WELCOME WIN FOR CARDIGAN

Division 3 west A

Pembroke Dock Harlequins 5 Cardigan 13

Cardigan completed the double over Pembroke Dock Quins and ended their long losing streak much to the delight of their coaches.

Speaking after the game Colin Davies said that he had been over the moon with the attitude and commitment of his young side and added:”I was very pleased with our performance and ofcourse the win as Bierspool is a very difficult place to come and play.

“We tried to spread the ball especially in the first half although the conditions made it almost impossible but we had a go.

“ Our defence and line speed was much improved and we dominated the contact area and there were plenty of positives for Mathew Monighan and I to work on and we will now look forward to playing Tregaron after Christmas.”

The visitors who hadn’t played for five weeks made a very bright start and it was their first half performance that effectively won the game for them as they were 13-0 up at half time but they were forced to defend resiliently after the break as the Ossie Boswell coached side pushed hard.

Flanker Osian Rees opened the scoring when he sped over for a try following good work by his fellow forwards with some powerful carrying from second row and man of the match Dean Harries, prop Gethin Jones and number eight Llyr Griffiths. This was converted by skipper and centre Emyr Harries who also added a penalty just before the break to put his team 13-0 up.

The Quins came out fired up after the interval and pushed hard for a score but they were thwarted by some tremendous defending with none better than lock Harries who put in some big hits as did the centre pairing of Marcus Castle and co centre Emyr Harries.

Cardigan though continued to dominate in very difficult conditions as the pitch broke up badly and the very cold conditions ensured that there were plenty of handling errors and the final half hour was a scrappy affair.

The hosts though finally found a way through when winger Mathew Lewis ran in for a try but Cardigan saw the game out for a well deserved win despite the best efforts of Jake Griffiths and Aaron James who worked tirelessly for the hosts.

For the visitors prop Gethin Jones who was back in his more familiar role in the front row rather than the back three was outstanding, captain Harries impressed alongside Castle and wing John Lumb but the pick of the side was second row Dean Harries.

Eighteen year old replacement Toby Neilsen-Dry also showed some good touches when he came on in the second half.