PEMBROKE DOCK

QUINS 12 pts.

PEMBROKE 10

In front of a large crowd on Saturday, the Quins just about managed to hang on for victory in a tense finalé over a Pembroke side who totally dominated the second half and who must be wondering how they did not come away with the spoils.

It did not take long for the visitors to put their mark on the game, a powerful run by the outstanding second row Rob Weston forcing an early penalty on the Quins' 25, but outside-half Phil Williams pushed his effort wide of the posts.

It was not long before Pembroke were pressing again and this time when the Quins transgressed, Williams made no mistake to give the visitors the lead with 10 minutes on the clock.

The Quins at this stage were up against it and the Scarlets looked odds on to avenge the defeat the Quins put on them earlier in the season.

It was some fine tackling by the Quins which was keeping them in the game, and when Pembroke were caught offside at a ruck, outside-half Lewis Davies kicked a fine 35-yard penalty to level the scores, which also enabled the outside-half to pass 50 points for the season.

Ten minutes later he was at it again with another well-struck penalty to put the Quins 6-3 into the lead, which they were never going to surrender.

Williams had a chance to level the scores when number eight Kevin Bratcher was caught with his hands in the ruck, but the outside-half amazingly missed the golden opportunity he was presented with, and to make matters worse for the visitors, Davies kept his 100 per cent record going by notching his third penalty to send the Quins in 9-3 in front at the break.

The second half was totally dominated by Pembroke who threw everything at the Quins.

With a stream of possession coming their way it only seemed a matter of time before the Quins would crack and indeed Pembroke were very unfortunate to have what seemed a perfectly good try disallowed by the referee which baffled most spectators.

The Quins, though, did have a few aces up their sleeves and in fullback Damien Miller they had probably the most dangerous runner on the pitch, and it was from his breakout that they managed to get a foothold in Pembroke's half of the pitch and force a penalty, which this time Davies amazingly missed.

With time running out and Pembroke still forcing the issue, the Quins needed another score and this duly arrived when Davies, who had fine afternoon, chipped over a simple penalty to put his side 12-3 in the lead.

With the Quins now two scores clear it seemed all up for the visitors, but with the game deep in injury time, right wing Geraint Jackson scored wide out.

Williams put over the difficult conversion to narrow the deficit to two points.

With six minutes of injury time already played, Pembroke had only one more chance to clinch the game, but alas for the visitors it was not to be as yet another move broke down.

If games were won on possession and territory the visitors would have won by a mile, but at the end of the day it was Davies who won the battle of the kickers which enabled the Quins to hold on to their unbeaten home record.

This local derby once again brings to the fore the return of local rugby, and in an earlier game between the Quins Youth and Haverfordwest Youth the home side won 49-21 in a 12-a-side match.

With the Blues having to take some Youth players to Maesteg to make up the numbers, it again demonstrates that local rugby is a far more sustainable product in these difficult times.