| With Ruthin chasing the title and Dolgellau looking to escape relegation this promised to be a keenly fought match. Ruthin were 14 points up within 15 minutes with tries from flanker Clwyd Jones and wing Kyle Davies. Both tries were converted by scrum half Will Davies. Ruthin then came under some pressure from Dolgellaus young and lively side. Following a missed tackle in Dolgellaus half winger Tristan Evans ran the full length of the pitch chipped forward ahead of Ruthins fly half and went over for at try which they failed to convert. Ruthin responded within 5 minutes after hooker John Meldrum forced his way through the Dolgellau defence and offloaded to No8 Lee Pope who side stepped the Dolgellau defender to go over for a try between the posts, converted by Will Davies. Ruthin continued their pressure with fly half Adam Robson controlling the game and allowing Ruthins backs to move the ball across the field and feed their aggressive pack. This pressure led to Ruthins bonus point try when hooker John Meldrum touched down after a great Ruthin drive over the line. Dolgellau immediately responded when full back Huw Wilcox picked up the ball chipped ahead of Ruthins full back and won the race over the line for a good try which they converted making the score 26-12. Ruthin continued with some great phase play with strong performances by second row Chris Davies and skipper Joe Palmer but there was no further score at half time. Ruthin dominated the second half with good performances in all departments. Replacement Richard Lloyd, playing his first first XV match, was strong on the wing and second row Chris Lewis continued his solid performance in the lineout. The game was free-flowing with few penalties on either side with excellent short passing from Ruthin when moving forward. On-form Lee Pope, having scored in the previous three games, completed his hat-trick in this game. Other tries came from John Meldrum, Chris Davies, centre Gethin Hughes and Jim Lyle (2) with Will Davies converting two of the second half tries. This convincing win keeps Ruthin in touch with the league title and they need to win their three remaining games well in order to secure it. |
