Fixture

This game between last year's Division One Champions and newly promoted Wrexham was a good, competetive game, unfortunately marred somewhat by the high number of penalties awarded.

Nant began at a furious pace but after the initial opening burst was brought to an end by a penalty, Wrexham came more into the game. Neither side came close to scoring until the stalemate was broken in the 18th minute by a penalty converted by Roberts. Within two minutes Wrexham went further ahead when a loose ball from a tackle was picked up be Dodd who sprinted over 50 metres to outpace the Nant defence, touching down in the left corner. 

Nant pulled the score back to 7 - 8 on 30 minutes following a tapped penalty. The resulting rucks saw Siencyn Metcalfe drive over with Caron Davies converting. Davies then put Nant ahead following another penalty being awarded. He and Roberts for Wrexham then exchanged further penalties to give a halftime score of 13 - 11 to Nant.

Three minutes into the second half saw Ifan Williams taking an off-load and making a strong run before being pulled down on the 22. His pop pass saw the ball taken on by Carwyn Ellis who shrugged off a number of tackles to touch down. Davies duly converted.

On 53 minutes another penalty was moved 10 metres further toward Nant's line when the ball was thrown away. This put Wrexham in the perfect position to launch their backs and they opted from the scrum. Whereas Nant had demonstrated success from close support play, Wrexham showed that quick accurate passing along the three-quarters is just as effective, allowing Swift to go over in the corner.

An exchange of penalties, what else, between Cain Jones, who had assumed the duties for Nant, and Roberts put the scores at 23 - 19 before Jones gave Nant some breathing space with a further penalty.

With minutes to go Wrexham were awarded a further penalty on Nant's 22. Surprisingly, given their success from a similar position earlier, they opted for the kick which never looked like being successful.

This gave Nant the opportunity to go back on the attack. A kick through saw the ball gathered by the Wrexham full-back and cleared long only to be gathered by Sion Pringle on the Nant 22. His run, evading some tackles and bursting through others, saw the ball set up on Wrexham's 22. It was moved left and Davies's inside pass to Deian Roberts saw the scrum half go over unopposed. Davies resumed the kicking to give Nant victory by 33 - 19.

A good, competetive game. Hopefully, the return will have fewer stoppages.