Cofis see off tough challenge of Llandaff

CAERNARFON Ladies can count themselves lucky to have taken the spoils 19-10 in last weekend’s league encounter against Llandaff North.

Former Caernarfon player Morfudd Ifans moved from her usual hooking berth to steer the Llandaff pack very effectively from No8.

Caernarfon relied on the tackling of full-back Beth Davies and centre Hannah Williams to stop the promising breaks of wing Keira Philpott and namesake centre Kirsty Philpott, who sadly was injured before the end.

The scraps of possession that came Caernarfon’s way were well utilised by Teleri Davies and Molly Shuttleworth.

And the inevitable breakthrough occurred on the half-hour when, from a scrum five meters adrift, Ifans picked up and powered over to open North’s account.

A try from speedy Philpott meant Caernarfon were 10 points adrift at the interval.

The Cofis introduced stalwart Jenny Davies for the second period and her leadership qualities came to the fore.

From a scrum in Llandaff’s half, quick and decisive passing via Nicky Crawford and Hannah Jones allowed full-back Beth Davies enough space to power beyond the cover and run in behind the posts. She also converted.

The Cofis had 20 minutes to seek the all-important next score but their best endeavours were met by stout defending, leading one to believe the visitors might well hold on to their deserved lead.

But then Teleri Davies tapped and ploughed a lone furrow towards the try-line, and with the eventual assistance of her fellow forwards crossed the whitewash to give Caernarfon the lead.

With the last play pending, Caernarfon conjured one other attack with stand-off Iona Evans opting to chip the defence.

Beth Davies won the chase to hack on and gather, and on being brought to ground, she found Evans still in support, for the instigator of the move to run in and score. Davies converted, so denying Llandaff a losing bonus point.