Shattered Holyhead remain upbeat

That was the stirring reaction of club chairman Emyr Williams in the wake of the biggest national league and cup hiding in UK rugby history for his side at Llanidloes in Division 3 North at the weekend.
 
“There will be a few hard questions asked of the players who didn’t turn up for the trip to Llanidloes. The bus left the club with only 11 players on board and although a few others turned up by car we played most of the game with between 11-13 players,” said Williams.
 
“We had 20 names listed to make the trip to Llanidloes, but a few of the players went out on Friday night and didn’t make it the next day. It is a real blow for the club because we had had a morale boosting 55-14 win in a friendly the week before.
 
“We were beaten 145-0 by Nant Conwy back in the 1993/94 season and this is another kick in the teeth for us. Holyhead RFC were one of the founder members of the North Wales Rugby Union and we are proud of our history and the role we play in providing rugby for youngsters on the island.
 
“We are a young side this season, mainly built on last year’s youth team, and scorelines like this are demoralising for the players. Now we need a good week of training before we host Llangollen at home on Saturday.
 
“At least there is only one way we can go after a defeat like that – up!”
 
Llanidloes outside half Tom Morgan helped himself to three tries and 16 conversions to end the match with 47 points in the record breaking rout and three players scored five tries apiece for the home side.
 
Llanidloes managed to convert 18 of their tries, which came at a rate of one every 165 seconds, to smash their own club records and set what is believed to be a UK league and cup record score.
 
Leading the rampage were openside flanker Sam Vaughan, centre Teddy Britton and wing James Davies, who each scored five tries and there were hat-tricks for outside half Morgan and club captain James Plumridge. In all, 12 different players scored tries.
 
“You have to give credit to Holyhead for fulfilling the fixture and battling to the end. It must have been a horrible journey for them,” said Llanidloes chairman Huw Jenkins.
 
“There was a small dispute between our scorer and the referee as to what the actual score was in the end. Our man thought there was at least another try and the final score should have been 189-0.
 
“But we won’t quibble with the official verdict of 181-0. We feel disappointed for Holyhead and it cost us a fortune in beer to send them on their way with a bit of a smile on their faces.”
 
But while the score is the highest every known in the Welsh or English National Leagues, it is not a world record. That honour belongs to French club Lavardac, who beat Vergt in a Division Three fixture in 1984 by a remarkable 350-0.
 
There were 66 tries in that fixture, which was played against a background of administrative discontent by Vergt, who were reacting to having four players suspended. They were beaten 236-0 by Gujan Mestras in similar circumstances the previous weekend.
 
The highest known international score in Hong Kong’s 164-13 Rugby World Cup qualifying victory over Singapore in 1994, whiel the highest league or cup score in England was registered by Chichester Institute in a Sussex Division 2 game against Ditchling in November, 1999, when they won 180-0.
 
Alcester did run up a bigger score in 2009 in beating Coventry Saracens 194-3 in a Midlands League match, but that result was subsequently overruled because the eight man Saracens failed to play with five players in their scrum at all times.