Builth Wells 2nds 0 Llandrindod Wells 26

IN front of a large crowd on the Groe, Llandrindod played old rivals Builth Wells 2nds in the first round of the Mid Wales Cup.

This game was the first meeting between the two teams since Llandrindod moved out of the Mid Wales District rugby set up.

The game started brightly with the home team, making significant yards into the Llandrindod 22 after a mix up straight from kick off. However, after regaining the ball, territory was reversed with some outstanding clearance kicking from inside centre Danny Davies and outside half Jonathan ’Jaffa’ Duggan.

With Llandrindod camped in the Builth half for large periods of the first quarter, the pressure eventually told with Davies crashing over for the first try out wide after some patient build up from the forwards. Try self-converted. 7-0 Llandrindod.

The second score came quickly after the first. With the Llandrindod forwards dominating the lineout through jumpers Andrew Duggan and Jason Pritchard and hooker Aled Price’s pin-point throwing, the subsequent rolling mauls made deep inroads into the Builth half and from one such loose maul, hooker Price broke away unopposed and sprinted some 20 yards to the line to score. Conversion attempt missed this time to leave the score 12-0.

The remainder of the first half was a more even affair but with neither team troubling the scoreboard. The only sour note was a yellow card for flanker Thomas ’Boag’ Hughes for illegal use of the boot. Half time score Builth 0 Llandrindod 12.

The second half brought a change in the front row for Llandrindod with tight head Noel Davies Jones being replaced by Sam Davies. This did nothing to dampen the dominance of the Llandrindod forwards as they continued to drive the Builth pack backwards at scrum time and the lineout.

The Builth team gained reasonable yards with a few sharp breakaways from their scrum half but couldn’t seem to cross the Llandrindod try line, mainly due to some excellent defending from captain and number 8 Geraint ’Grunt’ Evans and second row enforcer George Edward Wozencraft.

Llandrindod’s next score came from ex-Builth stalwart Andrew Duggan, when he crashed over for a try from a short distance. Sources close to Duggan reported that this was a bitter sweet moment for the once loved Builth legend. Conversion attempt successful by Davies, 19-0 Llandrindod .

With the game coming to a close, the Builth backs decided to attack the Llandrindod back division who had not had much ball all evening, but this was to backfire. After a loose kick through by Builth, full back Jose Williams gathered the ball and danced his way around three defenders before sprinting some 50 yards into Builth territory where he was brought down just short of the line.

After some good work from the outstanding Llandrindod pack the last try of the game came from that man Danny ’Dig’ Davies who again used his considerable bulk to crash over to score, try converted to make the final score Builth 2nds 0 Llandrindod Wells 26.

The next round of the Mid Wales Cup will be drawn near to Christmas-time.