Fixture

Following their top of the table clash against Welshpool RFC last week, Dinbych faced a different proposition this week as they welcomed bottom of the league Bangor RFC to Maes Terry Bryer.

Dinbych began the game brightly with incursions into Bangor’s 22 putting the visitors on the defensive from the off. A lineout 10 metres out gave Dinbych the opportunity to execute a surging catch and drive, which Hooker Elliott Davies broke free from in a dash for the try line. Another surge towards the Bangor line was thwarted when some excellent work over the ball by the visitors regained possession and relieved the early pressure.

Dinbych continued to press Bangor back into their 22, only for handling errors to creep in and thwart any further advances from the home side. Bangor’s solid defence frustrated Dinbych’s attacking phases, but on winning possession back were unable to press the advantage into Dinbych’s half in the first quarter.

Gradually Bangor began to turn defence into attack, with the occasional line break and some deft kicking taking Bangor up into Dinbych’s half more frequently. Soaking up Bangor’s carries, Dinbych worked hard to maintain an aggressive defence, which frustrated the visitors into making errors and handed possession back to the home side.

Dinbych pressed back into Bangor’s 22 with a lineout drive, once the maul hit the floor another last ditch jackal from Bangor turned the ball over but was deemed to have been knocked on. From the ensuing scrum Dinbych’s No.8 John Winning broke free and drove towards the line, Bangor were able to fell the veteran back row before his young back row partner Tom Jones picked and drove through the visiting defence to open the afternoon’s scoring after 34 minutes. Club Captain Dan O’Sullivan stepped up and secured the extras with his 26th conversion of the season.

Dinbych continued to raid the visitors 22 regularly, but failed to capitalise on the abundance of attacking positions much to the frustration of the Players, Coaching Staff and Supporters. As Referee Sion Wynne gave the signal for Half Time only 7 points separated the two sides, setting up an intriguing second half to follow.

From the restart Dinbych were instantly back on the attack as a wayward kick from the restart gifted Dinbych a scrum on the half way line. Scrum Half Robyn Cartwright fed Club Captain O’Sullivan, who tipped on to the supporting Centre Aidyn Jones. Hitting the ball at pace, Jones powered through attempted tackles and sped past the covering defence to score Dinbych’s second of the afternoon. O’Sullivan once again accurate off the tee to take Dinbych further into the lead.

The extension of Dinbych’s lead shook Bangor into action as the visitors returned kicks with strong runs and some slick handling to push into Dinbych’s 22. The visiting Forwards kept a tight hold of the ball and crashed into the home defensive line, before working an overlap on the far side for their Wing to dive over in the corner. The difficult conversion attempt fell short of the posts.

Play then swung from Dinbych on the attack to Bangor launching another, a Bangor knock on saw Dinbych launch another long distance attack as  Fly Half O’Sullivan fired the ball out to the on rushing Aidyn Jones. Once again using his pace and footwork, the Centre burst away from his own 22m line past three attempted tacklers before offloading to the supporting Gwern Pierce. The rangy Flanker used his footwork to gain valuable extra metres before being flattened by the recovering defence.

The ball was recycled to Fly Half O’Sullivan whose accurate pass picked out Wing Kieran Bonar, who rounded Bangor’s last man to score Dinbych’s third with 20 minutes remaining. Unfortunately the conversion attempt failed to turn in and held course to go wide of the posts.

Play continued to flow between the 22s, with neither Dinbych or Bangor able to capitalise on any positive momentum made. The status quo was broken however when Bangor knocked the ball on in their own half and from the resulting scrum Lock Narmer EL-Lamie, now playing at No.8, burst forward towards the Bangor 22. Replacement Lock Aled Evans-Hughes then carried hard to put Dinbych past the visitors 22 line. Before Fly Half O’Sullivan then changed the point of attack with a switch to the right side, followed by a delicate chip over the defensive line. With O’Sullivan chasing the ball down, Bangor’s covering defence looked to have the issue in hand, until Wing Gethin Williams arrived on the scene. The ball bobbled away from Bangor hands and was hacked towards the try line for Williams to pounce on the ball and secure Dinbych their 8th Bonus Point victory of the season.

A huge amount of credit must be given to Bangor’s players, who with only 16 men available, defended excellently throughout the game and were rewarded for their patience in attack with a well taken try.

Club Captain Dan O’Sullivan and the 1st Team are next in action at 4th placed Abergele RFC, another stern test for Dinbych as they look to remain unbeaten at the summit of the Division 2 North table.