Ruthin were only able to take 16 players to high flying Pwllheli and by the second half the lack of fresh legs showed as the home side won by 71 points to 3 in an entertaining game. Ruthin were first out of the blocks with early pressure and a penalty goal from second row Deian Lloyd Williams after 7 minutes. Pwllheli responded quickly however with intelligent play out to the wing leading to two two converted tries in 8 minutes. For the next 10 minutes the Blues defended well against a robust Pwllheli attack but eventually after 30 minutes play the home side went over for another converted try. Ruthin responded with some good play and pressure but as in recent league games were not able to convert the pressure into points. Just before half time Pwllheli cleared their lines and were back in the visitor’s 22 and on 40 minutes got their bonus point try, also converted. In the 2nd half Ruthin played their hearts out for the full 40 minutes but were unable to contain the impressive free flowing rugby from Pwllheli. There was no respite for the Blues in the scrum as Pwllhlei also had ascendancy in the second half. Towards the end of the second half the home side were able almost to score tries at will and ran in 7 of their 11 tries in that period, 4 of which were converted. This will probably be Ruthin’s toughest encounter of the season but credit has to go the players who made the journey for their club and played with such commitment. Special mention goes to fly half Iestyn Davies who travelled from Loughborough to play for his team.
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