Caernarfon will have the opportunity to gain revenge this Saturday at Bedwas in the Super Cup final, but it will take a huge effort to stop Swansea from claiming a league and cup double.
Cofis’ Jess Kavanagh Williams set the all-out attack trend early on but was halted by an excellent tackle from full back Rosie Fletcher. Swansea when in possession fed the ball wide where space was available but during the opening minutes the passing wasn’t quite crisp enough to trouble the Cofis unduly.
After some 10 minutes stand-off Kerin Lake looked to offload but fooled the opposition and strolled through the cover to open the scoring.
Caernarfon regrouped quickly and the forwards kept driving on with ball in hand reasonably effective but not always able to recycle quickly enough to trouble the organised Swansea rearguard. However with 25 minutes played another rumble close to the Swansea line saw Gwenllian Pyrs pick up, and with low trajectory, she squeezed over the try line.
A few minutes later Caernarfon gained the lead when excellent support play was rewarded. Centre Elen Evans made the initial break through midfield followed by Kavanagh Williams who fed Rachel Taylor who in turn fed Bethan Davies who finished off a good move by running in behind the posts and adding the conversion.
The pace and power of many on display was impressive, Siwan Lillicrap made one telling break as did impressive and athletic second row Amy Thomas. The former’s incursion led to a series of close quarter drives that finally saw Lake spin and score to bring the first half to a close with the Cofis two points ahead.
The lead was not to last long, as from the restart Swansea again pressurised and Lake, who fumbled the ball originally, re-gathered and wriggled free to score her hat-trick. Lillicrap also added the conversion.
Caernarfon responded once more with Evans yet again with the initial charge and Pyrs taking it on further. The third pick up and drive from the base of the ruck was afforded to Taylor and she drove with determination to cross the whitewash.
The element of surprise then out did the Cofis as centre Adi Tavener took a quick tap penalty and found fellow centre Ffion Bowen in close support to charge over. Later, with 60 minutes played, up popped Lake once again to squeeze over despite an excellent attempted tackle by Iona Evans.
With the hard surface and full on tackling taking its toll, a stream of replacements entered the fray. Jenny Davies featured prominently for the Cofis during the closing stages but the spoils went Swansea’s way as another Amy Thomas charge released Fletcher whose 40 meter touch line run took her to the try line. The afternoon’s scoring then came to an end when another constant recycling and defence stretching move led to winger Robyn Lock squeezing in by the corner flag.
Swansea will surely be favourites to secure the Cup next week but the Cofis can take
