Tour rugby Club Del Rugby Mallorca 7 Betws RFC 38

BETWS rounded off their centenary season in fine style by beating Mallorca RFC while on tour to the island.

Arriving at the impressive grounds somewhat the worse for wear after three nights of celebration, it was with some trepidation that the Welsh side took the field, but they turned in an inspired performance which held true to the best traditions of the club.

Both sides had their moments early on but flying wing Rhydian Harry made the breakthrough following some fine handling to cross out wide. Wayne Comley showed a more direct route up the field and his bulldozing runs resulted in two quick tries for Gwilym Lewis.

The Betws pack dominated set pieces, especially the scrums, and all the club's main ball carriers - Emyr Timothy, The Thomas brothers and Paul Roberts - made good gains.

This laid the platform for the backs and with Richie Griffiths pulling the strings at outside-half, they didn't disappoint. Surprisingly, though, they didn't add to their first half total.

At the start of the second half the Mallorcans showed what they could do with the ball. There were plenty of neat touches in the build-up to their try scored by full-back Fredrico Entermany.

Veteran war-horse Alan Williams replied by scoring in his final game for the club as did back row replacements Gavin Thomas and Leighton Rees. Paul Rees and Richard Griffiths bagged two conversions each.

Betws would have reached 40 if retiring scrum-half Rob Holmes hadn't edged the final conversion slightly wide of the posts but it was a quality display and the final whistle came at the slightly later than usual time of midnight.

Earlier in the week, despite only having one regular Betws player on the tour, they agreed to play Mallorca Cricket Club and turned in a very creditable performance.

Mallorca made 259-4 in their 40 overs. Emyr Timothy collected two wickets while Paul Rees and the unconventional Emyr Stephens took one each.

Wayne Comley and Rhys Thomas walked out to face the quick Mallorca attack with Comley making a well-struck 49. Paul Rees and Gavin Thomas made 31 each despite not running many singles due to the previous night's exertions, and eventually Betws got to 191.

The ex-pat Mallorca side were full of praise saying that many cricket clubs would have been proud of their performance, but it was on the rugby field that Betws showed their fullest talents.

The final centenary event will be an invitation sevens tournament on August 16.