LLANGEFNI 6
RUTHIN 11
DESPITE battling to a narrow victory at Llangefni, Ruthin found themselves slipping down the SWALEC League Division One (North) standings!
Bro Ffestiniog’s bonus point triumph over Mold saw them clamber over the Cae Ddol side in the table, but that won’t bother Ruthin too much as they warmed up for their big North Wales Cup tie at Pwllheli tonight (Thursday) with a victory.
With just three points separating Ruthin and Llangefni in the middle of the table both sides were looking for a win.
Ruthin started well, continuing with the good forward play seen in the SWALEC Plate tie at Llantwit.
For the first 30 minutes, Llangefni barely left their own half and Ruthin could have been 20 points up had their finishing been better and they had a bit more luck.
Winger Jamie Morris just slipped his foot into touch as he went over to touch down and prop Rory Stuart battled his way towards the line only to see the ball knocked on and the opportunity lost.
Despite this pressure by the Blues, Llangefni got first points with a penalty goal from scrum-half Carwyn Milburn while Ruthin were down to 14 as scrum-half Wil Davies was being treated for an injury.
Davies returned to equalise the scores with a penalty goal and with Ruthin still attacking, Davies put another penalty kick over just on half-time to give the visitors the lead at the break.
Ruthin continued in the same vein after the interval and when a Llangefni player was sin-binned, skipper Joe Palmer got over the line but the ball was adjudged to have been knocked on.
From the resultant scrum Ruthin won the ball and Wil Davies went over for a try which was unconverted.
With the score 11-3 it looked as though Ruthin would coast to victory, but Llangefni were having none of it and although down to 14 men after another yellow card, Carwyn Milburn reduced the arrears to 11-6 with another penalty goal.
As Llangefni returned to full strength Ruthin replacement Clwyd Jones was sin-binned and it was the visitors’ turn to defend against a lively Llangefni attack.
The Blues’ defence held and once back to 15 men the final 10 minutes was mostly spent in Llangefni’s half.
There was no further score and this was a good win to set Ruthin up nicely for their challenging second leg North Wales Cup quarter-final tie at Pwllheli tonight, which they go into with a narrow two-point lead from the first leg.