Fixture

Match Report - Dragons Cup - Caerphilly v Pill Harriers and Nelson - Sunday 17 February - KO 16.30

Caerphilly v Nelson

It was a showery and overcast Sunday afternoon that greeted an eager Caerphilly team to the Ystrad Mynach Centre of Excellence.

From the start a great scrum provides the opportunity for Will Haley to clear the Caer lines and put Nelson on the back foot. A wonderful follow up tackle from Eli Weekes and Lewis Adams puts Nelson under pressure, but they manage to clear their lines.

Nelson show their forward strength and make good ground to set up a line out 5 yards out. They lose the ball though and Tylor Williams makes a thunderous handoff and offloads to Ellis Hughes who makes good ground to the 22. Nelson win the put in at scrum time and make ground again with Wil Lewis making a try saving tackle on the line. The visitors keep on coming through and eventually from the next scrum their strong centre runs through some flailing tackles to score and take a deserved lead 0-7.

Caer maintain their composure though and a great kick ahead by Wil Haley puts pressure on Nelson, causing a fumble and the ball moves crisply to Danny Richards who offloads to Scott Pritchard to score under the posts and tie the scores 7-7.

Another well positioned attacking kick from Will Haley followed up by great pressure at the ruck, wins a penalty and Haley slots from long distance for a 10-7 lead.

Nelson exert further forward pressure but this time Ioan Hill wins the ball at breakdown and Danny Richards takes the ball up and sets back. Lewis Adams spreads the ball and Ioan Hill draws and gives to Scott Pritchard to score the second try for a 15-7 lead.

From the restart a nice exit kick by Connor Mayo is followed up strongly by Eli Weekes and the pack win the turnover. The ball is then spread along the line by Louis Bellamy who times a nice pass to Ellis Hughes to score on the wing - 20-7. By now momentum is well and truly with the Caer XV and great vision by Wil Haley sees a perfectly weighted cross kick which Cian O’Sullivan picks up and cuts inside 2 tackles to score - Final Score - 27-7 

Caerphilly v Pill

With Caer still confident from Round 1 victory, Pill leave the Kick-Off bounce and from the resultant ruck penalty Scott Pritchard takes a quick tap and feeds Tylor Williams to set up a scrum 5 and eventual try for Will Haley - 7-0. The next play sees a kick back from Pill which is taken by Ellis Hughes who runs in to score 12-0.

A great take from Cian O’Sullivan from the KO wins another penalty and Caer clear their lines. Eventually, Pill win a penalty of their own, but it’s kept in play by Ellis Hughes and he runs and passes to Ioan Hill who straightens up and passes to Louis Bellamy who draws the man and passes to Will Haley who beats one and then makes a well-timed pass to Danny Richards for the third score of the match. 

The next score sees a great line out win and Wil Lewis passes to Scott Pritchard running on to it at pace. He then passes along the line and Danny Richards makes a well-timed pass for Huw Ashman to crash over through 3 tackles for a 22-0 lead. 

The wave of passing and running is now a joy to watch. This time it is the turn of the bulldozing Abhishek to take the ball forward from a great short line out from Ioan Hill. A quick pass from the base then sets up Will Haley to release Connor Mayo who cuts inside to score - 27-0.

Caer then turn over the line out and Abhishek releases Will Haley, who passes to Danny Richards to burst through 4 tackles and stretch out to score for the final try - 34-0.

Well done to the boys for showing great game management and composure today - doing the basics well, kicking tactically, running straight and passing to boys in space to score some great tries. Onwards to play Newbridge in the Semi-Final in April. #togetherasone

Written By - Warren Lewis