Fixture

An anology has been made that, had this game been a boxing match, Bala would have won easily, such was their dominance of possession and territory. The fact is, if a boxer fails to get through the opponent's guard with the many punches thrown, and then ends up on the canvas several times from the counter-punches delivered, then no matter the supposed dominance, they will not win. This is how this match played out. Bala were indeed dominant in many aspects but the nearest they came to a score was when held up over the line in the first half. Nant absorbed all the home teams attacks, despite being down to 14 players for twenty minutes of the the match, and struck five telling blows, four of which were converted.

The match began with a Nant kick-off. A scrum was awarded to them and, though pushed back, the ball was won and moved quickly to Rhydian Jones who sprinted past the defence on the left wing. Caron Davies's conversion gave Nant the perfect start.

A second try was added 15 minutes later. A quickly taken penalty saw Deian Roberts break into the Bala half. The ball was off-loaded to Cai Williams who passed back for Roberts to outpace the defence. Davies again converted. 

Roberts was again involved for the third try. The bounce from his chip ahead deceived the cover and Roberts regathered before being tackled. The ball was recycled and Sion Pringle made ground before passing the ball out then receiving it back to touch down. A further conversion by Davies put Nant 21 points ahead. 

In between these tries and for the remainder of the half, Bala had the majority of possession and territory but were unable to breach the Nant defence. 

The second half began with the referee taking a tumble after an accidental coming together with a Bala player. He required some treatment from the physios and fortunately could carry on. This half was more even in terms of possession though Bala probably edge it in terms of territory. However, it was Nant who kept the scoreboard moving. 

Try number four came mid-way through the half. Winning ruck ball in their own half, Nant moved the ball to Gwion Jones who broke through deep into Bala territory. The ball was moved out to the right where Pringle took the final pass to go over for his second try.

The final score came with 2 minutes to go. Bala won a scrum in the Nant 10 metre area only to see the pass out dropped. The loose ball was snatched up by Elis Fôn who raced clear. His inside pass found Carwyn Ellis who then passed out to Rhydian Jones to outpace the cover for his second try. The conversion by Davies gave Nant the win by 33 points to nil.

All in all a tough match for both sides. Bala will rue not being able to turn possession and territory into points but on this performance they will win many more matches than they lose this season. They were unfortunate to come up against a Nant team determined nothing would pass.

The two team will meet again soon in the league and have been drawn against each other in the North Wales Division 1 Cup.