Fixture

Saturday January 5^th 2019

Trebanos 34 - 5 Maesteg Quins

WRU Cup

There appeared to be an abundance of left-over Christmas turkey going into the first fixture of the New Year. Initially putting up a stern defence for the opening ten minutes of this Welsh Cup match, the Quins were then carved open like a festive bird, by a rampant Trebanos.

Amassing twenty-nine unanswered points with superbly executed movements at pace, Banws killed off the fixture by half-time. Only desperate last-ditch defending saved even greater embarrassment, as the ghost of the Beddau fixture past haunted the Maesteg men.

Apart from the decisive play from the hosts who had the confidence to run from anywhere, generally had support and had clearly worked extensively together, as out-half Lewis Humphries pulled the strings behind the scrum and No. 8 Andrew Heale regularly featured throughout the game.

Quins were also masters of their own downfall. They seemed like strangers to each other, wouldn’t put unmarked players into space and at several junctures couldn’t put simple passes into the hands of support players.

That said, after a lamentable error handed the Ancient Borough the first score of the second half the Quins rallied. It took time, but eventually Geraint Evans was worked over the line and the second half was an even 5-all. The ghost of this present match will need to be exorcised quickly with hard work and a combined effort from all.

There were still a number of pleasing aspects in the Quins display. Callum Powell again showed flashes of his pace and elusiveness. Returning Scott Williams put in a number of well-timed, thunderous tackles. Another returnee, Andrew Healy showed his usual exemplary pace.

With their Cup presence gone, Quins now have what is, in effect, a twelve matches run in to the end of the season. Every single game is vital to the aim of reaching the highest possible mid-table position. This is the same side that has defended superbly in a number of matches and shown character in abundance. This long run-in can be the time of the players' sporting lives. Hopefully the ghost of matches yet to come will give the players a glimpse of the benefits in succeeding in this goal, inspire the squad to take this challenge on, en bloc by working hard as one for the remainder of the season.