Defeats for Pool, Llanidloes

It was a frustrating day for the two local senior teams in action at the weekend in Division Two (North), writes Gary Williams from Oval Zone Rugby.

After a bright opening fifteen minutes, Pool were left shell shocked as their hosts ran in five converted tries in a 20-minute spell to lead 35-0, and still with two thirds of the game to go.

With the coaches' roasting still ringing in their ears, Pool at last got themselves back in to the game with a fine opportunist try from Tom Williams which he also converted for an interval scoreline of 35-7.

The visitors started the second period as they had finished the first, on the offensive, and were rewarded with their second score when young second row, Max Cadwallader, bulldozed his way over to touch down, with Williams converting.

When quick-thinking Joe Stranks took a quick tap penalty and wriggled over to score under the posts, again converted by Williams, Pool and their supporters sensed a dramatic comeback could be on the cards with the score now at 35-21.

Arms were raised when Pool thought they'd scored again under the posts but the referee adjudged that the ball hadn't been grounded in the melee of players.

Despite plenty of effort and endeavour, Pool were held out for the rest of the half. Bay had the final word, scoring in the last minute for a well-deserved 40-21 win.

Llanidloes had a torrid afternoon in Bangor, going down 43-17 and leaving themselves firmly rooted to the bottom of the table. The Llani boys were going well until half time but couldn't prevent the home team running in some fine tries in the second half for a convincing win, a win that takes them to third from bottom in the table, a place above Newtown who didn't have a game this weekend.

COBRA were thwarted by the icy conditions and forced to postpone their Division One North home game against high-flying Bethesda. A surprise away win for fellow strugglers Dolgellau, at Pwllheli, pushes the Meifod boys back in to the bottom two, although with a mounting number of games in hand.

On Sunday, a fantastic U16 RGC East Cup Semi-Final between COBRA and Newtown resulted in a 22-0 win for the home side who progress to the final, where they will play the winners of next Sunday's Mold v Rhyl semi. Newtown's defeat means that they will now play in the Plate final. A fantastic achievement for both these very talented young boys.