Fixture

A warm, sunny afternoon and a great playing surface were the perfect conditions for this North Wales Division 1 cup final. Both teams had worked hard to reach this stage; Nant had to overcome strong opposition in the form of Pwllheli and Llandudno, as well as Wrexham in the semi-final; Caernarfon brilliantly came back from 32 - 10 down to overhaul Cobra by 38 - 32 in their semi-final.

First-half tries by Caron Rhys Davies and Aron Jones, against a converted try by Caernarfon, saw Nant go in at half-time leading 10 - 7. Three second half tries by Brychan Dafydd, Tomos Williams and Sam Duncalf, together with two conversions and a penalty by Cain Jones, saw Nant pull away. These scores were answered by a try and a penalty conversion by Caernarfon to give a final score of 32 - 15 to Nant.

Nant got off to a fast start scoring after a few minutes. A break to the left by Sion Pringle opened up the space and his pass put Davies through for the opening try.

The match then entered a long phase where neither side could gain any ascendancy, promising moves coming to an end through mis-passes or penalties. This stalemate was broken late in the half by Nant. The pack had been under pressure in the scrum and Carwyn Ellis was often forced to pick up at the back. A scrum on Nant's 22 again saw him pick-up. Despite the attention of the opposition scrum-half, he fed the ball to Cai Jones. His break to the Caernarfon 22 was brought to a halt but he fed the ball back to Ellis. Ifan Emrys Williams was on hand to carry on the move and give the scoring pass to Jones.

Caernarfon hit back minutes before half-time. Sustained pressure by the forwards, following a line-out in Nant's 22, saw the Caernarfon second-row finally breach the defence to go over for a converted try.

The second half saw Nant playing more fluidly with both backs and forwards combining well. An exchange of penalties kept the score difference to 3 points. Nant came close to breaking the deadlock on occasion but were thwarted by the ball being held up or handling errors. 

The breakthrough came when Jones put Ellis through from a ruck. His pass inside found Dafydd in space and winning the race for the line. The conversion gave a 10 point gap and breathing space. 

Soon afterwards came the try of the game. A break down Nant's right saw an exchange of close passing between Caron Davies, Pringle and Carwyn Davies before the ball was moved inside to Tomos Williams who burst through a tackle to go over under the posts. This gave Nant a lead of 27 - 10.

Caernarfon, perhaps remembering their comeback against Cobra, preesed hard for a score. Several times they were stopped on the line, twice being held up when having gone over. They eventually got the score they probably deserved but it was not through their strong forward play. An attempted kick-pass to the left wing by half-back, Fon, saw the ball gathered by the Caernarfon winger to go over.

Nant then snuffed out any thoughts of a comeback. From the restart, a clearence downfield saw the ball gathered by Roberts who made ground before, three rucks later, the ball was quickly moved to the left wing to Duncalf who sprinted in from 20 metres out.

The last few minutes saw Caernarfon striving for a further score but they were shut out by a determined Nant defence.

A great finish to a remarkable season for Nant.