Glory night for Falcons as long wait is at an end

PONTYCLUN Falcons finally won a final as they carried off the WRU National Women’s

Cup at the Principality Stadium after a 20-7 win over archrivals Llandaff North Ladies.

The long wait to lift a trophy was ended by Kierra Deeks and her team as they knocked Llandaff out of their stride.

Deeks played her part by scoring two tries, but it was the all-round resilience and tough tackling of her team that secured victory.

“We worked very hard to get this victory, from players, to coaches and all the other helpers at the club,” said

Deeks. “We are finally bringing a cup home for the Falcons, and it is for everyone at the club.

“Our defence had been one of the things that had let us down in the past, so we worked hard on it and we absolutely smashed it. This means a lot to us and makes up for losing to North in the pool stages.”

Llandaff North started strongly, but simply couldn’t find a way to penetrate the Falcons defence.

Wales rugby league international Shaunni Davies was a tower of strength in midfield alongside centre partner Sophie Peters and fellow three-quarters Rafiuke Taylor, Niamh Tinman and Leanne Burnell followed their lead.

Fly-half Brogan Jones mixed things up nicely for the Falcons with her kicking out of hand and ensured they played a sound territory game. The setpiece was dominated in the first half by North, but when the replacements began to flood on to the pitch after the break the pendulum swung in favour of the Falcons.

Jones opened the scoring with a penalty in the 16th minute and then Deeks struck with her first try as she raced in after claiming an interception.

Jones added the conversion and North’s cause suffered another blow when full-back Amber Ruck left with the field with a shoulder injury.

Worse still, her replacement Tori Harte picked up a yellow card just before the break and within a minute the Falcons had struck again as Tinman rounded off a move which featured Jones and full-back Leanne Burnell.

North got back into the game with a try by No. 8 Keely Ward from a pushover scrum. Claudia Meyrick added the extras. But the Falcons settled matters when Deeks sniped her way to the line for her second score.