It was Quins’ third title at this year’s #RTP24 series as they followed in the footsteps of their U16 Gilrs Hub and U18 Youth sides in making the short trip home to the Diamond Ground with precious silverware.
Scrum half Tomi Booth, the son of Wales reserve Andy Booth, who played for Cambridge University, Neath, Swansea and Cardiff, was player of the match and his half back partner and skipper, Jay Price, called the shots outside him, ending the game with a matchwinning haul of 14 points.
Blaina outscored the club of the late Vernon Pugh, the former chairman of the WRU and what is now World Rugby, 3-2 on tries and failed to recognise that a late penalty attempt could have drawn them level and won the cup on try count.
But Quins refused to bow down and capitalised on a catalogue of errors from their Gwent rivals in a real smash and grab raid on the iconic stadium in the Welsh capital.
“We have been the underdogs throughout the season, and we’ve learned to fight for everything. We are used to people writing us off early,” said a proud Price.
“We went up early on, then they hit back and then we get written off when they started the second half strongly with two tries. But that doesn’t matter, just look at the final score.
“Not many teams can keep up with the pace and style of our rugby and we use our youth to our advantage. We are re-building the club and we had to take another cup back to the club after our girls and youth teams had done so well.
“This is a step in the right direction for this young group of players. It means the world to us because not many of us will get another chance to play here at the Principality Stadium.”
Blaina’s highly experienced outside half Dai Langdon was bidding for a unique treble – he won the Championship final with Neath in 2022 and Pontypool a year ago – but didn’t have the best of days from the kicking tee.
He missed a comparatively easy attempt and turned down a shot at goal to put the ball in the corner even though a successful penalty for a draw would have seen Blaina lift the cup on try count.
While Blaina will be wondering how they lost after using their powerful pack to soften up Quins, the victors will be able to point to the scoreboard and a three-point winning margin.
“We’re absolutely devastated, but fair play to the Quins. They seemed to want it a little bit more than us in the first half, but then we got ourselves back into the game,” said Blaina co-captain, and double try scorer, Michael John.
“Our plan now is to come back here next year and to go on and win the league.”
Price, the son of Quins head coach and former Cross Keys centre Andrew Price, converted both tries and put over four penalties for a vital 14-point haul. He gave Quins a 6-0 advantage early on with back-to-back penalties from in front of the sticks.
It took Blaina time to find their stride and it came with an explosive line-out which saw flanker Michael John power over from a pre-planned move after lock Ryan Offers rose high to claim the ball. Langdon converted and they nudged into a one-point lead.
Blaina may have extended it following a smart breakout by full-back Kallum Rosser, but they conceded a daft penalty at the subsequent breakdown with the try-line seemingly at their mercy.
Quins’ No 8 Charlie Newhall was sin-binned, Johns having gone earlier for Blaina, so it was temporarily 14 versus 14.
Langdon was denied a try after a team-mate obstructed an opponent and they were hit with a sucker punch following a surprise counter-attack, and kick ahead by Quins.
Blaina failed to deal with the ball, and it popped up for Quins left-wing Ellis Jones to hack on and win the foot race to score. Price converted and they were back in front, 13-7, as the whistle went to end a scrappy first half.
Blaina nosed ahead for a second time and, again, it came from a line-out, which they drove infield. It was stopped but they moved the ball to No 8 Ellis Evan,s and he proved unstoppable from close-range. The left-footed Langdon converted, and it was 14-13 in their favour.
Langdon saw a penalty rebound off an upright, but the miss worked in Blaina’s favour because they beat Quins to the ball and used their forwards to bludgeon a path for John to get a second try, Langdon converting to extend the advantage to eight points.
Price replied with two penalties to reduce the deficit to two points. Langdon had an opportunity to soothe nerves for Blaina with a penalty but miscued it.
And they paid the price when Quins replacement Tomi Owens kicked ahead and won the race to give them a 24-21 lead, Price missing the conversion.
It was all Blaina after that but the driving line-out which had worked so well earlier in the game failed to generate the victory they craved.
DIVISION 3 CUP FINAL – BLAINA 21 – 24 CARDIFF QUINS
Blaina: Kallum Rosser; Darren Miles, Tom Edwards, Cobi Edwards, Jordan Davies (co-captain); Dai Langdon, David Jones; Rob Samuel, Dan Wall, Richard Jones, Ryan Offers, Luke Rees, Michael John (co-captain), Alfie Hurle, Ellis Evans
Reps: Ross Bendon, Tomos Sparey, Adam Griffiths, Paul Meek, Michael Vaughan, Kian Hayman, Conor Miles, Carl Brimble
Scorers: T: M John 2, E Evans; C: D Langdon 3Cardiff Quins: Josh Atkinson; Matthew Jones, James Minto, Iwan Burrows, Ellis Jones; Jay Price (captain), Tomi Booth; Iwan Fells, Jake O’Shea, Dylan Barratt, Ethan Wilson, Rhys Burlington, Sam Powell, Gruff Lloyd, Charlie Newhall
Reps: Lloyd Dovey, Aled Hill, Ioan McDougall, Tomi Owens, Rhodri Thomas, Alex Davies, Sam Gwyn Carol, Rhydian Williams
Scorers: T: E Jones, T Owens; Con: J Price; P: J Price 4Go.Compare Player of the Match: Tomi Booth (Cardiff Quins)
