Phillips missed the trip to Mount Pleasant Park because of the arrival of a baby daughter the day before the game. His players put all his planning for the game against the battling Championship outfit into near perfect practice to safely reach the quarter finals.
Once again the Quins used their powerful driving maul to wreck Beddau’s dreams of causing a second giant-killing act on their home patch after knocking-out Bridgend in the opening round.
“We knew it was going to be a tough trip and we knew we needed to be above where we had been in our recent wins over Swansea and RGC. There were some sharp boys in the Beddau side and they did a good job and they should hold their heads up high,” said Quins skipper Haydn Pugh.
“We keep on working on our driving maul. It is a strength we’ve got and we are going to keep on using it, although Beddau put up a better fight against us in that area than some of the Premiership teams.
“The cup is definitely a target for us this season and we’ll have to see who we get in the quarter-final draw. But we won’t be getting ahead of ourselves because we’ve got a tough game at Ebbw Vale next week.”
Beddau got the first shot at getting the scoreboard moving when flanker Jordan Goodwin earned a turn-over penalty 30 metres out, but Hywel Chatham couldn’t hit the target. The Quins driving maul first came into play in the seventh minute when they drove almost the length of the 22 to earn a try for hooker Torin Myhill.
Jac Wilson added the conversion and then swapped penalties with opposite number Chatham. It remained a tight contest until Quins No 8 Richard Bloomfield plundered a second driving line-out try to make it 15-3 at the break.
Left wing Morgan Griffiths got the chance to show off his pace and power as he scored twice in the third quarter to make the game safe for the visitors. Both tries came after superb passes out of the tackle by centre Nick Reynolds and then full back Leon Randell
Wilson converted the latter and then finished the game with a wide-angled conversion of a try by his half-back partner Gareth Rees.
Cup holders Cardiff romped into the last eight with a massive 78-12 home win over Ebbw Vale. Dan Fish made it four tries in eight days against The Steelmen as he added a cup hat-trick to his vital league touchdown a week earlier.
What a difference a week can make in rugby. Fish’s try seven days earlier had made it 5-3 at half-time, while this time his early double helped to make it 21-0 in as many minutes. He started a rout that saw a 24-0 interval lead turn into an 11 try, 66 point triumph.
“It was a nice dry night and we were able to show what we are capable of. It was awful conditions the previous week and we were a bit sloppy,” said Fish.
“I don’t care about who scores the tries, it was a big team effort and I was just the lucky one on the end of a few of them. The main thing was that we got the result.
“Cardiff is renowned for running rugby and we know that when our attack clicks this is the sport of rugby we can play. Here are still things to work on, because it wasn’t perfect.
“There is a good team culture here, the coaches are enjoying it and the players are enjoying it. We’ve got a big month ahead of us coming into Christmas and we need to knuckle down and work hard.”
Barney Nightingale made the running for Fish’s first and then the Blues veteran profited from a 40 metre run from wing Max Llewellyn for his second. Cardiff skipper Morgan Allen then made it three tries in the opening quarter.
Gareth Thompson added three conversions and a penalty to make it 24-0. Cardiff exploded into action after the break and added three tries in the space of six minutes.
Llewellyn started the onslaught, Fish completed his hat-trick and then hooker Evan Yardley sped over. Thompson converted them all, although Ebbw Vale never dropped their heads and, to their credit, broke their duck with tries from back row men Dawid Rubasniak and Lewis Young, the first of which Dan Haymond converted.
But ruthless Cardiff added five more tries as Nightingale, Llewellyn again, Alex Everett, Callum Bradbury and Leon Andrews all crossed. Thompson ended with 10 conversions, having hit the post with the other one.
Pontypool beat Championship rivals Cardiff Met 66-21. Scrum half Owain Leonard’s hat-trick helped send the home side into their fourth successive quarter-final. The students led 7-5 when hooker Morgan Nelson’s try, converted by outside half James Mattin, cancelled out wing Jordan Thomas’ early unconverted score for Pooler. But that was as good as it got for the visitors as the home side flexed their muscles to run in a total of 10 tries.
“The cup has been a good competition for us, so we’re delighted. Over the past two or three years we’ve needed a little bit of a test in terms of opposition because the league hasn’t always been as challenging every week as we would have liked,” said Pontypool backs coach Tom Hancock.
“There are some tough games in there but week to week we’d like a sterner test. The Cup has always provided that for us and it’s good to get into another quarter-final.”
No sooner had they fallen behind, No.8 Ben Sparks conjured up an interception try put Pooler back in front 12-7 as Kieran Meek added the extras. Four more tries flowed before the break as left wing Thomas went over for his second and lock Danny Hodge, fellow wing Lloyd Lewis and Leonard followed suit.
Meek converted all of them for a commanding 40-7 half time lead. Leonard went over for his second try after the re-start before full-back Joel Mahoney added his name to the scoresheet. Liam Malkin scored a second Met try, and Oliver Morris added a third before the end, but Pooler powered on to reach double figures.
Leonard completed his hat-trick and then hooker and captain for the day Darren Hughes also crashed over. Meek’s conversion made it eight out of 10 for him on the day.
An opportunist try by Merthyr flanker Morgan Kneath proved to be the turning point in the Ironmen’s hard-fought 24-17 home win over battling Bedwas. The Ironmen disrupted the visitors’ scrum near the half-way line four minutes after the restart and Kneath raced away on a 50 metre run to touch down at the posts.
Full back Josh Martin added the extras to put his side back in front. A penalty try from a driving line-out after 56 minutes then made victory safe for last season’s cup runners-up, who are aiming for a third successive final at Principality Stadium.
“It was a tough game and I suppose in some respects we made it hard on ourselves. Bedwas worked tirelessly and it was easy to see how they are still unbeaten in the Welsh Championship,” said Merthyr head coach Dale McIntosh.
“We had a lucky break just after half-time with the opportunist try, but we also added to our problems by making some pretty poor decisions from time to time.
“Obviously, we were not at our best but on a positive note we were able to play a couple of very promising youngsters who played their full part and will be the future of this club.”
Merthyr took the lead in the fifth minute when lock James Down won clean ball at a line-out five metres from the Bedwas line and loose head prop Thomas crashed over for a try. Martin added the extras.
The visitors were awarded a 10th minute penalty try after home lock Hemi Barnes transgressed at a rolling maul over his own line and picked up a yellow card. Martin then put the Ironmen back in front with a 40 metre penalty. Before McIntosh’s monster kick levelled things up at 10-10 at the break.
The Kneath try and penalty try gave Bedwas a mountain to climb, but they at least ended on a high with a late try by lock Gareth Allen that McIntosh converted.
Neath ran in five tries to move into the last eight with an entertaining 34-25 victory over Cross Keys at The Gnoll. The home side opened the scoring after a mere three minutes with a Dan Guarneri penalty before notching their first try.
Scrum half Nicky Griffiths sniped over from close range for a try that Guarneri converted to make it 10-0. Keys then hit back with the first of six penalties from outside half Kieran Hill, who ended with 20 points.
Tight head prop Liam Tobias added a second try for Neath, but two more Hill penalties kept the visitors in touch and it was 17-9 at the break. Hill then kicked three more after hostilities were resumed in the second half to hoist Keys into an 18-17 lead.
Neath lost No 8 Tomi Antozzi to the sin-bin, but before he returned a try in the corner by James Roberts, this time converted by Callum Hall, edged the inaugural Cup winners of 1972 back into the lead. Keys refused to give up and a Corey Nichols try, converted by Hill, put them back into the lead by a point.
But Neath hit back with a brace of unconverted tries by Jake Lewis and James Roberts to edge into the last eight.
