CAERPHILLY 87 – 7 NEW TREDEGAR
Saturday March 11, Constructaquote Stadium, Caerphilly
Caerphilly provided a staggering 13-try rout in the National Division 3 East A as they completed the double over New Tredegar at the Constructaquote Stadium on Saturday March 11.
The victory ensures the Castlemen keep track with the sides at the top of the league, with Caerphilly trailing leaders Hartridge by nine points with three games in hand.
The match against New Tredegar started at a high tempo, and the home side scored their maiden try of the afternoon within five minutes. Full-back Tom Candy rounded off a move out wide for the first of a four-try haul.
Soon after, flanker Josh Williams crossed the whitewash after a direct break through the visiting defence by winger Gareth Dare, who weaved his way through six tacklers. Outside-half Matthew Hurley added the extras from the tee.
Connor Kawulock was next over from outside-centre, finding plenty of room out wide from the restart, before Candy crossed for his brace and the bonus-point just before the half-hour mark from a sniping break from scrum-half Joe Bray.
Caerphilly were rampant in the loose, and showed their strength in the tight by exerting immense pressure on the New Tredegar scrum, pushing the visitors off their own ball for second-row Gary Davies to dive on the ball over the line. Hurley’s conversion was successful.
There was still time left on the clock for No8 Josh Hayward to cross from a break at the base of the scrum, as he ran from his own ten-metre line to sprint the length of the pitch for a simple converted try, and make the score 38-0 at the break.
If 11th-placed New Tredegar found first-half proceedings tough, their misery was only compounded after the interval as Dare grabbed his brace in the 44th minute, showing great feet to finish out wide.
Five minutes later, and the visitors were rewarded for their refusal to give up as centre Ricky Hawkins pounced to intercept a loose pass and cross the try-line. Full-back Rhys Edwards converted.
Caerphilly duly rang the changes and the impact of the bench opened the floodgates as five tries were ran in over a ten minute period.
The buoyant Castlemen cut their opponents to pieces, scoring from almost every restart.
Candy grabbed two more tries, Dare clinched his hat-trick score, and centre Chris Thomas helped himself to two before the referee blew up early to save further embarrassment with the visitors on their knees.
Caerphilly next face Blackwood Stars on Friday March 17 in a re-arranged tie.
• Match report and photography by Mark Tamplin of Caerphilly RFC.