Fixture

Saturday March 2^nd 2019

Maesteg Quins 9 – 19 Pontypool

WRU Championship

Former Welsh rugby giants and current table-topping Championship champions Pontypool made their inaugural visit to South Parade. Pooler left the Llynfi valley victors, while the Llynfi men were left to think of what might have been, in the often fiery encounter.

Motivated to show they are capable of competing with anyone in the Championship, highly competitive play saw the Quins take a 6-nil lead, through two early Owen Howe penalties. The second from fifty-five yards.

After the monster goal and return of skipper Rob Nash from his enforced ten minutes breather, Pontypool leapt into action. Three well executed tries gave the Gwent men a scoreboard cushion.

The first midfield opening of the Quins defence was made by clever running and silky sleight of hands. The final pass was too deceptive as it caught out the intended receiver and his knock-on cancelled out the touchdown.

In a period of Pooler dominance, they didn’t have to wait long for their next assault. Two missed passes not only got the ball into the hands of Jordan Thomas, they put the left-wing into acres of space to speed over at the corner.

This is not to say the Quins were frozen in the headlights of Pooler’s manifest talent and attacking potency. Quins inaccuracies and lack of discipline were attributes too.

Four attacking line-outs in prime locations were lost. Additionally, Quins indiscipline did the work for the visitors. Conceding consecutive penalties to surrender eighty yards, without Pooler’s players breaking sweat became a feature.

Not that the Gwent club were all wings and halos. One area of the game where the teams were squarely matched was the distribution of yellow cards - the teams shared six of them equally. Throughout the match late tackles were made after the ball had left Quins kickers' boots. Of course, not all of them were penalty offences. Neither were they all legitimate. One Pooler forward was particularly fortunate. His pusillanimous actions weren’t caught by the referee as both sets of forwards made their way to a line-out. He would not have stayed on the field if it were.

Again the Championship leaders were delighted to be gifted ball and unleash their potent backs. Centres Meek, Maloney and Jordan Thomas were cutting the home defence. Pooler’s midfield hordes charged the Quins backs like lines of wool on a loom. This clever running needed to be complimented by good passing. The ball was shuttled to the correct individuals and threaded them  into space.

Full-back Walsh went through to put right-wing Lloyd Lewis in at the corner with a diving flourish and. Jones converted.

In a mirror image move, instead of passing wing-wards Walsh cut his angle and romped over. Jones again converted.

Quins came up with a great move of their own. Going blind from a scrum, Ben Davies spread the defenders and found Alex Griffiths with his pass. Picking his spot the wing ran strongly. The movement was illegally halted after forty yards right on the visiting try-line. Unfortunately, numb-mindedness saw the penalty reversed, a yellow card issued to either side and half-time arrived.

When facing adversity it is important to come out on top. More important is the manner in which you prevail. For all the self-imposed difficulties and slick Pontypool play, the Quins’ second half defensive exhibition of ‘Rourke’s Drift’ proportions, was inspiring. Exemplifying a terrific tenacity, the castle on the Quins’ chests is burning, so too the fire in their belly that fuelled a desire to play even harder.

Seeking the bonus point try Pooler spurned kicks at goal. Facing a plethora of five yards line-outs, it was a slight reward that the Quins’ defiance prevented the fourth touchdown. With tenacious tackling from all quarters, turnovers courtesy of Tidball, Tutt, Owen and Williams came at a phenomenal rate.

Maintain this standard of defensive display, the line-out will improve when games come thick and fast, apply intelligence instead of conceding needless penalties and Quins can look optimistically at the remaining eight fixtures to achieve their goal of avoiding the drop, even though they slipped into the relegation spots after this defeat.

Callum Powell was at his elusive best. Even in the tightest of situations against such opposition he made more ground than any other Quins player. Powell was unlucky not to have scored when he cut inside to take a very good slip pass. Not a single call of ‘forward’ was heard on field or off it. The referee thought otherwise. In the remaining eight fixtures the flyer may well become a true destroyer of defences.

Pooler need seven more points to complete their hat-trick of Championship titles, so in two more matches they will be crowned champions. Quins need considerably more to avoid the drop.

Owen Howe kicked the only points of the second half. A long-distance miss from a fourth attempt would have placed the Quins into valuable losing bonus point territory. Despite the heroics - it wasn’t to be. Nothing was left on the field and nobody can ask for more.