PEMBROKE DOCK QUINS 17 pts. NEYLAND 10

The Quins held out for their first league win of the season against a spirited Neyland outfit who pressed right up to the last minute.

The Pembrokeshire All Blacks could not have wished for a better start when a fine handling movement involving Adam Collins and the experienced Greg Miller sent left wing Delme Bateman over in the corner for a superb try with the match just three minutes old, although scrum-half Mark Riley missed the conversion.

Just five minutes later, Riley had the opportunity to increase his side's lead, but was unfortunate when his 40-yard penalty struck the crossbar.

The Quins, with Mike Davis and Joe Powell once again getting some superb lineout ball, started to slowly get back in the game, starting to create chances, and it seemed only a matter of time before they would get on the scoreboard.

It duly arrived on the half-hour when flanker Alex Pierce forced his way over after the Quins had put enormous pressure on the visitors' line.

The returning Adam Cawley, playing at outside-half, stroked over the conversion to give his side a 7-5 lead.

Neyland soon had the chance to regain the lead, but Riley pushed his difficult penalty wide of the posts.

As the half drew to a close, the visitors struck through a fine try from fullback Greg Miller; again though Riley failed with the conversion attempt.

With the score at 10-7 in Neyland's favour at the break, the second half seemed up for grabs.

It was the Quins who started the stronger after the interval and they were soon camped deep inside the visitors' half, but unfortunately for the home side they could not turn it into points.

As the game wore on, strong running from number eight Barry Parsons, Alex Pierce and substitute Phil Hughes was starting to cause problems for the visitors and it was no surprise when scrum-half Adrian Heath sniped round the side of a maul to score underneath the posts to give Cawley a simple conversion to push the Quins 14-10 in front.

Pressure from the Quins soon forced a penalty and Cawley duly obliged by slotting a fine 30-yard kick between the uprights.

With just 10 minutes remaining, Neyland responded well and it was now the Quins' turn to go on the defensive.

The hosts, though, were in no mood to give the visitors anything.

As the final whistle blew, the Quins walked off with a deserved victory to maintain their improvement over recent weeks.

As for Neyland, nobody could deny them a bonus at least for the two fine tries they scored.

In the end, it was the seven points from Cawley's boot that proved the difference on the scoreboard.

Tomorrow (Saturday), the Quins are at home for the third successive weekend when they entertain Bynea RFC in another colour clash between black and white.