Fixture

Two teams who have not enjoyed the best of fortunes of late upped their game in an effort to secure a place in the next round of the Conwy Land Rover North Wales Cup. On this occasion it was the rejuvenated Cofis that had the edge, by having the nous to quell the comeback spirit that the quarrymen had summoned during the third quarter.

Pesda showed their intent from the off with fullback Gethin Long attempting a penalty from the half way line, however it was Cofi Aled Jones who opened the scoring following an offside call with five minutes played.

The Cofis enjoyed a period of dominance after having taken the lead with Mac Jones prominent and the rest of the pack swift to support. However a number of penalty calls at the breakdown allowed the visitors to clear their lines. Bethesda should probably have taken the lead when the astute Long took a high ball and with clever footwork glided through the defence but opted to offload instead of taking on his opposite number and the chance was lost.

Caernarfon chose to pin Bethesda back in their own half with Aled Jones and Carwyn Roberts finding telling clearance and cross field kicks. This spurred the forwards to up their game with Dafydd Hughes harassing all ball carriers and a charge down nearly bringing rewards. From the resultant scrum a series of drives and good ball retention by both forwards and backs kept up the pressure before scrum half Mike Downey finally found a gap and drove with intent to the try line. Aled Jones's conversion improved the effort and the Cofis found themselves ten points to the good with twenty minutes played. Soon a move deserving of a try was served up by the Cofis, starting with a run out of defence by wing Adam Thomas before a forty metre break by Mac Jones ably supported by Derfel Thomas brought the Cofis close. Prop Rhobat John was then only halted inches short but further drives from a scrum set up stand off Carwyn Roberts who powered through to score behind the posts to make the conversion easy for Aled Jones.

Bethesda rallied well before half time with Arwyn Griffiths solid and Carwyn Williams and Llion Lloyd gaining valuable meters.

The visitors, inspired by the pre half time comeback started sprightly and were on the scoreboard within two minutes with Gethin Long slotting the first of his brace of penalties. Continued pressure led to another offside call and the fullback once again dispatched the offering to further lift Bethesda spirits. Within a few minutes a long punt downfield was not fielded and this allowed Bethesda to further pressurise the Cofi defence. From a scrum, the ball was spread wide but centre Llion Lloyd opted for a path back around the scrum and found the required gap to get to the try line to bring the quarrymen back to within six points with at least twenty five minutes to play. The Cofis needed to douse the Bethesda flame fairly quickly and were glad of an opportunity to extend the lead to more than a converted try when an offside call gave Aled Jones the opportunity to successfully convert from thirty meters.

Bethesda to their credit kept plugging away with replacement Elis Jones linking well and taking the ball at pace before being brought to ground. Prop Dylan Owen and second row Llion Trefor  rallied the troops for one final onslaught but a harsh high tackle call and customary yellow card ended the latter's contribution. As a result another opportunity arrived for Aled Jones to nudge Caernarfon a little further ahead, an opportunity that he duly dispatched to give the home side a reasonably comfortable cushion of twelve points with ten minutes to play. Bethesda during the final few minutes were not able to mount a serious threat since they were unable to free the likes of fullback Gethin Long who above all others had shown that he had to key to unlock any defence if put in sufficient space.

Caernarfon therefore move on to the next round with a little renewed confidence whilst knowing that they  will soon face a stern test at Bethesda in the shortly upcoming league fixture.

Conwy Land Rover's Man of the Match accolade was granted to Caernarfon stand off Carwyn Roberts who did as much as anyone to steady the home ship when under pressure together with his good use of the boot and decisive try.