RUTHIN 14

NANT CONWY 18

A HARD-FOUGHT weekend contest at Cae Ddol ended up with Ruthin picking up a losing bonus point.

It was always going to be a tough encounter for Ruthin as they welcomed Nant Conwy for their latest WRU League Division One (North) match.

As expected, the two sides fought out an enthralling encounter in cold conditions and Nant would eventually consign Ruthin to their second league loss of the campaign.

The visitors’ fast running backs, accurate offloads and good kicking caused problems for the Blues from the start.

After 12 minutes had elapsed, Nant passed the ball out wide to back Delwyn Jones, who crossed the Ruthin whitewash and Jac Ellis was successful with the conversion.

The Blues responded with an aggressive period of pick-and-runs in Nant’s half, but a combination of some handling errors and strong defence prevented any scores.

Nant Conwy cleared their lines and they were awarded a penalty, which Ellis slotted over to put his side 10-0 ahead.

Again, the Blues tried to reduce the arrears, but the visitors kept them out and around five minutes from half-time Nant Conwy’s Rhydian Jones went over the try line.

The half would end with Nant Conwy a comfortable 15-0 ahead.

Following the break, Ruthin again camped themselves in Nant’s half.

After battering the Nant line and being awarded repeated penalties, Ruthin were finally on the scoreboard when they were awarded a penalty try 20 minutes in.

At 15-7, there was all to play for, for both sides, but it was the visitors who widened the gap again with a penalty goal from the boot of Ellis.

Again, the Blues then piled on the pressure and both sides went down to 14 men with yellow cards after a fracas.

Despite this, the pace of the game didn’t let up.

Eventually, with Ruthin’s forwards piled up five yards from the Nant try-line, scrum half Cai Edwards passed the ball out where it was fed to wing Josh Wilson and he scored the final try of the game.

This was converted by full back Nathan Jones and the whistle blew for full time with Nant winning 18-14, leaving the Blues to come away with a losing bonus point for their efforts.