RUTHIN 7

BALA 36

DERBY delight belonged to the lads from Maes Gwyniad last week.

Bala went through to the semi-finals of the Conwy Land Rover North Wales Cup on the back of their convincing last-eight triumph at local rivals Ruthin.

Similar to recent matches, Ruthin started the contest competitively, but with a ball held up on the visitors’ try line and a missed penalty goal in the first 10 minutes, they were unable to convert pressure into points.

Bala cleared their lines and from a lineout on Ruthin’s 10-yard line, they mounted their first attack.

The ball was played out to the wing and Robin Jones went over for an unconverted try.

From then on, the Blues had to defend well against a fast and aggressive Bala attack and although they resisted for a time, the visitors went over for a converted try from Dave Yates after half-an-hour had elapsed.

The Blues tried to get back into the game, but they were not as quick in the breakdown or accurate in their passing or tackling as Bala.

On the half-time whistle, the pressure told and after running through three tackles, Bala's Owain Pugh went over for a converted try.

This made the scoreline 19-0 in the visitors' favour at half-time.

The third quarter of the game continued pretty much in the same vein as the second quarter of the first half.

Ruthin were unable to find their rhythm and Bala scored a further two converted tries via Ilan Rowlands and Arfon Rowlands, putting them 33-0 to the good.

In the last 20 minutes, the Blues, led by their forwards, began finally to put forward an effective attack and after some good phase play and pick-and-goes in Bala’s 22, flanker Jack Wilson went over for a try.

This score was successfully converted by Nathan Jones.

Play was more evenly matched for the remainder of the tie, but Bala had the last word with a penalty goal on the 80th minute.

Owain Aled kicked all of Bala’s conversions and the penalty goal.

Ilan Rowlands was adjudged the man of the match and he was presented by North Wales Rugby Union Council member Hywel Roberts with a bottle of champagne, donated by the tournament sponsors Conwy Land Rover.