Fixture

Saturday September 28^th 2019

Maesteg Quins 23 – 13 Cross Keys

WRU Championship

On the last occasion the same two clubs were due to meet in 1992, Quins travelled to Cross Keys and were changed only for the United side to withdraw because of a lack of players.

Twenty seven years later and the Quins were taking on the Cross Keys first XV. The same Cross Keys who were champions of Wales, albeit ninety and eighty years ago respectively. The same Cross Keys who won the Welsh Cup in 2012 and the same Cross Keys who were playing WRU Premier rugby up until last season.

Both clubs would have viewed this game as an opportunity to break their league ‘victory duck’. Cross Keys sitting just above the early relegation area with a single losing bonus point and the Quins at the very bottom of the pile, with nothing to show after the first two rounds of fixtures. Yet when positioned so low in the table, neither side could call this game a banker.

Quins took the lead with a James Dixon penalty. This score was trumped by an Adam Tetley bagged a try converted by Kieran Hill.

Quins put in the spade work and played their ever impressive Nathen Ace, sending the second row over with a straight run to the line and regain the lead.

Yet it was the visitors who went into half-time with an 8-10 lead courtesy of a Hill penalty.

With such high stakes the second half became a penalty shoot-out. Quins collective hearts proved dealt a powerful blow as they took the game in hand by commanding possession and territory. As the penalty tally mounted in their favour, James Dixon kicked another four goals to extend the Quins’ lead.

Conscious of a bonus point, Hill goaled his second penalty to bring the ‘Keys’ within seven points of their hosts, but their hopes of gleaning a vital point were dashed when Dixon landed his sixth goal to put ten points between the teams.

As a result of this valuable and much needed win, Quins rose from the bottom of the league to ninth in the table. While the Quins appear flush at present there is nothing between any of the clubs who are trying to avoid the final cut at the end of the season. However, this vital first win will bring confidence back to the squad.