Wrexham 20 Rhyl 29

Wrexham slumped to the bottom of the table with a comprehensive 41-10 defeat at Bryn Estyn Road by visitors Newtown who were overjoyed to win their first game of the season with a winning bonus point to add to their jubilation. With half of their team missing on a Veterans tour of Thailand, Wrexham pressed a number of lower team players into service and they gave a good account of themselves for the first 20 minutes. The home side even took the lead in the 9th minute when outside-half Sion Lloyd-Jones kicked an angled penalty following heavy pressure on Newtown in their 22. However, when the visitors managed to force their way into Wrexham’s half ten minutes later, their flying centre Gary Jenkins capitalised on a couple of defensive mistakes to claim an unconverted try. Realising that the makeshift home threequarter line was made up of slower forwards, Jenkins probed again in the 27th minute and scored again, this time having his try converted by full-back Nathan Lloyd.
Although Wrexham number eight Keir Harding was an outstanding driving force in Wrexham’s pack and their set scrum had Newtown trundling backwards, they couldn’t create an opening for their backs. The visitors then increased their lead to 17-3 just before the break when the Wrexham backs failed to gather a loose ball and hooker Matt Land pounced for a try.
Wrexham came under a lot of pressure at the start of the second-half but managed to clear their lines until flanker Jason Parry was sin-binned for a technical offence after 6 minutes. Newtown took full advantage by launching their scrum-half Owain Thomas over the home line to claim their fourth try of the game. Wrexham refused to buckle and brought full-back Jack Ratcliffe into the game to create openings in the Newtown defence.
The home pack forced Newtown on the defensive and claimed their reward in the 64th when Jason Parry was driven over the line to score a deserved try, Sion Lloyd-Jones adding the extra points with a neat conversion. That could have been a turning point in the game with the score at 10-22, but a brave Wrexham side simply ran out of steam in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Newtown took full advantage and cemented their victory with tries by Nathan Lloyd, lock John Blower and a hat-trick touchdown by Gary Jenkins, Lloyd adding two simple conversions.