Final Score Carmarthen Quins 28-18 Llanelli
Llanelli went down to their third league defeat at the hands of local regional rivals Carmarthen Quins.
Conditions in the Park were excellent for the first Quins home game of the season. However, it was Llanelli who started the brighter taking the game to the home side early on. With only seven minutes on the clock, Aaron Grabham touched down in the corner for an unconverted try.
Carmarthen’s reply was almost immediate when Ben Leung charged down a kick, forced a defender into touch and from this, eventually, a perfectly executed rolling maul allowed Torin Myhill to cross for an unconverted try. Then, within ten minutes Leung was yellow carded for taking a man out off the ball and during this time, Ioan Hughes kicked two penalties to extend the Llanelli lead to six points. For twenty minutes or so, the visitors dominated field position and territory but failed to build on their lead. The final ten minutes or so of the half saw Llanelli concede numerous penalties which gave all the momentum to the home side.
The Quins took full advantage and were awarded a penalty try after illegally being denied a try from a very effective rolling maul. Chris Long, the Llanelli lock, was then yellow carded and Jac Wilson finished off the half with a penalty to give Carmarthen a 15 – 11 lead.
It was the Quins who came out flying in the second half and, almost from the restart, Nick Reynolds broke open the visitor’s defence. Quick hands out to former Llanelli player Leon Randall on the wing allowed him to run around under the posts for a try and an easy conversion for Jac Wilson. For the next fifteen minutes it was all Carmarthen, largely once again with the visitors conceding numerous penalties meant that Jack Wilson was able to extend the home side’s lead with two further penalties. Going into the final quarter Llanelli began to claw their way back into the game and eventually broke their opponents defence allowing Danny Drake to dive over between the posts. Hughes easily added the extras. At 28-18 the visitors tried to reduce the arrears but couldn’t get past the well organised Quins defence. As the end of the game approached replacement scrum half Steff Davies unfortunately suffered a nasty injury and play was held up for sometime for him to be treated – When play restarted the game just fizzled out and the visitors left the Park defeated but with lots of optimism. They will need to improve their discipline if they are to get a result next time out at PYS against RGC.