Caernarfon, who scored their first try within the opening minute, must have thought that they were in for a scoring fest but soon found themselves embroiled in a tense, keenly contested and energy sapping game.
From the kick-off, the ball was pinched by Rachel Taylor who fed the backs to allow Nicky Crawford to charge over from 10 metres with full back Beth Davies adding the conversion.
Captain Emma Edwards was in her usual thundering tackling mode, thus keeping Llandaff North at bay but others for the home side began to adjust and were themselves inspirational in leading their revival, none more so than full back Emily Kitchen and flanker Morfudd Ifans.
An unwarranted comment and obstruction resulted in Caernarfon gaining an added 20 metres and on her second spectacular hand-off Jenny Davies was able to cross and give the away side a fairly handsome 14 point lead together with the added extras off the crossbar from Beth Davies.
Meg O’Sullivan stopped numerous strong Cofi charges and prop Nia Jones impressed with a number of strong runs. Becky Newton at standoff was however the playmaker varying her tactics well and bringing others on to the ball at pace. This nearly resulted in two tries for the home side but twice successful grounding was denied. However, her own charge following a crooked feed at a scrum deservedly brought reward with the conversion halving Caernarfon’s lead.
Llandaff North attempted to keep the ball alive and when winger Ffion Bennett beat her opposite number she got into the danger zone and with the support of others was able to release quick ball that led to Cassie Horrobin crossing in the far corner.
It was evident that the next score could be very significant as regards the game’s outcome and with the Cofis beginning to put a few phases together they kept up enough pressure to finally release Beth Davies who had enough pace on the outside to score following the initial gain line crossing break by Nicky Crawford.
Caernarfon scuppered a few possible point scoring opportunities electing to charge rather than kicking to create more of a cushion. However with Lauren Hassett having joined the fray on the wing her first touch of the ball from a lineout steal saw her show a clean pair of heels to would be chasers to score out wide.
With all tiring towards the end, a clearance kick out of defence fell into the arms of Davies who set off on a strong touchline run that resulted in her evading all possible tacklers to score a wonderful solo effort and therefore give Caernarfon what appeared to be a fairly convincing victory that was in theory anything but.
