CARDIGAN TWO STEPS AWAY

WRU National Bowl

Cardigan 23 Denbigh 7

The buzz coming out of the Gollop Stand on Saturday afternoon was all about the prospect of a trip to Cardiff and a cup final appearance at the Principality Stadium as Llyr Griffiths and his men are now just two matches away from reaching the climax of this excellent competition.

The cup fever is starting to grip but there is still a long way to go and number eight Griffiths and his troops are not getting too carried away as there is a lot of hard work to be done yet.

Cardigan though produced a passionate all round performance to reach the last eight of the WRU Bowl and they were very impressive on the day against a team that were far better than the score line suggests.

The Cardi’s who had enjoyed wins over St Davids, Laugharne, Usk and Betws in the previous rounds were just far too good on the day for the Division Two North West outfit but to their credit the north walians came to play some rugby and helped produce the most entertaining game seen at the King George for some time.

Club captain Llyr Griffiths who led by example throughout with some big carries and come crunching tackles said that he was very proud of his team’s showing and said:” Yes it was a very good performance and I am massively proud of my team as we had worked so hard in training and the boys really put their hands up today.

“The scrum was much better than last weekend and the line out much improved and even though we are only two games away we are just taking one game at a time and the focus is back on to the league this weekend with Neyland at home.”

The large crowd in attendance were given something to shout about very early in this game as fly half Iestyn Crompton chipped over a penalty after three minutes to put the hosts ahead and this lead was extended soon afterwards when centre Emyr Harries rounded off an excellent move to touch down for the opening try. Back rower Gareth Clifford initiated this with a powerful burst and this was carried on by props Tomos Evans and Ben Hughes before Harries did the rest.

Another try soon followed as Cardigan dominated when open side flanker Kieran Hurley grounded the ball over the try line after a driving maul was walked in from the twenty two metre line and the touchline conversion by Crompton put the hosts into a comfortable 15-0 lead. Denbigh, who had threatened a number of times through their dangerous looking back line hit back with a try from pacey winger Aidyn Jones after the ball was moved swiftly through the three quarters and for the first time in the game the home defence was caught out and this was converted by full back Dan O Sullivan.

These lapses though rarely happened again as the overall defensive play was very well organised with the back row of Hurley, Clifford and skipper Llyr Griffiths in particular outstanding with the latter the stand out player on the field.

Cardigan increased their lead just before half time when following another bullocking run by loose head prop Tomos Evans, Marcus Castle took full advantage of a fortuitous bounce to claim the ball and barge his was over for a try to complete the half with his team 20-7 ahead albeit with a strong wind advantage throughout.

Denbigh started positively after the interval but they failed to use the very strong wind effectively and they spent a large part of the second half in their own twenty-two with the Cardigan forwards dominating at the line out and pushing them off their own ball at the scrum and it came as a major surprise that the only score of the second half was a penalty from the boot of experienced old head Crompton who kicked intelligently and marshalled his back line to good effect.

The visitors who were well led by captain and second row David Haydock played some lovely rugby at times through the likes of outside half Garin Roberts, centres Matt Hulse and Owain Davies and wingers Jones and Jamie Winning but the final pass was always lacking and they spilled the ball far too often in promising positions. Cardigan though defended very aggressively and they were well deserved winners.

This was very much a team effort but there were none better than number eight Griffiths and blind side Clifford. The Gollop Stand hadn’t seen the best of Clifford until this game as he had spent much of his time on the bench and had been restricted to sharing duties with another talented performer in Colin Davies. However the experienced back rower proved that he is a very much a big match player and the 6 and 8 combination is an area with very healthy competition with Gethin Jones and Sion Hughes also in the frame.

The line out was another area that was much improved with hooker Aled Phillips impressing and regularly finding his jumpers in Hurley, Griffiths and outstanding forward Dylan Davies. The half back combo of Llyr Jones and fly half Crompton functioned well and impressive centres Harries and Castle punched huge holes in the Denbigh defence.

There are though much bigger fish to fry in this competition and there is plenty of room for improvement especially with some of the communication and decision making around the fringes. Cardigan though look as good a bet as anyone to go all the way in this competition and they will be hoping for a decent draw. They have already enjoyed four fixtures at home already so will their luck run out ?

Both players and supporters will be eagerly awaiting the draw which is set to be announced tomorrow!