The Quins are second on 28 points, adrift of Cardiff’s 41, but with hope they can build on what has been a successful start to the season leading up to the Christmas period.
The Wizards got off to a flying start with tries from hooker Josh Clark and centre Chay Smith, one of which James Garland converted.
But Quins refused to panic and recovered so well they had pocketed a bonus point by the break. They hit back with a try wide out on the left wing by flanker Lewys Millin, superbly converted off the touchline by the deadly left boot of Steff Marshall, and then came the power plays.
All season the finely-tuned Quins line-out drive has caused problems for their opponents and a 20-metre surge set-up the platform in the home 22 from which Marshall dinked the ball through to the posts for Josh Batcup to dive to claim the try.
The conversion put the Quins in front, but two minutes later Garland pegged them back with a penalty. Back came the Carmarthen juggernaut and two tries in the space of two minutes turned the game on its head.
The first was a double-whammy for the home side as they conceded a penalty try for pulling down a driving maul and lost No 8 Ashton Evans into the bargain.
Next over the line was hooker Torin Myhill from yet another line-out drive and Marshall’s conversion made it 28-15 at the break. The lead rose to 16 points with a Marshall penalty four minutes after the restart, but the Wizards weren’t about to roll over.
Evans atoned for his early card by picking up at the base of a scrum and sending Garland on a clear run to the posts for a try which he also converted. Replacement scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams then pounced from close range and another conversion cut the gap to two points with 15 minutes to go.
For 10 of those minutes the Quins were without lock Jac Price who saw yellow for a high tackle, but a final Marshall penalty sealed the deal for the visitors and moved them into second place.
“It was a massive win for us because Aberavon is a tough place to go. It wasn’t nice to watch the second half as they came back at us,” admitted Quins head coach Emyr Phillips.
“The boys who came off the bench added good impetus and we’ve put a big emphasis on the importance of the whole squad this season. We have greater strength in depth this season and we now have some nice momentum.”
Cardiff stayed at the summit with a 24-7 win at rivals Newport and they have now emerged victorious in all nine of their Premiership games to date.
An Evan Yardley brace and further tries from James Beal and Sam Pailor ensured the visitors took maximum points and kept hold of their impressive unbeaten run in all competitions this season.
“It’s a really competitive league and there are lots of teams with the capability of getting a performance on the day and beating us,” said Cardiff head coach Steve Law.
“All we can do is keep concentrating on ourselves and keep our standards high. There’s a lot of honesty and hard work within the squad at the moment which has been shown with their performances and the results.
“We deserved the victory because we just looked a little bit better in certain areas of the game.”
Pontypridd’s title hopes were hit by an 18-8 defeat by Llandovery at Church Bank while Bridgend’s 24-5 home reversal to RGC 1404 was their seventh defeat in a row.
It has left them six points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership table. Ironically, it was the man who helped to keep them up last season, Matt Silva, who was mastermind of the RGC team that inflicted further pain on the Brewery Field outfit.
“It is a highly competitive league this season so winning on the road is always difficult, no matter who you play,” said RGC outside-half Billy McBryde. “Not getting that bonus-point try is slightly frustrating, but we lost here at the back end of last season so it is good to come away with the win.”
In the other games to take place, Iwan Temblett’s last-minute conversion guided Llanelli to a famous 22-20 win at defending champions Merthyr who have now dropped to seventh.
Swansea were 13-10 winners at Ebbw Vale.
“It was a tough game and we saw two nervous teams out there fighting for that win. Now we are approaching Christmas the league table is starting to split, but we are still trying to fight for that top-six position,” said Swansea coach Hugh Gustafson.
“It is great to pick up a win away from home and it’s massive for the club. We were a bit ill-disciplined in the first half, but after the interval we played a territorial game and pressured Ebbw Vale’s set piece which paid off. We know we need to be a lot more clinical against Pontypridd.”
