MOLD 2NDS 12

RUTHIN 2NDS 29

LOCAL bragging rights belonged to the lads from Cae Ddol.

The battle for Moel Famau took place at Mold's Chester Road ground, with Division Three (North) Ruthin 2nds yet again taking the spoils by winning the game 29-12.

The derby was billed as the high flying Ruthin side taking on the wounded Mold, so head coach Pedr Jones decided to recall some Ruthin heavyweights.

Deian Williams and captain Joe Mault came in to sure up the Blues' pack for the key encounter.

The game started in scrappy fashion with a number of loose passes and both sides not taking advantage of mistakes.

After yet another scrum, the Ruthin side decided to keep things simple and hands down the line allowed another comeback kid Kyle Davies to score in the corner.

Deian Williams was unable to slot his conversion attempt between the uprights.

Having claimed the first score, Ruthin then played some good rugby, but it was Mold who scored the next try.

After some uncharacteristically poor defence by Ruthin, the Mold backs strolled in to score underneath the posts and the successful conversion gave them the advantage.

With Mold now in the lead, their confidence was high and they started to throw some wild passes.

One of these passes went astray it was left to Huw Parry to kick through and chase it to the line.

Parry was clear to score, however a Mold winger decided to tackle him without the ball and clearly stopped a certain try.

The referee had no option but to award a penalty try, with a subsequent yellow card for the Mold player.

Ruthin managed one last score before the break and true to form it came from a rolling maul deep within the opposition half.

With such a dominant set piece in almost every game this season, it was no wonder that Ruthin forwards opted for the drive five metres out from the tryline.

In a very well organised maul, captain Joe Mault came up with the try.

Mold came back strongly after the break.

The Flintshire side's forwards grabbed the next try, which forced a response from the Ruthin outfit.

After good field position provided by Deian Williams' box kick, Dewi Penrhyn Jones threw an outrageous dummy which fooled no-one and he barged his way to the try line.

Some on the field felt that it was knocked-on, but the referee was adamant a try was scored.

Ruthin then went down to 14 players due to a high tackle from Alyn Addis on Mold player.

The last and final try of the day went Huw Parry, who finally got his score after being denied earlier in the game.

The result made it 13 wins from 13 matches in Division Three (North) this season and they have a healthy 21-point advantage at the top of the league.

Next up for the Blues is a testing trip to second-placed Machynlleth.