RHYL and District were unable to come away from South Wales with a WRU National Bowl triumph as they fell to a 34-7 reverse at Cardiff University.

Fielding a lively team that didn’t show any effect from the five-hour journey, the visitors took the lead with an interception try by scrum half Tom Jones, which was converted by Ben Syme.

This joy proved to be fleeting for the away side, with the students scoring a neatly worked score of their own to go into the break all square.

Two more tries immediately following the restart put the hosts in the ascendancy, which seemed to dampen the spirits of the Rhyl team and with more infringements occurring and the sin binning of Greg Proffit gave them a mountain to climb in the second period, and two more touch downs in the closing stages rounded off the scoring.

A club spokesman, said: “The performance of the university team showed their commitment to the game.

“Rhyl were beaten by a better and well drilled team and we wish them well in the next round. The game was played in the true spirit of the game by both sides with the referee praising both teams on social media.”

Next up for Rhyl and District is a difficult looking home clash against a dangerous Wrexham side on Saturday.