Pembroke Dock Quins 12 pts.

Pembroke RFC 17

The Scarlets grabbed the bragging rights in a pulsating local derby in which both sides never gave an inch from the first whistle to the last.

In front of a large crowd, both sides showed tremendous commitment, with the visitors snatching victory right at the death.

The Quins, in many people’s eyes, were the underdogs as they kicked-off,but for the first 15 minutes kept the visitors penned in their own half and it was only eagerness on the Quins’ part which contributed to them giving away four penalties, which helped relieved the pressure for the Scarlets.

The visitors spurned two early shots at goal as they tried to force a try, but the Quins’ defence, although severely tested, stood firm, and it held them in good stead as on 25 minutes outside-half Ben Hathaway slotted over a 30-yard penalty to give the his side the lead.

Pembroke continued to blow opportunities, spurning a big overlap as number eight Sam Smith punched a huge hole in the Quins defence.

The Quins, though, made the visitors pay for not taking their chances when Hathaway put over his second penalty to send the hosts in at half-time with a 6-0 lead.

After the break, the Quins were full of confidence, and when Hathaway put over his third successful penalty to put them nine points to the good, the writing was firmly on the wall for the visitors.

On the hour mark, the Scarlets struck back when Smith, who the Quins had handled pretty well up to this stage, stormed over from halfway out to register his side’s first score.

Outside-half Ryan Wilkins missed the conversion, but fullback Luke Hartland and scrum-half Lewis Gibby were starting to cause big problems in the Quins’ ranks with some fine mazy running.

With just five minutes remaining, centre Billy Woods broke Quins hearts when he touched down behind the posts after a fine attacking move opened up their defence.

Hartland converted to put the Scarlets 12-9 up, and with time now the Quins’ biggest enemy, a fine restart by Hathaway that was vital put the visitors on the back foot.

The Quins forced a penalty and Hathaway stepped up in erie silence to level the scores with his fourth successful kick to maintain his 100 per cent record.

As the game went into injury time, a draw looked on the cards, but when Hartland was judged to have carried the ball over after the referee had adjudged it was touched in flight, it looked like the Quins could snatch it, but after the initial thrust, the ball was turned over and the chance was lost.

But all credit to Pembroke, they were not going to settle for a draw; they stormed out of defence, ending with prop Dom Colman touching down wide out for an unconverted try which settled the match 17-12 in the Scarlets’ favour.

As for the Quins, Dean Wilcox was inspirational in their ranks, as was Mark Van Rhyn, who never took a step backwards.

The two young props for the Quins, Jack Davies and Josh Boswell, will hold well for the future as they continue to get better with every game.

Quins team: Charlie Dearden, Rhys Bradney, Mark Wooles, Thomas Doyle (capt), Harry Lawrence, Ben Hathaway, Jake Griffiths, Jack Davies, Dean Wilcox, Josh Boswell, Mark Van Rhyn, Sam James, Alex Pierce, Steve Hamer, Stefan Halward.

Replacements - Chad Monk, Liam Scourfield, Danny Woods.