Fixture

A crowd of around 400 watched another nerve shredding derby between Rhuthun 1sts and Dinbych 1sts with the result in doubt until the final whistle.  The visitors showed their intentions from the start with an effective driving maul from a line out in their half resulting in Rhuthun conceding a penalty on their 10 yard line which full back Gruff Roberts slotted over.  Dinbych continued their pressure but the Blues defence held and Rhuthun began to make inroads into Dinbych’s territory.  Blues full back Nathan Jones retired hurt which led to a rearrangement of Blues player positions.  The Blues were moving the ball round well but were unable to get through the visitors’ defence until around 5 minutes before half time when after working their way upfield from their own half sustained pressure led to 2^nd row Cameron Lumsden bursting through the Dinbych defence with a fine try which fly half Iestyn Davies converted.  After a period of play in midfield Dinbych had the chance to narrow the gap with a penalty goal kick but it went just wide.  The Blues returned to the attack and scrum half Phyl Roberts got over the Dinbych try line but was judged to have knocked on and there was no further score before the break with Rhuthun just ahead at 7-3.  Dinbych started the 2^nd half as they did the first with some good attacking play which the home side were finding hard to contain.  Dinbych had another chance to narrow the gap with a penalty goal attempt but again it missed the mark.   But their efforts were rewarded shortly afterwards when Tom Seddon crashed over the home side’s whitewash in the corner and ran behind the posts to touch down. Roberts converted and Dinbych were back in the lead.  Shortly after the restart there Rhuthun were awarded a penalty on Dinbych’s 22 and Iestyn evened up the scores at 10-10 with a successful goal kick.  With 20 minutes to go there was all to play for and the Blues spent most of that time in the visitors half frustrated by Dinbych’s competent defence. About 7 minutes from full time a roar went up from Rhuthun supporters when they thought replacement forward Chris Davies had scored but the ball was judged to have been held up.  Rhuthun glee was restored a few minutes later however when from the resultant scrum flanker Owain Jones forced himself over the line in the corner for an unconverted try.  With 5 minutes to go Rhuthun kept up the pressure but there was no further score and the whistle went with the Blues winning 15-10.