PWLLHELI 22

BALA 23

WHAT a way to win a game of rugby!

Over the last few seasons, meetings between Pwllheli and Bala have been won by the former by a point or two.

However, the boot was certainly on the other foot over the weekend, as the men from Maes Gwyniad achieved a 23-22 success on their travels.

Bala went into the contest on the back of a confidence boosting home triumph over Caernarfon seven days earlier, but it was all Pwllheli during the opening stages of the match.

The hosts raced into a 15-0 lead inside the opening quarter-of-an-hour and it looked like it was going to be a long afternoon for Bala.

After this early blitz, Bala began clawing their way back into the contest and an unconverted try cut the gap between the teams to 10 points at the interval.

Bala continued chiselling away at their deficit when the second half got underway and a couple of penalties from Llion Jones cut the difference between the teams to just four points.

Arfon Rowlands was a replacement during the course of the afternoon and he grabbed the crucial try that gave Bala the lead for the first time.

Llion Jones added the extras to put the visitors 18-15 ahead.

However, an error from the visitors soon allowed Pwllheli to regain their advantage.

A kick was charged down by the home defence and Pwllheli made the most of this to run in a converted try under the posts.

This appeared to have sealed a sixth win of the campaign for Pwllheli, but Bala had once further opportunity when they won a penalty deep into stoppage time.

From the ensuing lineout, the Bala pack drove over the line for Arfon Rowlands to claim his second try of the afternoon.