Caerphilly close to a steal as Caley fail to stay concentrated

Caerphilly 30 - Glasgow caley 34 CALEY sizzled in the first half at Virginia Park - then appeared to fall victims to sunstroke as the cricket score they had promised failed to materialise.

It was a weary and relieved Reds side that trooped off after clinging on for their seventh success of the Welsh/Scottish League campaign.

Coach Richie Dixon will surely drum into his players that a similar second-half fadeout would result in dire consequences when they take on star-packed Swansea at Hughenden on Friday night.

The bone-hard surface and a desire to run enabled Glasgow to put their hosts under early pressure and within three minutes, fly-half Tommy Hayes was gifted a penalty to break the deadlock.

Caley kept up the pressure and stretched their lead in the 10th minute after Caerphilly had held on for fully 90 seconds on their own line. Lock Stewart Campbell celebrated a rare try that Hayes converted from close in.

Caerphilly were leaking like a sieve behind the scrum and Glasgow were looking an odds-on certainty to complete the double - and by a country mile.

However, it was Caerphilly who should have scored next. Scrum- half Chris Bridges took the ball on the burst and when Chester Robinson latched on to a flat pass he should have finished decisively. However, fine cover defence kept him out and Caley got out of jail thanks to Hayes.

Glasgow then missed out. Great work from the forwards took them to the Caerphilly line, but John Petrie was unable to scramble over.

In half an hour Gordon Simpson started a sweeping move involving backs and forwards in his own half and after Hayes had helped his pack into the Caerphilly 22, Simpson was on hand to dive in at the corner.

On the stroke of half time, Chris John snapped up a penalty chance for the home side, but looked as if nothing that was going to put Glasgow off their stride.

The Caerphilly revival began when prop Mike Wilson went over, but Glasgow were not to be outdone. Rowen Shepherd was the architect of most of their moves and he scored after slick work by Hayes and Simpson - then repeated the dose, Hayes converting the second effort.

Caerphilly were certainly not dead and two tries, first from John and then from flanker Ben Watkins after a wonderful solo break from Jonathan Hooper, brought them to within nine points.

But just as the home crowd were stirring, Simpson pounced on an error from Hooper to stroll over the line for Hayes to convert and ease the jitters.

However, Chester Robinson snatched a double to give the Cheesemen the last word and make it too close for comfort for the Reds.

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