Cofis miss chance to close gap
CAERNARFON missed the chance to close the gap on the Division One North leading pack after going down to a 20-16 defeat at home to Bro Ffestiniog.
Their second defeat of the season saw the Cofis remain in midtable in the early standings, seven points behind leaders and defending champions Pwllheli.
The Cofis will have the chance to hit back this weekend when they travel to take on Bala.
The visitors fully deserved their victory, running out three tries to one victors and defending stoically during the final quarter.
The opening salvos were all fired by the men in green with a lengthy Huw James touch finder bringing them into the danger zone.
The clean lineout take and drive resulted in the opening try when captain and hooker Thomas James surfaced from the melee beyond the try line with ball in hand.
Caernarfon managed to see the scoreboard ticking over in their favour within the next few minutes when an offside call allowed fly-half Aled Jones to slot over a penalty.
Indeed, his clever chip 10 minutes later caused the confusion that led to a scrum infringement, thus granting him the opportunity to successfully double the Cofis’ points tally.
Bro bounced back, Mark Morris wriggling free of a tackle to taking him clear only to be thwarted by another fine cover tackle by Elis Roberts meters from the try line.
However, support arrived from an offside angle, allowing Huw James to restore Bro’s lead from the tee.
There followed a promising Caernarfon move that was snuffed out by a good steal from flanker Dylan Daniels before fellow back-row Huw Parry supported his 10’s clear break to accept the final pass and run in to score between the sticks. Huw James brushed himself down to add the conversion and give Bro a nine-point lead.
The Cofis knew they had to up their game, and this they did when a crisp backline move with loop, lead to wing Dylan Gwyn having enough pace to round the defence and score, Aled Jones’ conversion bring them back to within two points.
However, the lessons of the opening minutes were not learnt and when the under-pressure scrum yielded a penalty, it afforded Bro another lineout within striking distance.
On this occasion it was prop Dylan Jones, who had been prominent throughout, who added his weight to the forward drive and crashed over on the stroke of half time to give Bro a seven-point cushion.
Injuries to Caernarfon props led to uncontested scrums during the second half, with Bro dominating possession and territory for all of the third quarter but failing to find the telling pass that could have established a n unassailable lead.
On the rare occasions that Caernarfon succeeded in breaking out of defence, their unwarranted indiscretions infuriated the coaches, since rare forward momentum was lost far too easily.
Thankfully, wing Dylan Gwyn posed a threat whenever the ball was in his possession, and one break with full-back Elis Roberts in support led to the Cofis regaining the required confidence to attempt a comeback. PICTURE: RICHARD BIRCH
Things improved further when Aled Jones again converted a penalty for offside to reduce the gap to four, and he also rifled a clearance 70 meters downfield to set the Cofis up for a possible grandstand finish.
A steal by substitute Robat Griffiths led to a fine Iolo Hughes break but the cover again arrived just in time.
Other charges from the likes of Ilan Davies were dealt with competently by the Bro rearguard that was well marshalled by number eight and stalwart Dewi James.
As the minutes ticked by, the Cofis grew increasingly impatient and probably took the ball into contact more than required, thus playing into Bro’s hands and therefore enabling them to record a fully deserved victory.