Fixture

The nature of the beast dictates that the memory of those who attended Saturday’s fixture at Cae Ddol, will be muddied by the unusual and unfortunate chain of events that led to Ruthin’s villain-cum-hero, Gwion Richards, slotting a gimme three pointer that saw the hosts snatch victory just before the second iteration of the full time whistle.

What had gone before was a tense and action packed encounter that saw momentum and the lead swing back and forth.

As with the previous week, Ruthin got off to a good start with some tight handling from the forwards keeping a lively Pwllheli defence busy.

This week Ruthin opted to cash their early possession in for three points when they were awarded a penalty, after a smart break from prop Danny Miller had given the hoops prominent field position.

Pwllheli, who had wrestled back parity in territory and possession, levelled up and then took the lead as the boot of inside centre, John Pugh, punished ill discipline from the home side.

It looked for all money as though the lead would be extended to six when Pwllheli were awarded a further kickable penalty.

This time Ruthin struck lucky as the ball struck the left upright. Although they were immediately back on the defensive as Josh Wilson spilled the rebound forward.

The subsequent sequence of play saw the hosts go from 3-6 down and desperate in defence to a 10-6 lead.

From the attacking scrum the visitors had managed to find a way over the line only for the ball to be held up. Having been frustrated by the new law last week, Ruthin were beneficiaries this week as they were able to belt the ball clear from a goal line drop out.

Pwllheli made a hash of possession as they looked to construct their next attack and after a spot of pinball the ball sat up nicely for Emyr Gwynedd who shifted through the gears to accelerate away from the scrambling defence.

The Ruthin captain raised his arm to salute to a healthy home crowd before dotting down to give his team command of the score board at the interval.

Ruthin extended their lead to 11 points when Arwyn Davies scored following a process he summarised as ‘Great line out. Great Dart. Great Drive. Class Try’

If the hosts thought their work was done for the day. Then they were mistaken.

Pwllheli were no longer in the business of pointing to the posts as they looked to convert pressure to points.

A tap and go from five metres brought them back into the game before a second try from similar range took them to the front by a single point.

Ruthin must have thought they were going to be on the wrong end of another one point game, when Iestyn Davies sent a penalty goal to the right of the uprights.

However, this last chance saloon was open for a lock in. A final attack saw the referee stick out his arm for a ‘blue advantage’.

When the advance on the visitor’s line ended with Bryn Sheppard going over the line but the ball held up, the common assumption was that the referee would revert immediatley to the penalty.

Instead the final whistle begun to ring out, but just as the fat lady was reaching her crescendo, the realisation struck that advantage was being played.

Penalty to blue.

Pwllheli were rightly frustrated with the process, having momentarily thought they had been awarded the win.

Once the commotion petered out, up stepped Richards, demonstrating an ice cool nerve to send the winning penalty straight down the middle.