Quins Match Report 28-16

Ebbw fell 28-16 defeat at home to Carmarthen Quins after a fantastic first half performance was thrown away in the latter stages.

Before either side crossed the whitewash Evan Lloyd and Jack Wilson traded kicks for either side, Quins leading 6-3. Following some heavy pressure and smart play off the set piece, Dave Whiting smashed his way over from close range to give the Steelmen a widened advantage.

Evan Lloyd then took further advantage of the wind as he converted another two penalties before the break.

Quins soon turned into a different beast. They exited well and the driving maul was unstoppable at times, led by Torin Myhill at hooker who scored Quins’ first try of the afternoon.

Some sloppy play later and Ebbw conceded another, this time Rhodri Davies crossing the whitewash after some fumbled handling by the hosts inside their 22.

Dale Ford soon grabbed a third before they wrapped it up with a penalty try from the rolling maul bringing up a second half bonus point.

Speaking after the match, Jason Strange said, “it’s probably similar to a few other games, where we’ve played some really good rugby in the first half and if anything, we probably should have been further ahead heading into the break. Second half, we lacked consistency.

“That’s the one major area where we need to get better, we’re having a few wobbles in games where for 5-10 minutes it’s costing us dearly. Whether that’s individual missed tackles or concentration, we need to sustain a high-level performance for 80 minutes.

“This is probably longer term to sort it out. This season was always a case of coming in and assess where the club and team was and rebuild for next year with a new squad.

“We’ve been pretty honest with the players the last 2-3 months, and we’ve retained everyone we wanted to. There’ll be quite a lot  of changes but that’ll be for the betterment of the club and this is probably a good time where we need to refresh and reset the squad for the future.

“Evan Lloyd, Joe Westwood, Alex Howe will only get better. It’ll be built around the longer term for the squad next season.”