Fixture

Llandudno RFC | 1st Team 33 - 39 Pwllheli RFC | 1st Team
Osian Jones
2 Conversion
5 Penalty
Deio Llwyd Brunelli
1 Try
Dafydd Anwyl Williams
2 Try
John Pugh
1 Try

Match Report
16 May 2016 / Team News

Llandudno RFC 33 Pwllheli RFC 38

This was the final match of the long punctuated season for both Clubs.A win for Llanduno would seal a third place spot in the League. For Pwllheli the prize was far greater. A win would give them the League title for the second consecutive season. In ideal rugby conditions and supported by several hundred of their faithful fans Pwllheli knew that they had to be close to their best  to get the result they needed.

 

The opening minutes were all Pwllheli. Within a minute they had the opportunity to take the lead with a long distance penalty but the kick drifted wide. Two minutes later Osian P. Jones made amends with a successful penalty. LLandudno drew level three minutes later with a penalty from their full back Ryan Pike.Pwllheli used a kicking game but Llandudno's star player full back Ryan Pike dealt comfortably with most of the kicks. However Pwllheli kick chase has improved of late. On fourteen minutes the Llandudno cover tried to run from defence. They were chopped down and Pwllheli recycled the ball and switched it left. Quick hands put centre Dafydd Anwyl in the clear.and he beat the cover to touch down. The conversion missed. Both teams tried to move the ball wide but the tackling was precise and bone jarring.Twenty five minutes in Pwllheli again used recycled ball well. Setting up a driving maul twenty metres out Pwllheli were irresistible and number eight Tom Parry crashed over. The successful conversion by wing Osian Parry Jones took Pwllheli twelve points up. Better was to come for the Lleyn side as Osian P.Jones slotted a penalty from the half way line. Llandudno reacted positively and they took the fight to Pwllheli. Pwllheli then lost fly half John Pugh who was carded for what was deemed to be a deliberate knock on.They reduced the arrears with a Ryan Pike penalty. However it was Pike who had the final say of the half for Llandudno. He set a few Pwllheli hearts fluttering when he added another penalty to take the half time score to Llandudno nine Pwllheli eighteen.

 

Llandudno rattled Pwllheli with a powerful start in the second period. After only four minutes they cut the deficit to only two points with a try by their wing Huw Griffith.Pike's conversion was successful. With the game now flowing both sides had periods of ascendancy. On eight minutes Osian P.Jones gave his side some breathing space with another penalty.. The respite was short lived as Pike added a penalty for the home side. Three minutes later Pwllheli succumbed to a forward drive by the beefy Llandudno pack with flanker Bobbi Davies touching down. The excellent conversion by  Pike put his side twenty six points to twenty one in the lead. Pwllheli are a resilient side and the deficit was soon reduced with an Osian P.Jones penalty. On twenty eight minutes a slickly executed passing move put fly half John Pugh clear as he cut through to score under the posts.Jones slotted the conversion.On thirty two minutes Pwllheli's forwards put in a powerful thrust down the centre of the pitch. The ball was released to centre Dafydd Anwyl who scythed through to score his second and try bonus point score. Osian P.Jones took the score to thirty eight to twenty six with his successful conversion. Llandudno were not done. On thirty eight minutes a delicate cross kick found Ryan Pike on the right wing. He took the ball well and touched down. He converted his own  try to reduce the deficit to only five points.

 

The whistle went two  minutes later. This was a match worthy of being a Championship  decider. For the neutral it was an excellent advert for community  rugby. For the partisan supporters of both teams it was nail biting and tense.

 

When Pwllheli  played Nant Conwy  at Bodegroes  on April 16 they knew that they had to win the match but also knew that any aspiration for the title would mean a daunting series of five consecutive away matches. Nant had a twenty three point lead in the League and their try count was considerably better than Pwllheli's. Pwllheli beat Nant on the day and won their next four away matches, played within three weeks, and all with try  bonus points. Nant in turn beat Bethesda midweek with a bonus point win. The impact of this was that nothing less than a clear win at Llandudno would suffice.At the end of a hard gruelling eighty minutes Pwllheli secured the coveted League title much to the delight of all involved at the Club.

The magnitude of this remarkable fight back should not be under estimated. To overhaul a team of Nant's calibre and secure successive titles is to the huge credit of the players and coaches. Many others played their part including the two team managers Bill Parry and Robin Elias, Edwin Jones doing the First Aid and the patient Ken Davies for rescheduling game after game over the length of the season.

For the statisticians Pwllheli's last five away  games saw them score one hundred and eighty one points and scored twenty three tries to get a season's total of eighty eight touchdowns..

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