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Sat 01 Oct 2011 · Division 2 North
Wrexham 1st XVLlanidloes
15
17
Wrexham 15 Llanidloes 17
Barry Jones23 May 2012 - 06:36
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Injury time try snatches victory
An injury time try and a crucial conversion by visitors Llanidloes stole victory from Wrexham’s grasp as they went down by 13-15 in a keenly contested North Wales Division Two game at Bryn Estyn Road. There were problems before the start for coach Rob Thomas and skipper Guy Bingham when centre Josh Francis had to cry-off and scrum-half Owain Turner injured his ankle in the warm-up.
The side had to be reshuffled but they made a good start with the home pack dominating proceedings in the scrums and line-outs. In the 14th minute Wrexham claimed the lead when number eight Keir Harding drew in the Llanidloes defence from a tap penalty move and prop Guy Bingham was on hand to take the ball and crash over for an excellent try. Scrum-half Mike Powell kicked the conversion and soon afterwards put his side further ahead with a well struck penalty kick.
Although the visitors responded with a penalty of their own, they found themselves up against a Wrexham side determined to redeem itself after suffering a record whitewash at Colwyn Bay on the previous Saturday. Ben Cheesbrough, newly returned after a long spell out of the game through injury, proved inspirational at outside-half and flankers James Lichfield and Peter Blakemore were very impressive in the home back-row.
In the unusually hot conditions prevailing at Bryn Estyn Road, Llanidloes got back into the game with an unconverted try mid-way through the second-half although Powell then pushed his side further ahead with another penalty. Wrexham still maintained a firm grip on the game, but that started to evaporate when skipper Bingham was forced to leave the field with an injury and then prop David Gard was also sidelined.
With no more replacements available, Wrexham lost their dominance up-front and were forced to contain Llanidloes who went in search of a winning score. As Blakemore pulled off tackle after tackle, it looked as though Wrexham would hold on to claim their first win of the season. But the Llanidloes pack won a late scrum in the home 22 and their outside-half broke through to score under the posts, the match winning conversion being a mere formality.
Skipper Guy Bingham was disappointed with the loss but was full of praise for his team’s effort during the game. “I couldn’t ask for any more from anyone and that performance put last week’s heavy defeat at Colwyn Bay well behind us” he said afterwards.
The side had to be reshuffled but they made a good start with the home pack dominating proceedings in the scrums and line-outs. In the 14th minute Wrexham claimed the lead when number eight Keir Harding drew in the Llanidloes defence from a tap penalty move and prop Guy Bingham was on hand to take the ball and crash over for an excellent try. Scrum-half Mike Powell kicked the conversion and soon afterwards put his side further ahead with a well struck penalty kick.
Although the visitors responded with a penalty of their own, they found themselves up against a Wrexham side determined to redeem itself after suffering a record whitewash at Colwyn Bay on the previous Saturday. Ben Cheesbrough, newly returned after a long spell out of the game through injury, proved inspirational at outside-half and flankers James Lichfield and Peter Blakemore were very impressive in the home back-row.
In the unusually hot conditions prevailing at Bryn Estyn Road, Llanidloes got back into the game with an unconverted try mid-way through the second-half although Powell then pushed his side further ahead with another penalty. Wrexham still maintained a firm grip on the game, but that started to evaporate when skipper Bingham was forced to leave the field with an injury and then prop David Gard was also sidelined.
With no more replacements available, Wrexham lost their dominance up-front and were forced to contain Llanidloes who went in search of a winning score. As Blakemore pulled off tackle after tackle, it looked as though Wrexham would hold on to claim their first win of the season. But the Llanidloes pack won a late scrum in the home 22 and their outside-half broke through to score under the posts, the match winning conversion being a mere formality.
Skipper Guy Bingham was disappointed with the loss but was full of praise for his team’s effort during the game. “I couldn’t ask for any more from anyone and that performance put last week’s heavy defeat at Colwyn Bay well behind us” he said afterwards.
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