QUINS RALLY TO SEAL DERBY JOY
CARMARTHEN Quins earned the West Wales bragging rights as they comprehensively beat local rivals Llanelli.
This was Llanelli’s 11th defeat in a row, while the Quins moved temporarily to the top of the Premiership table.
“There was a lot of things wrong with us in the first half, and we’ve been starting slowly throughout the season,” said Quins scrum-half Rhodri Davies.
“In the second half we did really well to get the victory.
“In the first half we lost the ball too easily and gave away a lot of penalties which meant we couldn’t get any momentum. In the second half we tidied some stuff up and played some good rugby.”
Llanelli started the stronger of the sides as they showed some nice handling which allowed Liam Hutchings to touch down in the corner. Ioan Hughes added the extras.
Jac Wilson opened Carmarthen’s account with a penalty before a further six points from Hughes’s boot gave the visitors a 13-3 lead at the interval.
But the Quins were like a different side in the second half as their pack took control of proceedings.
Llanelli’s Tom Zoogah was sent to the sin-bin for illegally killing the ball, before Morgan Griffiths crossed for the Quins after some terrific interplay between backs and forwards, with Steff Marshall converting.
Carmarthen were now in the ascendancy and soon claimed their second try when Griffiths kicked ahead which allowed No. 9 Davies to show his pace as he touched down to put his side into the lead for the first time.
There was some tremendous handling yet again by the Quins to put former Scarlets and Wales Under-20s full-back Dale Ford over for their third try.
They claimed their bonus-point try in the 78th minute with Griffiths sneaking in for his second after a period of sustained pressure by the hosts.
“We were happy enough with our first-half performance,” said Llanelli head coach Paul Fisher.
“We conceded too many penalties in the second half, and we conceded two tries when we had a man in the sin-bin. To be fair to Quins, they played some good rugby and made us pay in the final quarter.”
CARMARTHEN QUINS
LLANELLI