Pwllheli still in title hunt... but only just
PWLLHELI stayed in the Division One North title hunt after scraping home by the skin of their teeth courtesy of a 10-9 victory at struggling Dolgellau last Thursday.
Two first-half tries from centre Deio Brunelli ensured the Llyn side trail leaders Nant Conwy by seven points with five matches apiece still to play.
It was a somewhat fortunate victory for Pwllheli at The Marian, as Dolgellau will look back on several missed opportunities to clinch a highly competitive and entertaining encounter.
Played under floodlights, the pitch had several wet patches, which suited the home side, and they rose magnificently to the occasion.
However, it was the visitors who opened the scoring after six minutes. Pwllheli were pressing deep in Dolgellau territory when they took a quick tap penalty only five metres out, and centre Brunelli crashed over for his first, close to the posts. Stand-off Nick Butterworth’s conversion was wide.
A break by Dolgellau centre Eben Jones nearly saw wing Rob Pugh in at the right corner.
Pwllheli were offside during the move and stand-off Gerwyn Thomas put over the penalty to make it 5-3 after 10 minutes.
A similar burst by centre Dylan Evans led to Thomas putting Dolgellau ahead with his second penalty going into the second quarter.
With both sides handling remarkably well with a slippery ball, Dolgellau should have scored after half an hour, as wing Rhys Lewis, outstanding No8 Dylan Llewelyn and hooker Eon Williams combined well only to knock-on a metre short of the try-line.
Five minutes later the hosts were punished, as a swift counter-attack from deep saw Butterworth break for Brunelli to clinically finish off the move for his second try.
Dolgellau’s hard-working forwards were making good ground and flanker Rob Lewis carved an opening which eventually led to Thomas’ third penalty to narrow the gap to a single point with only two minutes of the half remaining.
The home team, one off the bottom, harried, chased and kicked intelli- gently and were generally on top during a scoreless second half, which ebbed and flowed from one end to the other.
Thomas had the opportunity to regain the lead for Dolgellau after 10 minutes when Pwllheli were penalised for a poor tackle on scrum half Jac Roberts, but the opportunity was missed.
Dolgellau tried their utmost to win it, and wing Rhys Lewis came close again. With eight minutes to go, full-back Gareth Hughes was clean through only for referee Amanda Lattuca’s whistle to bring back play for an alleged forward pass.
Pwllheli will have been satisfied to come through this one and a losing bonus point could prove crucial for Dolgellau in the run-in.