COLWYN BAY RFC v RUTHIN RFC – 3 MARCH 2007

THE BAY MOVE CLOSER TO A TOP FOUR FINISH

Colwyn Bay fought off a late comeback and moved a step further towards finishing in the top four of Division 4 North by securing a 25-19 home victory against middle of the table Ruthin.

An early exchange of penalties by Ruthin centre Huw Roberts and Bay outside half Andy Williams-Owen saw the sides level at 3-3 after 10 minutes.  The Bay were further penalised twice for slowing the ball at the ruck and Huw Roberts converted both chances to put Ruthin 3-9 ahead.  As the first half progressed the Bay pack started to dominate with second row Chris Hughes prominent in the loose.  A driving maul from half way secured a Bay throw-in on the Ruthin line and the resulting maul saw Bay hooker Dan Lycett force his way for a try, converted by Andy Williams-Owen, to give the Bay a deserved 10-9 lead at half time.

Shortly after the restart the Ruthin backs were penalised for crossing and an Andy Williams Owen penalty put the Bay 13-9 in front.  Then the Bay won a ball against the head on their own 10 metre line and a break and chip kick by full back Patrick Leach secured a scrum on the Ruthin line.  Another take against the head resulted in Bay centre Dave Hocknell crashing over for a try converted by Andy Williams-Owen to take the score to 20-9.

A Ruthin kick ahead was fielded by Bay wing Sean McDonagh who made a searing break down the centre of the field and number 8 Mark Earl was in support to offload for a fine try by Chris Hughes to give the Bay a seemingly unassailable 25-9 lead.  However Ruthin came back strongly and incessant pressure was relieved by long kicks out of defence from Patrick Leach.  Eventually the pressure told and Ruthin prop Wayne Williams made a break through a gap in the Bay defence and his pass put hooker Gary Teeson in for a try under the posts converted by Huw Roberts to peg the score back to 25-16.  With about 5 minutes to go Huw Roberts kicked his fourth penalty for a 25-19 final score-line.