LIGHT RELIEF FOR DROVERS

CARMARTHEN QUINS ........ 8 LLANDOVERY .................... 16

THE lights literally went out on Carmarthen Quins’ attempt to pick up their first Principality Premiership win over arch-rivals Llandovery since May 2017.

The floodlights at Carmarthen Park failed for the first time as the clock reached 40 minutes, forcing referee Ben Whitehouse to call both coaches onto the pitch before calling a halt to proceedings.

The lights came back on just as the teams were due to return for the second half, but then they blew again. The second failure put the game in serious doubt until a council electrician arrived and eventually got them working.

“We had a problem with a fuse,” explained a Carmarthen Quins club official.

“We had three people working on it, but then had to call the council.

“It is their ground and their responsibility. “They sent an electrician to the ground to get the fault fixed.”

Whitehouse gave both sides a 10-minute warm-up period once the fuse was fixed before restarting the game at 9.10pm after a 40-minute half-time interlude.

There was also a 12-minute delay with only two minutes left on the clock when Drovers centre Ryan Evans received treatment after being knocked out after hitting the knee of Osian Knott in an attempted tackle.

It meant it took two-and-a-half hours to complete the game.

Aled Thomas was gifted a second-minute penalty shot after the first scrum went down, but the home full-back pushed his straightforward shot wide.

It didn’t matter, though, because three minutes later Steff Marshall put in an inch perfect cross-kick to allow Dylan Morgans to run onto the ball and dive over in the corner.

The Quins dominated the first quarter of an hour, but then lost flanker Ellis Lloyd to the sin-bin for a late, no-arms tackle on Llandovery danger man Jack Maynard.

Two minutes later Llandovery put the seven-man home scrum under pressure and Lewys Millin was caught breaking too early.

That gifted the visitors a penalty on the edge of the 22 and up stepped Maynard to kick the penalty.

Back came the Quins and Thomas made it third time lucky with his boot when he was handed a 30-metre penalty shot.

Maynard punished a high tackle six minutes after the restart to cut the deficit to two points and then saw flanker Stuart Worrall pounce for a try.

The conversion was a formality and then Maynard completed the victory with a drop-goal as the game entered its final stages.

“It was a proper local derby with both teams going out to win it,” said Llandovery skipper Richard Brooks.

“I think the blackout made the difference because it gave us some extra time to sort ourselves out.

“We tried to play the Quins at their own game in the first half and we kicked back at them.

“We played our own game in the second half and I think our fitness shone through.” CARMARTHEN QUINS  Try: D Morgans. Pen: A Thomas.

LLANDOVERY  Try: S Worrall. Con: J Maynard. Pens: J Maynard (2). DG: J Maynard.