Caerphilly Youth RFC were outplayed by their Senghenydd rivals in the final of the District Youth Cup on Tuesday May 31, as they fell to a nail-biting 13-16 defeat.
Senghenydd, the fresher side after Caerphilly contested the WRU National Champions Final just three days previously, were full of confidence early on, but couldn’t carve an opening.
Minutes later, Caerphilly grabbed an early try as replacement prop Morgan Jones crossed the line following a drive.
Liam Waters added the conversion to take Caerphilly 7-0 up.
Both sides traded penalties as Senghenydd responded minutes after conceding, before another Waters penalty on 30 minutes restored the seven point gap.
Indiscipline from the Senghenydd side saw two players leave the field to the sin bin, but they weren’t deterred, adding a penalty on the stroke of half-time.
Caerphilly, however, were unable to capitalise on the extra numbers and the score remained at 10-6 at the interval.
Waters took his third penalty of the night ten minutes into the second-half, and increased his side’s lead once again.
Senghenydd rallied, regrouped, and started pushing the tired Caerphilly side.
A missed penalty didn’t dampen the Senghenydd spirit, and they followed up with a well-worked try from deep, drawing level at 13-13.
Caerphilly couldn’t cope with the pressure, and Senghenydd’s head of steam helped them win a penalty seven minutes from the end, which proved the eventual match winner as proceedings finished 13-16.
The victory secured the double for Senghenydd, having also won the Dragons Division C league title.
Earlier in the day, Nelson won the District Youth Plate with a 10-5 victory over Blackwood.
Scorers for Senghenydd were Dylan Reed, Lewis Blakely, and Tom Davies. The Mid District man of the match was Senghenydd RFC’s Conor Graves.
Caerphilly can be proud of the progress made over the last nine months, having made it to two cup finals.
Unfortunately, having been pipped to the post 24-28 in the WRU National Champions Final on Saturday May 28 by Nantyffyllon, their season ends on a difficult note.
• Match report and photos supplied by Mark Tamplin of Caerphilly RFC, with additional information from Gary Williams.