Maesteg Quins 32-23 Neath WRU Championship Cup

IT was a magnificent return of rugby at South Parade. For the first competition fixture of the campaign, Maesteg Quins welcomed illustrious, multiple Welsh championship winning club Neath for the visitor’s inaugural fixture of their sesquicentennial season.

Even though this was Neath’s first fixture, they headed Challenge Cup Group 3 courtesy of a walkover-win. To give themselves any opportunity of leading the group, Quins had to make their home advantage count.

Home full-back Lewis Evans came out thoroughly on top of a serious examination under the high ball. Evans’ ‘A star’ execution turned defence into attack, as he gathered safely under extreme pressure in his own twenty-five.

Powering through three tackles, Evans embarked on a storming run. Passing half-way, he kicked ahead and the chase was perfectly timed, with three players snaring Ian Ellis in possession holding him up close to the line.

Patiently the Quins inched towards the Pwll yr Iwrch goalline, slowly pulling in defenders at the breakdown. Working blind, passes were well timed and outnumbering the visitors, a Lee Ronan miss pass sent Ryan Lovett trotting over in the first five minutes.

For the first and last time, Quins coughed up possession from the restart. Caught offside, Steffan Williams goaled.

Neath’s Ryan Evans went into overdrive and rounded the midfield defence. Fluid interplay followed, breaking up the Quins resistance. ‘Sneaking’ yards in defence are not so crafty when caught and Williams put the Welsh All Blacks in the lead with a second offside penalty.

With a combined total of under a hundred minutes of rugby between both clubs, handling errors were certain to happen - it affected Neath more. The restart was not gathered - the Quins pounced.

Jakob Williams’ perfectly weighted kick tortured the defence. It had height, distance and even better, it held up when reaching earth. Twirling mischievously over the line, chasing Nathan Smith got there first to dot down and give the Quins the lead once more. McGuckin converted.

Under the shadow of the Neath posts an attacking scrum was called after another unforced error. Celebrating his two hundredth appearance Andrew Healy picked up, dummied and dashed over for a try. McGuckin majorized.

The first quarter onslaught continued. Working through the phases, patience was rewarded when Tadhg McGuckin skipped and weaved his way to score the bonus point try and convert.

It is said that men, like pins, are ineffective when they lose their head. After shepherding Neath into touch five yards from their Quins line, the hosts inexplicably chose to take a quick throw-in. This caused a rushed exit kick which failed to find touch.

Giving Neath the green light to attack wide open spaces, was not the best way to maintain a lead. Cracking the defensive line, the Welsh All Black’s short passing flourished. Dyfan Ceredig received the ball on the line and knocked-on, before acrobatically regathering to touchdown. Williams converted.

Another penalty from Williams brought Neath three points closer. Before Tadhg McGuckin who was tackled without the ball, got up and landed the penalty just before the half ended.

In the second half Neath’s handling errors reduced and pressure was heaped upon the Quins. In keeping Neath at bay, Quins conceded streams of penalties.

The penalty-count went Neath’s way at the scrum. It was a totally different contest to what the statistics suggests.

However, a telling difference between the teams was the lineout. Many steals relieved the pressure on the Quins as Nathan Ace, Nathan Smith and Matthew Tidball took the honours.

Given the Quins’ line-out dominance, the ball could have been put off the park more often. Yet despite Neath’s pace and the game’s high tempo, they were kept at bay. As Neath were forced to chase the game the Quins fed off each other defensively. Lee Ronan led the midfield defensive effort. The back-row gave little away and Cameron Thomas’ fresh legs did the defensive work of two. So too Harry Morgan-Grant who could ably snaffle attackers even when they were given a headstart.

Neath discovered Lewis Evans was as safe as the gold standard under the high ball. His often miraculous takes on the run were a fantastic feature of the match and took away one form of seeking field position from the visitors.

Two periods of sustained Quins attack proved fruitless, but the time they ate up aided the Quins, forcing Neath to attack from ever deeper areas of the field.

With a series of penalties going their way, Neath made the first score of the second half. Multiple phases resulted in a converted try. A dozen minutes remained, Neath were one score away from a win and the Quins needed any form of score.

A ruck offence provided a penalty opportunity which went wide. Seconds later Dean Ronan, who had popped up several times in midfield to make momentum stemming tackles, leapt at an opportunity to burrow for the ball at a ruck. Neath didn’t release and McGuckin goaled, taking his match tally to seventeen.

When full-time was called it signalled another win for the Maesteg Quins over one of Welsh rugby’s most illustrious clubs, creating another superb, memorable day to remember.

The bonus point win put the Quins level on points with Neath in the Championship Cup Group 3 table and the next game is at home against Premier league opponents Bridgend.