Ruthin hold firm to beat Cefni in Plate
THERE was to be no back-to-back home double for Llangefni over Ruthin as the Anglesey side crashed out of the WRU National Plate to their Vale of Clwyd visitors 19-14 last weekend.
Seven days earlier, Cefni had prevailed 19-15 at Cae Smyrna in a Division One North clash.
The return produced an almost identical scoreline, but this time in the away side’s favour.
Part two of this east v west battle was again a very close affair.
Ruthin led 12-7 at the break, withstood a huge Cefni onslaught for 30 minutes of the second half, then came off the ropes to deliver the killer blow of a seven-pointer with about seven minutes left on the clock.
The islanders started very well with forwards and backs combining intelligently to put Ruthin on the back foot.
Their reward came after 10 minutes, when the backs moved front-foot ball quickly left allowing Mark Gray the chance to step inside his man for a try improved by Rhys Hughes.
When the visitors got some possession, they used it well as they stretched the home defence on the left, and then moved it smoothly to the other flank where Arfon Thomas crossed near the flag.
A misfiring Cefni lineout led to the scrum from which the break was made to allow Jordan Jones to cross near the posts.
This time Nathan Jones, whose kicking out of hand was very influential all game, added the extras.
Too many errors meant Llangefni failed to set up any further telling attacks in the first period; whereas Ruthin got very close to a third try when Thomas was bundled into touch at the corner flag.
With the breeze at their tails, the Anglesey men set up near permanent camp in Ruthin territory for the third quarter.
However, like the previous Saturday, the visitors repelled the forward charges with grit-like determination.
It seemed as if Cefni had forgotten about the 15-man game of the first 10 minutes, as they resorted to an over-dependence on brute force.
After the visitors had changed their props, they managed to out-scrummage Cefni at many crucial scrums and nullify the attacking threat.
A home attacking lineout was similarly negated when a mis-throw led to a turnover.
With their set-piece misfiring, it is hard to understand why Llangefni spurned two chances to kick at goal.
And then came that third Ruthin try when Nathan Jones was given a hole to run through before feeding Emyr Gwynedd who crossed near the posts. Jones added the extras for 19-7 and game over.
Cefni got a deserved consolation try at the death, when Sior Grieves engineered the space for Greg Horsman to score near the posts. The Hughes conversion marked the end of the game.