10 Cup Final win over their arch-rivals Newport after Fish had put him in space 10 metres out in the 71st minute. With one defender coming across to try to cut him off, the former Wales U20 cap went airborne to ensure he reached the try line.
As he went over the top of the despairing tackler, he had his legs tapped and he did a somersault over the corner flag. Despite that, he still managed to touch down perfectly to finally break the Black & Ambers resistance.
“I would have liked him to get the ball down earlier but Joe took his time for his photo finish,” quipped man of the match, Fish.
“I was just delighted for him to get the score that meant we came away with the win. We knew it would take an 80-minute performance, so we have worked hard on our defence in the week.
“Everything we would have liked didn’t go to plan, but that’s rugby. Every time we step on the field against Newport, we respect them, and we got to battle until the 80th minute.
“Both teams are good on both sides of the ball, it was only one try each and we’ve scored plenty of tries between us over the season.”
Both teams are currently in the play-off spots in the Indigo Premiership and could meet again either in the semi-finals or final before the season ends.
“We just need two wins, although Ebbw Vale away and Merthyr home aren’t going to be easy games. Ebbw Vale have had a great season and they’ve finished just outside the top four and Llandovery are playing Newport in the final game,” added Fish.
“We’ve basically got two cup finals, and we could end up playing Newport in two weeks’ time. There are still three teams in the top four who could finish top of the table.”
As for replacement full back Goodchild, he was simply delighted to have scored the matchwinning try that secured the trophy for Cardiff.
“It was nice to have my family and friends here to witness that moment at the end. It’s something we’ve hard for all season,” said Godchild.
“Some results don’t go your way, but we’ve been grinding it out and we knew today was going to be a battle that could have gone either way but we’re buzzing to have the win.
“It looked pretty far out when I caught the ball, I kind of knew in my head what I was going to do, I was just praying that I didn’t drop it.”
