Llangollen went down to their second league defeat of the season on Saturday when the lost 23-6 at Abergele. A combination of the elements, player availability and a well drilled powerful Abergele side all proved the un-doing of the Tower Field men.
The first half saw both side competing for possession and field position, and was a very see saw affair with Abergele breaking the dead lock when their forwards broke through the Llan defensive line and scored, the conversion was missed and the home side had a valuable 5-0 lead playing against a very strong wind. Llan then managed to apply pressure of their own outside half Dai Lawrence got the Llan backs moving and they were rewarded with a penalty which scrum half Nick Austin managed to convert, this was followed by a second penalty a few minutes later and once again Austin converted, to see the visitors 5-6 up. Abergele managed to re-gain the lead just on the stroke of halftime when they converted a penalty of their own to make the score 8 – 5 at the break. The weather continued to deteriorate as the second half wore on and Llan playing into a gale force wind continually struggled to clear their lines Abergele kept the pressure up and were rewarded with a penalty which they converted. Abergele continued to launch attack after attack through their powerful pack and were rewarded with 2 tries in quick succession one of which was converted to take the score to 23 – 6. Llan tried to rally late into the game but it was too little too late. Head coach Ian Morris said after the game “it was a horrible day for rugby today, all credit to Abergele they played the conditions much better than we did and deservedly won the game. We must have to look at our squad to strengthen it as we had 12 regular players un-available including our first and second choice outside halves. Credit to the guys that were here they did the best job possible and I thank them for that but un-fortunately we could not keep the league run going. We now have a North Wales cup game next week away at COBRA that no one expects us to win so the lads can go there relax with no-pressure and play freely”.
