The smile on the face of Pontyclun skipper Joe Williams at the end of his side’s 27-21 win over Llangadog in the WRU Division 4 Cup final told the whole story of an extraordinary 80 minutes of thrill-a-minute action at Principality Stadium.
Half the smile was pleasure, and the other half was sheer relief that his side were able to hold out at the death against a barrage of attacks from their rivals.
Meanwhile, Llandgadog chairman Telur Dyer allowed himself a grimace at the final whistle. The 35-year-old had not only played the full game, but seen his club get so close to upsetting all the odds.
His face was full of tears of pride and frustration. The game was there to be won – “I’m exhausted and gutted” – but the real story in defeat was how more than 1,000 fans trekked down to the Welsh capital to support his club from first minute to last.
“I’m gutted and it’s tough at the moment. But we have to remind ourselves that we got here in the first place and tomorrow will be a proud day,” said Dyer.
“It didn’t look good when we were down 24-7 but we were still in with a chance at the end. It was an emotional changing room before the game, and we were all emotional again at the end – especially when we were thanking our fans.
“We have to be proud of the fact we reached the cup final. We wanted to win, we didn’t come for a day out, and we could have won it.
“We scored some really nice tries, played well and had a few more chances to score. It’s just nice to share this experience with all our supporters and we’re only 33 years old as a club and we need to use this to kick on.”
The support for both teams was incredible, and Williams was quick to pay tribute to the Pontyclun fans for turning out in such force to back his players.
“We sold 750 tickets through the club, we put on five buses and sold 110 T shirts. It has been an absolute dream and this for me is where the game grows,” said Williams.
“We have an incredible junior section from U6 through to two senior teams and five women’s teams. It got pretty rowdy the night Harri Deaves came back to the club after winning his first Welsh cap and I think it’s going to be the same tonight.
“He is incredible on the field for the Ospreys and Wales and incredible off it at our club in the way he inspires all our youngsters. He is a credit to the town and the club.
“The game could have gone either way and we didn’t expect them to come out of the blocks as hard and as fast as they did in the opening 15 minutes. We absorbed the pressure, didn’t make too many mistakes and worked our way back into the game.
“They really were an excellent side, and they moved the ball so well. They made us dig deep to hold our line and that’s been one of our best characteristics all season.
“We’ve proved that by winning the league and now by winning the cup.”
One of the main reasons they were able to win was the brace of tries scored by new back row convert Jack Clarke.
“It’s the first year I’ve played in the back row because I’ve been a hooker for the last 18 years. I still haven’t played a full 80 minutes in the No 7 jersey as yet,” said Clarke.
“I’m used to scoring off the back of driving line outs, but it was a bit different today. This is my boyhood club and I was playing with some players I’ve been lining up with since I was six-years-old.
“You can’t get any better feeling than that. My boy plays for the U8’s and it is fantastic for him to have been here to see what is possible one day.”