The Great Escape

When play began on the Glan-Yr-Afon pitch, where the odd tuft of grass was in stark contrast to the brown background, none of the watching crowd could have foreseen the drama and the heartbreak that was to come.

After a spirited start by “the up for it” home side, where Richard Powell gave them the lead with a penalty in front of the posts, the game then took on an expected pattern. By the end of the first quarter James Garland had equalised with a penalty of his own and Ryan Llewellyn had scored possibly the try of the day. It began at a line out where Wayne Williams rose high and fed the ball to Sililo Martens. The ball was then shipped quickly along the line until Jason Harries made the initial break and created the space for Llewellyn to score and for Garland to add the extras
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Garland and Powell exchanged penalties again but matters were looking smooth for the Premiership side despite the exuberant Blackwood players playing well and seemingly being granted leeway at the set piece and breakdown.
The game turned again, however, when, after a period of “ping-pong” kicking, the Quins backs decided to run the ball back at their opponents. A rash tap through by Harries was picked up by Joe Bajjada, who left Carmarthen flat-footed, and ran in under the posts for his try. Powell added the conversion and, despite some subsequent fine runs by Richard Wilkes, Sione Timani and Andrew Thomas the scores remained level at the interval.

A moment of farce brightened the start of the second half, caused by the teams playing in the same colours on a mud bath of a pitch, when prop, Rhys Morgan was seen to tackle his own scrum half as he tried a blind side move.

This did not disguise for long, however, that Blackwood driven on by a large and vociferous crowd of loyal fans, started to edge the game and certainly dominate the territory game. Perhaps, despite some fine work by David Brake and Mike Georgiou, the home side looked unlikely to score another try but the boot of Powell succeeded in kicking another three penalties and seemingly putting them out of sight.
With just a few minutes to go, the hard work of Wilkes, Thomas and Llewellyn drove the Quins up field. Substitute Gareth Cull firstly slotted a penalty and then from the restart, Carmarthen forced themselves into the Blackwood “22” for the first time in the half. They failed to score in the stand side corner but recycled the ball, Cull chipped the ball high to the other corner, Harries held on and touched down for the score.

The faithful home fans then had to hold their breath while Cull carefully prepared for the touchline conversion only to be then mortified as the ball sailed between the posts just before the referee blew the final whistle. In contrast an overjoyed Quins Kit Man could be seen running around throwing hats, towels and anything else he could find into the air.

A stunned Blackwood team and now silent crowd had been robbed of their Cup Glory by 23 points to 22. Hurting, they still sportingly wished the Quins well in the next round but defeat must have been really hard to take.

Reporter: Keith Bond