ALTHOUGH Ruthin rarely come away from a match at Bala with a win, they are usually within a few points of the winners - but on Saturday the hosts ran up 51 points from seven tries, five conversions and three penalties, with no response from the visiting team.

The prolific Rhydian Jones led the way with three tries, five conversions and two penalties for a personal tally of 29 points, whilst Emrys Davies, Ilan Rowlands, and Elgan Evans also went over for tries.

The visitors had started positively enough, but as the home side showed early ascendancy in the set pieces it was hard for the visitors to make any headway.

The first score came after about 10 minutes play, with the Bala pack repeatedly rolling back the Ruthin scrum in the Ruthin 22 until they were awarded a penalty try, which fly half Jones converted.

The Blues had little reply to Bala’s fast running backs, as quick offloads and intelligent passing and conceded further tries by Evans and Rowlands and two penalties from Jones before the half-time break, where the score was 25-0 to the home side.

The second half continued in the same vein with Bala putting another four tries.

Although the Blues compounded their predicament with some poor lineouts losing possession to the opposition, there were spells particularly in the second half where they built momentum well, and with effective pick and runs the visitors did get close to the home side’s try line.

A solid Bala defence, however, forced handling errors and meant that Ruthin could not capitalise on their position, and on at least one occasion released Bala’s backs from their own 22 to run the length of the field and get over Ruthin’s try line.

Further tries followed as Jones went on to score a hat-trick, as well as adding the kicks, and Emyr Davies also went over.

The Blues tried to attack to the end of the game, but they were denied any reward.

The last play was in Bala’s 22 before the Blues lost the ball and it was kicked into touch for the whistle to blow for full time, with Bala convincing winners on the day.