Carmarthen Quins 14 Barry 10
THIS was an absorbing match at Cefn Cribwr which saw Barry’s bold tilt at a national title brought to an end.
Quins emerged victorious, but their elation was tempered by the knowledge that the result could so easily have gone the other way. Both sides produced a quality battling performance, dominated by well-matched defences, and there was no disgrace in defeat for the Bombers. They did not let themselves down, but sadly were undermined by a series of mystifying official decisions.
Playing with the fierce wind at their backs, Quins spent much of the first half going forward. That usually earns penalties, and the three they were awarded, if the reasons were not always obvious, gave them a 9-0 half-time lead, Ellis Thomas on target in the fourth, 18th and 27th minutes.
“It was an amazing game from start to finish,” said head coach John Dimond, who felt Barry controlled things quite well in the first half. “Three penalties gave them a bit of leeway, but I didn’t feel at any time they would really bother us. They didn’t look that threatening.”
But, as he acknowledged, the Quins defence shut Barry’s back line down fairly quickly, and Barry were rarely able to get their normal flowing running game going. Equally, Quins struggled to produce fluid moves, such was the ferocity of the defensive collisions. “My forwards stepped up, covered the ground, and bailed everyone out.”
Barry battled their way back after the interval, Will Humphries slotting over a penalty in the 10th minute of the second half. They followed up with a try from Dafydd Jones four minutes later, rounding off a catch and drive from a penalty lineout. Humphries converted to put the Bombers in front.
“We had a couple of chances later to kick for the posts, but went for the corner,” said Dimond. “If one of those had gone right…” Small margins, but Barry had already shown their strength up front with their try, and understandably ignored the ‘take the points’ encouragement from the sidelines.
Quins regained the lead eight minutes from time, when they finally found an overlap out wide, Matthew Williams scoring in the corner. Barry then applied pressure, but the game ended controversially as they were penalised in the red zone, a tip tackle by the desperate defence having somehow been missed, and relieved Quins quickly kicked the ball dead.
“I just hope the boys can pick themselves up on the positives, and not dwell on what could have been,” said Dimond. “But to be fingernails close to a Principality final. It hurts.”
*In the other semi-final, Tondu beat Gorseinon 25-0.
By Ken Watkins
Photos by Photos: Judith Dutton.
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