Fixture

A hard fought struggle that did not spring to life until the final ten minutes saw the Quins scrape through round one of the WRU Plate competition.

The Mules opened brightly with some smart handling and running which tested the Quins defence. A penalty from Marc Sheppard gave the visitors a foothold in  Kenfig territory and strong running from hooker Luke Davies caused problems for the Mules. The Quins scrum was on top from start and the Mules had little answer to the Quins front row trio of Morley, Davies and Morgan and the line out skills of Beynon, Bowen and Saker. A penalty from Sheppard eased the Quins in front but it was scant reward for the forward dominance.  The Mules occasionally raised the siege through strong running loose head Lee Williams and smart half backs  Connor Tantum and Harrison Evans. It was the Quins pack that dominated the half although unable to penetrate the home defence.

Playing up the slope in the second half the Quins eight dominated and astute kicking kept up the pressure and as the home scrum was dismantled the inevitable penalty try came. Sheppard converted and as Cox and Dawe put in some power running it looked plain sailing for the Quins with ten minutes remaining. A few chances to make the game safe went begging for the Quins before they were stunned by a spectacular counter attack as Tantum caught the defence flat footed with a brilliant try converted by Evans. The Quins were kept at full stretch as Kenfig Hill produced some dazzling back play in injury time and Shaun Burnell gathered a smart kick ahead and galloped behind the posts for Evans to again convert making it 14-10.

With just time for the restart Liam Oates and Steve Colarusso gained possession and the Quins pack smashed their way to the line where tight head Dan Morgan touched down to put his team into the second round.

Photography by Vance Broad