photo by Ian Lovell

Cardiff Demons christened their return to St Peters by edging out Torfaen Tigers 23-22 to cement their position at the top of the Welsh Conference East.

Torfaen took the lead on six minutes after Jason Hill fed Steve Mayley who dived over. Entwhistle converted.

Jamie Iles got a try back for Cardiff three minutes later following a darting run from Gareth Jones and were denied a chance to score again on 15 minutes when Sean Gilbertson fed Neil Thomas but he was pushed out with a metre to go on the fifth tackle.

However they took the lead on 20 minutes after Iles went over in the corner

following a fine passing move. Daz White converted.

An Entwhistle penalty on the half-hour gave the Tigers two points back but the Demons went in with a 16-8 half time lead after Jones produced a moment of magic to touch down with White converting.

White kicked a field goal ten minutes into the second half but Jason Hill pulled a try back for Torfaen six minutes later with Richard Jenkins following suit three minutes after that. Entwhistle kicked both to put Torfaen into 20-17 lead.

Andrew Bradshaw had the perfect chance to put the Demons back into the lead having a clear run to the try-line but knocked on.

Entwhistle increased the Torfaen lead to 22-17 with a 67th minute penalty.

Wes Palmer set up Lee Drabble to score a try back for the Demons with six minutes left on the clock but Gareth Jones’ kick just edged past the post. However, he made up for that three minutes later after successfully kicking a penalty to give the Demons the tightest of wins.

Article by Ian Golden
17 June 2006