RUTHIN 2NDS 23

LLANDUDNO 2NDS 19

THE Blues have continued their relentless march towards silverware.

In front of a large crowd on a blustery evening, Division Three (North) leaders Ruthin 2nds reached the semi-finals of the North Wales Bowl following an absolute rip-snorter of a game versus Llandudno 2nds at Cae Ddol.

Llandudno arrived at Ruthin with a strong squad and immediately it was evident that the boys in blue were in for a real match.

It was the Blues who took the lead with a Deian Williams penalty after 20 mins.

Playing with a strong wind at their backs, Llandudno scored the game's first try and the conversion saw them lead 7-3.

The tie continued to be defence focused after this.

Ruthin were running hard lines through Dewi Penrhyn and Gareth Edwards, but they were going nowhere.

Half-time came with no further addition to the score, but with Ruthin happy with their efforts into the wind.

The forwards came out flying for the second half, led in particular by Jason Humphries and Eoin Kent, who had superb games.

From a trademark driving maul, Tom Crawford touched down to put Ruthin back into the lead at 8-7.

Ruthin’s tails were now up and from another driving maul, Eoin Kent grabbed a try to extend the advantage to 13-7.

To their credit, visitors Llandudno were far from done.

After some shambolic Ruthin tackling, Ryan Pike scored in the corner.

The conversion was nailed from out wide and Llandudno were back in the lead at 14-13.

Ruthin knew time was running out.

After a number of strong runs by youth team flanker Carwyn Owen, Ruthin were awarded a penalty, from which Deian Williams made no mistake to put his side two points in the clear.

Then came the moment which effectively sealed the tie.

Deian Williams made a strong run through a number of defenders before his sublime offload allowed Carwyn Owen to score in the corner.

The conversion out wide from Williams gave Ruthin daylight at 23-14.

Llandudno scored in the dying moments to cut the gap between the teams to four points, but it was Ruthin who were the deserved victors and they now move into the semi-finals.

Competition sponsors Land Drover awarded the man of the match accolade to Deian Williams.