Battling spirit pleases Emyr

CROSS KEYS....................9 CARM QUINS.................20

EMYR Phillips was pleased after Carmarthen Quins battled from behind to return with the points after victory at Pandy Park.

Spirited Cross Keys led 9-6 at the turnaround with Jason Tovey, back from Dragons duty, again showing his worth with three penalties against two from Aled Thomas.

However, tries from Torin Myhill and Josh Batcup after the break clinched victory for the Quins and gave their followers an early Christmas present.

“The first half was disappointing,” admitted Quins head coach Phillips. “A few silly errors from us gave them easy points.

“We looked to address that at half-time and I thought the boys looked much better, the discipline was very good in the second half.

“The most pleasing thing for me was the character; watching the boys defend, hearing them shouting and seeing the energy to get off the floor in a tough place was superb. I’m over the moon to be going home with four points.”

Tovey opened the scoring early on with an expertly taken effort, with him and Thomas exchanging kicks as the hosts held a slender advantage at the break.

The visitors made a fast start to the second half as they piled on the pressure from kick-off and were eventually rewarded when hooker Myhill crashed over in the right corner to give his side the lead for the first time. Thomas converted.

They enjoyed the majority of possession but came close to falling behind when Srdan Majkic threatened to add an interception try to Keys’ tally before was he brought down just shy of the whitewash.

A yellow card to Ed Siggery gave Keys more encouragement but Batcup forced his way over the try line to secure the win for Quins.