Pembroke Dock Quins Youth 17 pts.

Youth 10

Pembroke Dock Harlequins RFC Youth entertained a large and vocal crowd on Saturday, playing against the in-form Pembrokeshire Youth League table-topping side, Fishguard Youth.

With the Quins Youth looking to get their season going and improve on their form, this was going to be a tough match against a confident and buoyant Fishguard side that had been on a run of successful wins.

Coaches Gareth Lewis, Keith Boswell and Huw Baker were confident that their young and ever-improving side would match up to Fishguard and the pre-match warm-up and prep talks looked promising and energetic.

With the starting 15 selected, the Quins took to the pitch full of enthusiasm and determination.

Fishguard kicked off with the slight slope to their advantage and both sets of forwards battled hard for possession at the breakdown, with some big hit tackles from both teams.

The Quins were guilty of holding on and Fishguard looked to move the ball wide.

With some slick passing and support play, the ever-confident Fishguard scooted down the right-hand touchline and, despite some brave tackles, crossed the whitewash to open the scoring. The conversion was wide.

Both sides continued to battle hard, with the Quins making a nice backline break up the midfield, only to have the pass judged to be forward as powerhouse speedster, Geraint Powell, crossed under the sticks.

From the scrum, Fishguard looked lively and some loose tackling and forced errors put pressure on the Quins’ defence and once again the visitors found some space and gaps down the right-hand side as they crossed for a second try. Again it went uncoverted, leaving the score at 10-0.

Fishguard had their tails up now and looked to increase their lead with some forceful runs and continued support play. However, this seemed to kickstart the Quins into life and, with some great tackling and jackling their forwards started to get a foothold in the game, which allowed the backs to start to move the ball wide with confidence.

Jamie Lawrence was then free to cross in the corner for a Quins try, but the conversion went wide, making the scores 10-5.

From the restart, the Quins managed to secure possession, before the backs were free to move the ball wide for the speedster Lawrence to cross for try number two. The conversion was again wideof the target, leaving the score tied at the interval.

After the break, the Quins looked to continue with their first half pressure and with the slope on their side, looked to attack from all areas.

Both sides battled hard, with the game see-sawing back and forth from end to end, but it was the Quins who, after some determined running and forward drives, managed to get their burly tight-head prop, Tom Clarkson, over to score under the posts.

Charlie Dearden slotted the conversion to make the score 17-10 to the Quins.

With the clock well past the 70 minutes, the referee called time and a jubilant Quins Youth celebrated in style over their tremendous victory and battle.

Both sides shook hands and clapped each other off and enjoyed great ‘rugby crack’ in the Quins club after, with both teams enjoying the day.