Cardiff Blue Dragons pulled off a shock 36-24 win away at North Wales Crusaders to qualify for the WRL Wheelchair Grand Final and send last season’s Grand Final winners out of this year’s competition.
The visitors outscored their opponents by eight tries to five, and the win margin could have been higher as Cardiff only kicked two goals.
Cardiff were only behind for six minutes in the game. They took the lead with their first set thanks to a Sian Morris-Parker try that was converted by Libbie Sargent.
Crusaders soon fought back as tries from debutant brothers Flynn Evans and Jude Evans, the second converted by Ethan Neilson, put them 10-6 up.
A second Morris-Parker try soon levelled the scores, before Flynn Evans’ second gave Crusaders the advantage again.
But that was it for the North Wales side as a Tomos Parker try and goal gave Cardiff the lead again, and they didn’t lose it. Two tries from Lee Sargent made it 24-14 to the Blue Dragons at the break.
Noah Evans, captaining his two younger brothers in the match, put Crusaders back into the contest early in the second half. Neilson converted to put the score back to 24-20.
But two tries from Lee Sargent, and one from former Crusaders player Wyatt Jones, put the seal on the match.
Wales vice-captain Stuart Williams did get a consolation score for Crusaders with ten minutes to go, and despite being enough time for a comeback, Cardiff held out to book their place in Llandrindod Wells next Sunday.
However, Cardiff had a nervous wait to see if they had qualified, for if Aber Valley Wolves had turned over local rivals South Wales Jets in Caerphilly, it would have been Wolves travelling to Mid Wales for the final.
But there was little chance of that, as the Jets, won 60-10 against a plucky Wolves side, with the match being played in fantastic spirit throughout.
A Jamie Reynolds try and goal got Jets started in the third minute. A Leighton Morris try in the corner, that he converted himself, soon doubled the scores.
Morris soon completed his hat-trick with two quick tries, with a Reynolds try and goal further increasing the lead.
Further tries from Dane Oram, that Reynolds converted; and Reynolds, converted by Brogan Evans, gave Jets a 36-0 half-time lead.
Wolves were first on the beard in the second half after their player of the match Lloyd Stonehouse raced 20 metres to score. Anthony Pennell couldn’t land the kick.
Morris and Reynolds soon went over for their fourth tries of the game, then Hannah White, playing in her first ever match after just the one training session, outpaced her markers to score. All three tries were unconverted.
A try and goal each from Morris and Oram brought the score up to 60-4, but Wolves had the final say through a second Stonehouse try that Pennell improved.
The Jets go into next week’s final with a 100 percent record. Kick-off at Llandrindod Wells Sports Centre on Sunday 8th March is 1.30pm.
