Soaring high (From Western Telegraph)

Soaring high

Rugby Division Four (west) Fishguard & Goodwick 17 Cefneithin 17

Fishguard played really well to share the spoils with promotion contenders Cefneithin, with coach Chris Mitchell jubilant afterwards at the way his players had stuck to their task, despite the loss of influential forward Huw Morris for ten minutes at a crucial stage in the second half.

The Seagulls conceded eight points in that period but never once allowed second-placed Cefneithin to settle or gain dominance as Wyn Harries led by example up front and was closely followed by Ray Lerwell and especially Chris James, whose wife Audrey had presented him with his first son at 3am and had granddad Colwyn purring at the possibility of the nipper being a prop since he weighed in at 9lbs 13 ounces!

The Seagulls started well with penalties by Gerwyn Hughes after five and eight minutes, but Arwyn Watts reduced the deficit after Morris had been spotted retaliating and the Cefneithin winger slotted the penalty.

And that is the way that the scoring stayed until the interval, despite the fact that the Seagulls had real chances when Ben Wilcox was hauled down a metre short in the left corner and Steve Jenkins, Evan Davies and Rhodri Thomas all made breaks that took Fishguard within sight of the line before Cefneithin managed to scramble clear.

Watts hauled Cefneithin level within five minutes of the restart but ten minutes later the Seagulls scored a memorable try as Rhodri Thomas fielded a deep clearance and set up a counter-attack in conjunction with Dan Harries, who put big winger Ben Wilcox away on the left. He barged his way through two would-be tackles and raced fully 40 metres for a cracking try - with Gerwyn Hughes unlucky to hit the post with his conversion attempt.

Hughes made amends within minutes as he landed a 40 metre penalty and in a good period for the Seagulls they might have added a second try when Steve Jenkins kicked ahead and Jonathan Jones was within inches of claiming the touch down.

But then Morris spent ten minutes in the sin-bin and Watts kicked a penalty and scored a try, despite some yeoman work by Fishguard forwards Nathan Jenkins, Andrew Morrillo, Karl Phillips and especially skipper Evan Davies, with Simon James acting as a ninth forward in his role as scrum half.

Dan Harries and Jones went close for Fishguard when Morris returned to the fray but it looked like a Cefneithin victory as Watts slotted a dropped goal in a rare period of pressure.

But the Seagulls kept cool and another well-struck penalty by Hughes allowed them to deservedly share the spoils - although they had to endure a heart-stopping moment from the final kick of the match as Jonathan Morgan's drop-goal attempt fell just underneath the crossbar.

Fishguard and Goodwick were sponsored by 'Golden Oldies' Messrs Gareth Evans and Ieuan Davies.