That’s better, but still not good enough
0 Comments | South Wales Evening Post, Sep 6, 2010
THIS was a vast improvement on the Quins’ disastrous start to their campaign at Cardiff — but not enough to prevent Newport maintaining their record of never having lost to the West Wales side.
Although still hit by injuries up front, the Quins dominated in the first half.
And helped by a 9-3 penalty count against the indisciplined visitors, they established a handy 14-9 lead by half-time.
Debutant James Stephenson was their standout player and he put them in front with a superb 50-metre penalty which followed a smart break from his own 22 by Gareth Morgan.
Three minutes later, the Newport backs were caught offside and Morgan made them pay with an easy penalty from 20 metres.
Pat Leach almost made the line for Newport but his pass didn’t go to hand. But a penalty followed from a ruck on the home line and Rhys Jones kicked the goal.
Back came the Quins and pressurised the Newport defence, which allowed Stephenson room to drop a smart goal to restore the Quins’ six-point lead.
That was short-lived, however, as Jones kicked his second penalty from 35 metres after a scrum collapsed.
The Quins scored the first try of the game following good work by Stuart Phillips and Sione Timani, which led to a ruck near Newport’s line.
The ball was worked out by Sililo Martens to Morgan, who sent out a long pass and Stephenson managed to squeeze over in the corner for an unconverted try.
Slackened Two minutes later Jones kicked his third penalty. After that the pace of the game slackened, although the Quins were still good value for their interval lead.
The second half was a different story as Newport started well and took the lead with a controversial penalty try which swung the game in their favour.
From a penalty, they kicked to touch and set up a ruck near the home line and referee Jonathan Mason immediately signalled a penalty try that Jones converted.
Five minutes later, Phillips was yellow-carded for killing the ball at a ruck, and while the Quins were down to 14 men Newport struck when the outstanding Adam Hughes burst through a gap in midfield and, although stopped near the line, regained his feet to dive over.
The Quins enjoyed long periods of pressure without really finding a way through a good defence, and even the hope of a losing bonus point was snatched away in the last minute when Scott Williams sent Hughes away unopposed with a smart reverse pass. The try was converted by Jones.
Carmarthen Quins: Try: J Stephenson. Pens: J. Stephenson, G. Morgan. Drop-goal: J. Stephenson.
Team J. Stephenson, R. Carter, J. Harries, A. Banfield, R. Jones, G. Morgan, S. Martens (capt), A. Beaujean (R. Evans 60), R. Wilkes (D. George 60), K. Jones (T. Davies 74), S. Timani, H. Pugh, A. Thomas, S. Phillips (J. Davies 60), G
easy still
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