RGC1404 31
SALE JETS 17
TWO scintillating tries by winger Nathan Rees in an all-star show helped RGC 1404 break their Jets hoodoo at Parc Eirias.
The little Cardiff winger showed his class with two devastating finishes and in between set up a try for rampaging Canadian number eight Chauncey O’Toole.
Rees gave the Rebels a super start when, off a rock solid scrum on three minutes, full back Ciaran Hearn swept through a yawning gap to put the wing scorching over.
Outside-half Michael Raikes sweetly landed the conversion with his left boot, a weapon that was to be the most potent of the half.
Jets pegged the Rebels back with a penalty by Jack Turton on the quarter-hour but despite some furious attacking by both sides it was Raikes who continued to stretch the Rebels’ lead.
Even when prop Doug Wooldridge was in the sin bin, he managed to lift a Jets siege with a penalty and two more kicks had the Rebels 16-3 up at the half.
If their start to the first half was good, the way RGC opened the second was sensational and it was the sparky Rees who made it, slicing down the right to put O’Toole over
Raikes couldn’t convert and they missed a chance to go further ahead when centre Jack Moorhouse made a searing break down the left but made the mistake of trying to dummy the final tackler with winger Ioan Davies screaming for the scoring pass.
Moorhouse soon made amends with more direct running which was rewarded when Rees picked up a loose ball to nip over for his second try.
Raikes converted to stretch the lead to 28-3, but Jets responded and tries from lock Dan Hall and centre Mark Atkinson, both converted by Turton, brought them back to 28-17.
Raikes kept them at arm’s length with another penalty and RGC held on comfortably to post their first win over the Jets.
The visiting cause wasn’t helped when Sale’s Cameron Thompson was shown the game’s second yellow card.
Watched by a crowd of more than 600 this was another shot in the arm for North Wales regional rugby.
RGC1404: C Hearn, N Rees, J Moorhouse, N Blevins, I Davies, M Raikes, S White, C Williams, T Dolezel, A Baston, D Wooldridge, L Cudmore, D Partridge, J Sinclair, T De Geode, C O’Toole; replacements: D Blackwell, S Griffiths, A Lloyd, J Palmer, W Bown, T Hughes, S Woodward, C Malherbe, R Hopkins.