Pembroke Dock Harlequins 7 pts. Whitland 41 After facing stiff opposition from the Quins in the first half and in the early stages of the second half, the Borderers took this Pembrokeshire KO Cup semi-final away from the plucky Division Three West outfit in the latter stages.
There was a good size crowd at Bierspool for the match and spectators witnessed the Borderers take the lead after 12 minutes with an unconverted try by winger Dion Thomas.
The ball had been recycled on the left and in a quick switch of play moved out to Dion Thomas, who used his pace to score in the right corner. After 18 minutes, the lead was extended when prop Alun Davies finished off a move with a try after an initial break by centre Lee Glanville. Again the try went unconverted.
Five minutes before the interval, the Borderers suffered a body blow with an injury to Huw Devonald. Normally a hooker, Devonald was playing as a flanker in this match and suffered a bad knee injury. Ironically, Devonald had only returned to first team duty recently after being sidelined with a shoulder problem.
The Quins had given it their all in the first half and prevented the Borderers from unleashing their pace behind the scrum. At the same time, the Pembroke Dock team had attacked at every opportunity and came close to scoring a try on more than one occasion.
The breakthrough came immediately upon the restart when winger Neil Harries crossed for a try in the left corner to finish off a blindside move and number eight Gareth Scourfield converted.
With just three points in it, the Borderers used their superior skill and pace to step up a gear. Winger Christian Roets scored their first try in the second half when he finished off a defence-splitting run by outside-half Aled Davies, who converted the try.
Five minutes later, Jason Evans went over in the corner from a lineout and again Aled Davies converted.
Two more tries came in very quick succession. The first by winger Dion Thomas converted by Aled Davies and the second was also scored by Dion Thomas after he played a one-two with fullback Will Davies running along the right touchline. Aled Davies was off target with the conversion attempt. The Quins' defence held firm for the next quarter- of-an-hour, but in the dying embers of the game, Whitland centre Lee Glanville finished off a superb combined move by the Whitland backs and pack to cross for a try on the left and the conversion attempt by Aled Davies hit the posts. Commenting after the match, Borderers senior coach Domenico Setaro said: "These games are always difficult and you can't take anything for granted. I thought that the boys did well. Without any disrespect for Pembroke Dock, in these sorts of games the higher division side tends to score tries late on and that is what happened today.
"We had a hard game at Bonymaen last Saturday and face another hard game against Bonymaen to finish off the season. "Consequently, it was a bit difficult to get the boys up for the cup match this evening, although we always want to do well in the Pembrokeshire Cup. "Unfortunately, Huw Devonald picked up an injury to his knee, which will keep him out of action for some time after he has just returned to the side following a long-term shoulder injury. "He had come back fit, strong and eager to play good rugby and the injury will be a setback to him and to the team. "Pembroke Dock were allowed to play a bit with the decisions made by the match referee, but we were quite happy with the way we played and all of the team performed well." The Borderers will play Narberth in the final of the Pembrokeshire Knockout Cup at Haverfordwest Rugby Club on Saturday, May 5. Kick-off is at 2.30 pm.
Whitland fielded: Will Davies, Dion Thomas, Lee Glanville, Gary Evans, Christian Roets, Aled Davies, Luke Marsh, Alun Davies, Jason Evans, Richard Smith (Andrew Morrillo), Raff Williams, Carwyn Davies (Aled Evans), Huw Devonald (Aled Harries), Rhydian Thomas and Randall Williams (captain).