Please email your results, reports and pictures to gwcymru1@aol.com for inclusion on this website
Swalec Plate Semi-Finals
Bethesda 3 v Penallta 30
Nant Conwy 9 v Ystrad Rhondda 3
YSTRAD RHONDDA 3 v NANT CONWY 9
(Hanner amser / Half time: 3 -9)
Sgorwyr / Scorers:
Nant Conwy: Ciciau Cosb / Penalties: CARWYN ap MYRDDIN (3)
YSTRAD RHONDDA: Cic Gosb / Penalty: ANDREW BENNETT(1)
Prynhawn braf gydag ychydig o ddŵr ar wyneb y maes. Nant ddechreuodd gryfaf ond bu i Carwyn ap (15) fethu gydag ymgais am gic gosb o’r asgell ar ôl 6 munud. Ond, ddau funud yn ddiweddarach, aeth Ystrad Rhondda ar y blaen pan fu i’r asgellwr (14) drosi cic gosb o ganol y maes. Ar ôl 12 munud o chwarae, bu i rif 10 y gwrthwynebwyr dderbyn cerdyn melyn am lawio mewn ryc. Sgoriodd Carwyn ap ei gic gosb gyntaf fel canlyniad. Brwydr lew rhwng y blaenwyr a fu wedyn cyn i rif 9 Ystrad Rhondda dderbyn rhybudd llafar maith am dacl ‘tip’ ar ôl 33 munud. Dau funud yn ddiweddarach, bu iddo daclo’n union yn yr un modd a derbyniodd gerdyn coch am ei drosedd. Trosodd Carwyn ap ei ail gic gosb. Ym munud olaf yr hanner cyntaf, gwelwyd llaw anghyfreithlon mewn ryc arall a bu i Carwyn ap gwblhau’r sgorio trwy gic gosb arall lwyddiannus. Derbyniodd Carwyn E gerdyn melyn ar yr hanner am daro’r bêl ymlaen wrth geisio rhyng gipio pas.
14 dyn yr un a fu am y 10 munud cyntaf o’r ail hanner felly gyda’r chwarae’n reit gyfartal rhwng y ddau dîm. O fewn eiliadau i Carwyn E ddod yn ôl ar y cae, bu i Emrys dderbyn cerdyn melyn am ryw gam weithred yng nghanol môr o gyrff yn brwydro am y bêl. Felly 10 munud arall o 14 yr ochr! Yn ystod yr 20 munud olaf, gwelwyd llinell Nant yn gweithio’n ardderchog gyda Carwyn R. yn ennill 5 o leiniau’r gwrthwynebwyr. Amddiffynnwyd yn gadarn gyda phob aelod o’r tîm yn rhoi’u cyrff ar y lein, fel petai i gwblhau buddugoliaeth arbennig.
Chwaraeir y rownd derfynol yn Stadiwm y Mileniwm ar ddydd Llun,7fed Mai yn erbyn Penallta. Trueni i’n cymdogion o Fethesda golli - buasai gêm rhwng dau dîm o’r Gogledd wedi bod yn un werth i’w gweld rwy’n siwr!
On a sunny afternoon with some surface water on the pitch, Nant began brightly and Carwyn ap(15) failed with his first penalty attempt from the left wing after 6 minutes play. But, two minutes later, Andrew Bennett, the Ystrad Rhondda winger converted a penalty from near the half way line. The first ‘yellow card’ of the match was issued after 12 minutes play, when the opponents’ number 10 was sent to the sin bin for handling in the ruck. Carwyn ap was successful with the resultant penalty attempt.
The next section of play was a tight struggle between both sets of forwards until the Ystrad no. 9 received a long lecture off the Referee for an ‘attempted’ ‘tip’ tackle. Two minutes later he tried a similar tackle and was red carded immediately. Carwyn ap stepped up to convert the penalty. During the last minute of the first half, Carwyn ap scored his third penalty after another infringement in a ruck. Seconds later, Carwyn E was sin binned for knocking the ball forward in an attempted interception of a pass.
Fourteen men each then for the first 10 minutes of the second half with the play being quite equal between the two sides. Seconds after Carwyn E returned to the pitch, Centre Emrys was sin binned for some misdemeanour in a pile of bodies after a huge tackle by Nant. Thus, another 10 minutes with 14 a side! During the last 20 minutes, Nant’s line out was working exceptionally well with Carwyn R winning 5 of the opponents’ throw ins!
Nant defended really well for the remainder of the match and kept their opponents from scoring a try (the first match this has happened for two seasons, apparently). Nant fully deserved an excellent win where their tactics on the day was better than that of their opponents.
The Final match of the Plate will be played at the Millennium Stadium on Monday,7th May against Penallta.. What a shame that our neighbours, Bethesda lost today as a ‘local derby’ at the world famous stadium would have been an event to savour and remembered for years to come!
*****
North Wales Senior Cup
Caernarfon 16 v Bro Ffestiniog 18
The presentation of the league trophy at the end of the game was not the joyous occurrence expected as Caernarfon, as League Champions, failed in their effort to make it a league and cup double, falling to a resilient and committed Bro Ffestiniog team on the Morfa.
This was a tense close encounter from the off with everyone aware that one error could be so costly. The opening exchanges favoured Caernarfon with the strong downfield wind pinning Bro in their half. An offside offence allowed outside half Kelvin Morris to open the scoring with a sweetly struck penalty within the opening minute. Morris added to, this again, when a Trystan Gwilym break was halted by a collar tug. Sadly his third effort drifted wide and when the Bro centre was yellow carded for 10 minutes for preventing release a fine effort rebounded off the uprights.
On twenty-five minutes, another penalty missed the mark and a possible, comfortable lead of fifteen points was not seized upon. Caernarfon failed to capitalise by keeping the ball in hand as well, for a number of promising attacks failed when the final pass was not held, thus allowing Bro off the hook.
One rare foray by Bro saw the Cofis penalised in front of the posts and Huw James duly added the three points. With half time approaching, a typical Dewi James break from the back of a scrum put Bro on the front foot and when tackled the loose ball was hacked on and collected just short of the line. Efficient recycling and a looping pass created space for centre Barry Roberts who was able to power over to give Bro an unexpected lead after having been defending for the first half hour.
Caernarfon believed that they would be subject to an onslaught from the start of the second half but following Bro’s initial attack the Cofis placed Bro under pressure. From a ten-meter lineout take, a controlled driving maul led to Caernarfon regaining the lead with flanker Liam Leung granted with the grounding and Morris adding the conversion. Spells of good interplay with Jack Mathews and Rhys Evans to the fore, constantly supported by John Llywelyn kept Bro on defensive duties and afforded Kelvin Morris yet another penalty on fifty-five minutes to secure an eight-point lead.
Not releasing offences became the order of the day and up stepped James to bring Bro back to within five points mid way through the half. With ten minutes left, another not releasing call brought Bro to within ten meters for an attacking lineout. Possession was spread wide but the winger was held up preventing grounding. From the resultant scrum, another quickly taken penalty brought added pressure and saw James at outside half darting blind and succeeding to ground with his fingertips. He also added an excellent touchline conversion to please the large band of travelling supporters.
For the final five minutes, the Cofis threw everything into attack in a bid to salvage the match. One penalty attempt fell agonisingly short but the final thrust to bring a second kickable penalty or attacking breakthrough failed and the Cofi season came to a rather subdued close. Jubilant Bro will march on to the final to give either Nant Conwy or Bala the sternest of tests.
At the end of the season like this, all of Clwb Rygbi Caernarfon’s loyal supporters would like to thank each and every player who has represented the club with pride during the season. Special mention is reserved for retiring stalwart Paul Williams and those, soon to be linked with the new RGG1404 squad. Players and supporters alike would also like to acknowledge the sterling work of retiring first team supremo Ieuan Jones, without whom the success gained over the last few years, would not have been achieved.
*****
North Wales Intermediate Cup
Machynlleth 21 v Abergele 17
*****
WRU Division One North
Mold 24 v Bala 11
*****
WRU Division Two North
Dolgellau 115 v Rhyl 0
The crowd that gathered on the Marian to see Dolgellau bring their highly-successful season to a close with a good, competitive match were to be sorely disappointed, not with the score line but with the one-sided nature of this game. This was, in fact, the second attempt to play the fixture –earlier in the season both teams turned up for the game but the referee didn’t!
Consequently, the match wasn’t played, much to Rhyl’s understandable annoyance. By this point in the season the fixture was, to all effects, a dead rubber, Dolgellau having already sealed the Championship and Rhyl’s Division Two status not under threat.
However, on this occasion, the visitors could only muster a twelve-man team, which was a pretty poor effort on their behalf. Due to Rhyl’s lack of experienced front-rowers the scrums had to be uncontested, which in itself took the bite out of the game. Having a three-man advantage, all Dolgellau had to do was to play their usual fluid, passing game and during the first half they did so with gusto, fourteen tries accruing as a result of the slick inter-passing between forwards and backs. Six successful conversions made the score 82-0 at the interval.
Rhyl`s doughty dozen deserve much credit for their heroic efforts to stem the blue tide and for a period after the restart they managed to frustrate Dolgellau’s attacking ambitions. However, it was only a matter of time before the try-fest resumed and during the second half, which was mercifully curtailed by the referee, Dolgellau scored a further five tries, four of which were converted. Thus, the final score stood at 115-0.
Dolgellau’s scorers were as follows:
Tries - Dylan Llewelyn (x4), Llion Arwel Pugh (x3), Berwyn Hughes (x2), Ian Jones-Morris (x2), Dylan Evans, Dion Jones, Cedri Williams, Dewi Thomas, Gethin Edwards, Carwyn Hughes, Owain Thomas, Ed Williams.
Conversions- Gwion Roberts (x5), Carwyn Hughes (x2)Dion Jones, Dylan Llewelyn, Llion Arwel Pugh.
Anyone wishing to order tickets for the Autumn International matches can do so at Dolgellau Rugby Club until the end of April (phone no. 01341 423 091).
*****
WRU Division Three North
Holyhead 18 v Shotton Steel 46
Llangollen 29 v Harlech 15
Rhosllanerchrugog 22 v Benllech 10
Welshpool 37 v Flint 8
*****
WRU Division Two West
Builth Wells 52 v Aberavon Quins 19
Cwmllynfell 66 v Aberystwyth 12
*****
WRU Division Six Central
Cardiff Saracens 43 v Llandrindod Wells 7
*****
Youth Friendly
Bangor Youth Development 20 V Dolgellau Youth Development 17
Dolgellau gave Bangor a scare putting in a strong competent performance and scored 3 tries to Bangor's 2. Only the boot of winger Alex Griffiths saved Bangor with two penalties and the winning kick coming near the end.
It was clear from the start that Bangor were in for a hard game with the visitors showing speed and enthusiasm bringing down Bangor's large forwards but Bangor had the best of the scrums and lines and and took the lead with a fine break from Rhys Owen who ran behind the posts to make the conversion easy for Alex Griffiths. Bangor made the mistake of relaxing briefly and let the visitors back into the game straight away as they came away for a good try from James Owen. Tom Williams added the 2 points to draw level. A penalty from 40 metres out by Alex Griffiths left Bangor with a 3 point advantage at the break.
Bangor started the second half in a more aggressive mood and broke down the right wing. Scrum half Trystan Thomas put Carwyn Roberts away down the touchline and he kicked the ball inside over the try line. Flanker Declan Jones following up just get the touch down before the ball hit the dead ball line. Griffiths added the conversion.
Bangor looked like holding on to their lead but uncharacteristic handling errors and failure to secure the ball allowed Dolgellau to attack and they scored twice with tries from James Owen and Tom Williams. The second try came from a penalty against Bangor in the scrum and a quick tap that caught Bangor on the back foot. With the game heading for a draw Bangor had a penalty and the kick went over off the cross bar.
*****
Youth Division Two
Newtown Youth 17 v Welshpool Youth 0 - played Friday 13th
*****
Gwynedd League
Pwllheli 2nds 44 v 5 Dolgellau 2nds (8t - 1t)
There are no events to show yet.