SATURDAY 22 OCTOBER 2005: - LLANGOLLEN 11 COLWYN BAY 44 (NW CUP 1^ST ROUND)     

The home side failed to repeat their giant killing act of last season being well beaten by a far better organised Bay team.

Langollen started well and their forwards showed great strength controlling the early scrums and disrupting Bays attempts. After 10 minutes however Bay took the lead with a penalty following off-side only for the home team to draw level a minute later after Bay were penalised for a similar offence. Bay then began to exert their experience and a fine charging run by Mark Earl saw him score near the posts with Andy Williams-Owen adding the conversion. Lanllgollen were determined not to give up and a further penalty by them reduced the arrears to 4 points. Bay continued to dominate for the rest of the half with a try for Barry Cravetto following a good forward drive and then another for Mark Earl, who was creating huge gaps in the defence with his powerful runs, both conversions were missed to make the score 20-6 to Bay at half time.

From the restart Bay three quarters ran hard and straight at their opponents and within a minute had scored another try by debut full back Kurt Williams with his first touch of the ball, again the conversion was missed. A few minutes later good handling and running by the backs gave Dave Hocknell a try under the posts to which was added the extra points. The backs continued to pressure with some good penetrating breaks by outside half Tom Duffy and centre Sean McDonagh and strong running on the wing by Steve Davidson who scored a further try and could have had several more but for desperate last ditch tackles by the home defence. After this purple patch Bay sat back on their lead and Langollen to their credit continued to harass but a further well taken try by Mike Hughes put the result beyond doubt particularly when prop forward Ryan Hika, in spite of doing everything wrong as a kicker, slotted the conversion from 10 metres from the touchline. The home side remained spirited and continued to press and were rewarded with an unconverted try near the end to make the final score 44-11 to Bay.