The Mighty Quins extended their unbeaten home run this season as they strode to a bonus-point win despite having outside half Jac Wilson sent off in the 10th minute. Wilson departed for a head high tackle on James Beal, while Cardiff saw skipper Morgan Allen sent off six minutes from time for an alleged stamp on the head of Lewys Millin.
Victory for the Quins in the battle of the top two teams in the league meant Cardiff’s lead was cut to 10 points. Carmarthen also have a game in hand, so they could yet cut the gap to five.
It was a victory that left the outstanding Quins skipper Haydn felling “massively proud” about his team’s effort, and Cardiff coach Steve Law angry at the way his team capitulated against a team that played for more than an hour with one player less.
“You’ve got to take your hat off to Carmarthen, they totally outplayed is all aspects of the game with 14 men. We were mentally weak and they physically dominated the game for long periods,” admitted Law.
“The bubble has well and truly burst because we were well beaten by a good side. It was a big challenge and we failed dismally.”
As for Quins head coach Emyr Phillips, he couldn’t have been happier with the way his side reacted to losing a player so early in the game.
“The red card threw us a bit, but the players showed a ton of character and composure. Against the team at the top of the league, and being down to 14 men, I don’t think you can show any more character than that,” said Phillips.
“I’m really proud of the whole squad and the club. Josh Batcup settled in at No 10 after the red card and was outstanding, a couple of boys in the back row ran themselves into the ground and the scrum was superb – I’m chuffed to bits.
“The pleasing thing is we still have stuff to work on. We aren’t the finished article by any means, but what we have got is a squad of about 30 boys who are fighting for the shirt every week.”
Despite going down to 14 men the Quins struck first when the prop Javan Sebastian barged his way over after good approach work by No 8 Lawrence Reynolds and fellow prop Ollie Evans. Josh Batcup added the extras.
Cardiff hit back immediately with a great move off the tail of a line out. Tom Habberfield fed Terri Gee, who cut through the defence on the 10 metre line, raced into the 22 and handed on to Barney Nightingale for a try that Gareth Thompson converted.
Quins refused to be denied, though, and Batcup crossed for a try that he also converted to make it 14-7 to the home side at the break. Cardiff lost Blues prop Kieron Assiratti to injury to make matters worse for them up front.
They lost four line-outs in the first-half and were bullied at scrum time in the second. Evans picked up at the base of a dominant home scrum for the third try and then No 8 Reynolds converted a driving maul for the bonus-point try.
Batcup converted the Evans score and then added a late penalty to put the icing on top of the Quins’ cake. Law, meanwhile, needs to assess his ingredients to come up with something more substantial to keep his side on the title trail.
