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Cobras star in Dunvant Festival!

After a delightful 17 hour drive from Caerphilly, we arrived in Swansea ready to compete for the prestigious Dunvant International trophy.

With a packed schedule and some of the strongest teams from Wales and England competing, this was sure to be a huge test of the boys calibre. Teams competing included both upcoming Cardiff cup finalists, Ponty and Pontyclun,  brilliant  Bonymaen, who will be competing in the Ospreys cup final next weekend, Bridgend Athletic, last years winner of the Ospreys Cup and an all star Dunvant Warriors team, who will be hard to beat.  

Incredibly, after five months of rain, the Dunvant sun gods decided enough of that…and in blisteringly hot conditions, the game was afoot.

The format was 12 minute games, no conversions, Marquis of Queensbury rules…

Match 1:  London Welsh 0-25 Cobras

This was a stunning opening performance from the Cobras, the lads were a little nervous at the start, but were at it from kick off, our friends from London were rocked by some of the best attacking rugby you will ever see.
Harry J, started proceedings with a lovely chip over the top, which Jac raced onto ..perfect start and we didn’t look back.
Cam scored a hat trick, including one length of the pitch effort.. backed up by a try from Shane.  London Welsh were never able to get their hands on the ball in this short format, but battled bravely throughout.

Match 2:   Cobras 15-0 Bonymaen

This was a huge test for the Cobras, Bonymaen had a huge pack and some big runners, it was easy to see how they have reached the final of the Ospreys cup….however, the Cobras were inspired today.  

In the scrum, we were simply too strong for them, driving them off the ball for strikes against the head and dominant on our ball.  One of these dominant scrums, leads to Shane running off the scrum to score, he is harder to tackle than a greased up invisible man…Bonymaen withdraw their props, they haven’t enjoyed the scrum battle today and won’t want to see Dan and Luke’s cute faces again any time soon.

Jacob is having a fine game, whilst Cam  decided to grab a further two tries in this game, as always running like Alan Wells in his pomp with a hand off that would have made Lomu look like a weakling.

Match 3: Brynamman 0-15 Cobras

Welcome back Rhys!  Brynamman are a solid outfit, they compete well throughout, but we have talented players everywhere…Rhys had a blinding game, and his running in the loose proved unstoppable here, the first was a long range effort more akin to the try of a winger and his second was pretty similar, the lad oozes quality.  Our other try was scored by Luke the Rhino…he is an immense athlete, big, strong and can run all day long, he carries and carries and earned his reward here.

Match 4:  Ystalafera 0-0 Cobras.

This match was a tough one: Ystalefara dominated territory and came close to scoring on several occasions.  Blake and Cole making tackles, Luca snuffing out threats on the wing,  Finlay and Max never giving an inch, Joey hitting every ruck, Sonny carrying bravely, Seth a firecracker at scrum half.  This was a game where our Captain really came to the fore, there isn’t a better jackler in under 13s rugby than Harry Evs, and it was needed in this game.   That was a tough one…but we are through to the semi finals..where will meet the all star Dunvant Warriors….what a game that will be..

Semi final:  Dunvant Warriors 10-15 Cobras

What a game this was! Played on the main pitch in front of a huge crowd, mostly cheering the Cobras on.  The Warriors had in their team, the full back who scored so many tries against us last year down Hailey Park , someone will have to stop him.

We start really well, with a dominant scrum keeping us on the front foot and Jack Llew working wonders at ruck time.  A great move, see the ball reach dancing Jac G on the left wing, big games call for big players and he makes no mistake..scoring the first try..but he’s taken a whack with that brave finish and has to go off.

Cam, having an incredible tournament, scores next, scorching down the left wing to score from our own half, what a finish!

But…here come the warriors…that full back catches a kick in his own half and races away to score it’s Deja vu, he’s a massive threat…

Moments later, he has the ball and races away to score..but…no…Shane isn’t having it this time…and meets him with a ferocious tackle into touch to keep the lead.

Cam has the ball and breaks through, he’s tackled short of the line..but turns to see Jac Smythe on his shoulder..pops it to him and he goes over to score.  Sensational..

Back come the Warriors..they aren’t giving up…the full back breaks through again to score…but that’s it..time is up..the Cobras win and celebrate wildly..but, hold on boys, there is the little matter of a final to come yet…

Cup Final: Cobras 5-0 Bridgend Athletic 

Bridgend had beaten a fine Pontypridd side in their semi final, whilst we had beaten and lost to them this season, so the packed crowd knew that this could go either way.

The opening went as expected, first a Bridgend attack then a Cobras attack, Oliver is very much to the fore in this game..and then..bang!  Jack Smythe throws a dummy and breaks the line, he’s a brilliant player and this isn’t the first opposition team to get a view of the bottom of his boots racing away.. he’s quick, but Bridgend have a quick defender…he’s about to go over, when a last ditch tackle hits his shoulder knocking the ball loose….

It’s a scrum on the Bridgend 5 metre line, their put in.. slowly…slowly..a noise starts from the crowd…what’s it saying…. 🎵 Cobras, Cobras 🎵…the boys hear it and nod, they know what’s needed here.. The Bridgend Scrum half puts the ball in…it’s a massive push from the Cobras..the Bridgend props heads come up as they are driven back and their back row is tied in battling to resist….the ball comes back to Shane, he’s away with a shimmy and a swerve and in to score…the Elvis of the valleys knew it was now or never and didn’t want the parents staying in heartbreak hotel Saturday night..though we were in the premier inn, which is pretty close to be fair.

From then on in, the Cobras controlled the game beautifully, rolling mauls controlling the action until Harry J kicks the ball out as time was up and the ref signals an end to the game.

Overall
What a day! What a brilliant all round performance from the wondrous Cobras…enjoy the summer boys you deserve it! See you next season.

Love and hisses  🐍 🏉  💚