WEST CENTRAL

MAESTEG QUINS ....... 27 SEVEN SISTERS .......... 20

WITH five wins and a draw on the road, Seven Sisters’ away record is far more convincing than their home form.

Under pressure, Seven’s former Glynneath and Tata outside-half Jack O’Reilly converted a penalty.

Lloyd Bradley made a magnificent break, fol- lowed by a neat halfbreak.

A try was prevented when a lazy runner impeding the final pass, but it only delayed the inevitable. The penalty was kicked to touch and a cleverly worked lineout sent Scott Williams over.

Along with scrum-half Gavin Hooper darting at the fringes, the Quins had their work cut out.

Breaking through the Quins defence, Seven maintained possession and off-loaded well. A strong supporting run saw second-row McDonald finishing off the play with a try which O’Reilly converted.

Then Hapgood skinned the Quins midfield, resulting in another three points from O’Reilly’s boot and the Quins were in a spot of bother.

The response was magnificent.

Moving the ball with a mixture of brute force and clever hands, Geraint Evans spotted a chink in the Seven defence. Show- ing amazing balance and trickery, Evans sidestepped, ducked, darted and dived over the line. He also converted.

Near half time, Evans kicked a 50 yard penalty to put the Quins back in front before the whistle.

Under the cosh in the second half, the cross wind made exiting the 22 difficult. Seven Sisters made the most of this and from a lineout drive, prop Lee Roberts scored. O’Reilly added the conversion.

Seven failed to secure the restart and the Quins pounced on the error.

Excellent handling put second-row Nathan Smith in at the corner and the scores were levelled.

The set pieces were even until the pivotal moment when the Quins shunted the Sisters off their own scrum ball.

Keiran Watkins broke the Seven defence and the ball was quickly recycled.

Rhodri Thomas beat the first defenders, handed off the next while slipping a one handed pass back inside to Steve Williams. The Quins’ skipper looked over, but a pop pass after a last ditch tackle allowed supporting Lloyd Bradley to dive over. Evans converted.

Leading the defensive effort was skipper Steve Williams, who hit every carrier with a raging ferocity.

His example set the standard for others to follow and diffused the visiting challenge for an excellent bonus point win.