NANT CONWY 53

DINBYCH 15

WITH the return to league action after the Six Nations break, a bright spring afternoon and a surprisingly good Nant pitch after the recent flooding led to a free-flowing open encounter.

Dinbych played much better than the final score suggests.

Their forwards dominated the scrums, where Joe and Elliot Davies, Dafydd Jones, Ben Jackson and Lewys Eden again provided a solid platform for a fine performance in this phase of play by the pack. However, despite Dinbych's attacking intent, Nant had the upper edge in open play through their aggressive defence, physicality in the contact area and excellent support play in attack, which led to most of their tries.

After early sparring for openings by both sides, Nant Conwy took the lead in the eighth minute with a try in the corner by flanker Gethin Vaughan, converted by wing Steffan Horan.

Dinbych then had a number of attacking opportunities with centre and skipper Tom Seddon, left wing Kieran Bonnar and full back Gruff Roberts all stopped just short of the line.

Typically, Nant counter-attacked from the last of these, breaking up the right side into Dinbych's 22 before switching across the field for full back Sion Pringle to go over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Nant closed the first half scoring when centre Delwyn Jones beat several defenders to go over for an unconverted try.

With the breeze now at their backs, Dinbych kicked off the second half with some optimism, but this was soon shattered when Nant scored a brace of tries through Sion Pringle, one of which Horan converted.

Dinbych eventually replied with an excellent score from deep in their half involving inter-passing by wing Aled Evans, scrum half Jordan Wynne and Tom Seddon, who went over for an unconverted try.

Nant responded with another brace of tries by scrum half Guto Dafydd and Delwyn Jones, with Horan again adding a conversion.

Dinbych then had a purple patch scoring a brace of tries of their own, the first from a scrum on the Nant 22 with Gruff Roberts squeezing over in the corner for an unconverted try after outpacing the cover defence.

Then, flanker Dan Lawrence went over in the corner for an unconverted try following a forward drive from a short-range lineout.

Nant finished the game strongly with two late tries following short-range pressure on the Dinbych defence, with Guto Dafydd and skipper and lock Carwyn Roberts crossing.

A bonus for Dinbych was the re-appearance of Max Sharples at lock, but this was balanced by the loss of long-serving flanker Gavin Rizzi with a career threatening leg injury in the second half.