ON Saturday (30th December) Llanishen were the visitors to the Athletic Field and the teams served up a nine-try Christmas cracker of a game.
Cowbridge opened the scoring within three minutes with a penalty for outside half Rhidian Morris that was matched five minutes later by Llanishen’s outside half. Cowbridge scored a try through second row Jack Forsyth, started by a good run by wing Lewis McGann and then another when a quick tap penalty, taken by captain Adam Dix, resulted in a penalty try for holding a player back and a yellow card for Llanishen’s second row.
Penalties were exchanged before a very good run down the right wing by their outside centre resulted in a converted try. Another good McGann run and driving play saw hooker Max Lucas dab down for a converted try. Just before half time, a chip ahead by Morris was gathered by centre Robbie Brown to score a bonus try that Morris converted to make the score 34-13 at half time.
Llanishen were now playing with the wind and only minutes in they were awarded a penalty try for infringements at a scrum and prop Craig Boxall was shown a yellow. But Cowbridge fought back and a kick to the left wing was nudged on to McGann to cross and Morris to add an excellent conversion. There was concern the match may have to be abandoned when the referee went down with an injury but good work by Llanishen’s physio got him back on his feet.
Llanishen came back with driving play from their forwards and a converted try – and then another score as they again pressured the Cowbridge scrum and moved the ball to the left for their inside centre to cross for an unconverted try.
The tension was rising, with the score now 41-32, made more so when Llanishen added another penalty. Morris added another penalty to make the last five minutes nail-biting but Cowbridge battled it out to secure the win by 44-35.
Cowbridge narrowly lost to Llanishen in September and wanted to end the year on a high and they did just that. Against heavier opponents in the scrum, captain Dix did an excellent job in getting the ball away. But this was another all-round team performance and well done the coaches for engendering such commitment.
In the next few weeks, we take on the top three teams, with first up second placed Penarth away on 6th January, then leaders Llanharan at home on 13th January and third-placed Caerphilly away on the 20th. We are grateful for the terrific support we have had so far this year.
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