New Dock Stars 30 pts

Pembroke Dock Quins 10

The Quins put up a more than creditable performance before going down to the league leaders on a perfect day for rugby, with the playing surface in remarkably good condition despite the recent poor weather.

In the opening quarter, the Quins more than held their own against their lofty opponents, with once again number eight Joe Powell securing a reasonable amount of ball in the lineout.

The achilles heal, though, was the Quins' scrum, which was starting to retreat at regular intervals.

But it was the Quins who were first on the scoreboard when outside-half Jack Price stripped the ball from home centre Steve Coss rather easily and sauntered over from 30 yards out to touch down under the posts. Scrum-half Jonathan Rogers popped over the conversion to put the Quins 7-0 up.

The Quins at this stage were struggling for any quality ball, but as they have done all season, were competing ferociously at the breakdown, disrupting the home side on many occasions, but at the same time were giving away far too many penalties.

It was not until 25 minutes that the Stars eventually got on the scoreboard when scrum-half Jason Baxter slotted over a fine kick to drag his side back to 7-3 after the Quins were guilty of pulling down a maul.

But on the half-hour, the Quins restored their seven-point advantage when the Stars were penalised for holding on, and Jonathan Rogers did not need a second invitation with a well-struck kick to send the ball soaring between the uprights.

Five minutes before the break, the Quins gave away another penalty. This time the Stars put the ball in the corner and from the resultant lineout put in a well-re-hearsed driving maul, with loose-head prop Ian Jones being credited with the score.

Baxter missed the conversion, and as the half drew to a close, the Quins suffered a blow when Powell was accidently kicked to the head and had to leave the field to be replaced by Mike Davis.

Rogers had the chance to increase the Quins' lead, but his long range penalty narrowly missed; still his side went in at half-time 10-8 in front against all the odds.

As the second half started, their was a notable silence amongst the home support, who must have wondered the same as everyone else - was there going to be major upset on the cards?

The Quins just needed to secure decent ball to unleash their dangerous runners in Jack Price and especially Damien Miller.

Ten minutes into the second half, Rogers was unlucky with a long range penalty.

The pressure now on the Quins was becoming relentless, with the scrum really starting to struggle, and it was from yet another close range scrum that the Stars eventually took the lead, which they were never going to relinquish.

Number eight Dave Hatton picked the ball up before feeding right wing Paul Williams, who dived over in the corner.

Baxter missed the conversion, and with 25 minutes still remaining, the Quins, at least scorewise, were not out of it.

The Quins were then penalised again at the scrum and the Stars, who were dominating possession and territory but with a slender lead, were not going to take any chances. Baxter popped over the penalty to stretch his side's lead to 16-10.

The Quins were dealt another blow when Miller, after a fine kick and chase, had a kick to his mouth, which forced him to leave the field.

With just 10 minutes to go, the Stars grabbed their third try through centre Ifan Patchell. Baxter converted to take away the Quins' losing bonus point.

With the score now at 23-10 to the Stars, it was all about could they retrieve that bonus point and it was virtually in the last minute that outside-half Rhodri Owen scored in the corner and to rub salt in the Quins' wound, Baxter converted from wide out to enable his side to reach 30 points.

Tomorrow (Saturday), the Quins are home to Llangadog, before the eagerly-awaited clash at Neyland on St. Davids Day.