It could be argued that they made heavy weather of seeing off a weaker Whitland side than they had faced and given an excellent account of themselves against earlier in the season, despite being over twenty points adrift at the end.
The opening quarter was well marshalled by the Whitland eight, recycling ball for Emma Simmons at scrum half to snipe around the fringes or to hoist the ball down field.
Caernarfon’s first attack of note nearly paid dividend with a Bailey chip being hacked on by Felicity Smith who just failed to gather as the opposition closed in.
One lapse in the Cofi ranks saw Simmons dart through and had Angharad Williams at hand who was odds on to score until second row Sarah Patchett arrived with the tackle of the season to deny a certain five pointer.
However from the resultant scrum, despite being held up over the line on the first effort they eventually freed centre Helen Price who crashed over to open the scoring.
From this point onwards Caernarfon dominated for the remainder of the half, captain Cenin Eifion went on charges and on 30 minutes she took a wayward pass with aplomb before sailing over the line to score close to the posts and grant Bailey an easy conversion.
With spirits high and sound tackling by Alaw Davies in particular a further score was on the cards. A Davies break out wide, found Felicity Smith on hand and she was able to sprint clear and ground under the posts for yet another confident two extra points from Bailey.
The second half however failed to live up to expectations although numerous fresh legs were introduced. Whitland used forward power to good effect and succeeded to cause confusion in Cofi ranks as they were forced to back peddle and consequently failed to clear their lines effectively.
As pressure mounted it was not surprising, when with ten minutes to go, one sustained effort on the Cofi line saw Helen Price wrong foot the defence to give Whitland renewed hope with Cath Davies’s conversion bringing the West Walians to within two points.
To their credit Caernarfon, hassled and chased every ball and were rewarded with the decisive touchdown when Dyddgu Hywel joined the line at pace and was able to spot a gap to grant the Cofis another five pointer with only minutes remaining. This ensured that Whitland could not mount another serious challenge to salvage the match and the Cofi celebrations could begin.
The Cofi Ladies now have two remaining away fixtures beginning with a trip to Seven Sisters next Sunday.Â
