Fixture

The Old Firm continued their poor home form losing at Duffryn Pennar Park against Cardiff Quins, who notched up only their fifth win of the season. The visitors went in front after a couple of minutes, when a ball was run out of defence and after breaking a tackle, which resulted in Mount wing Liam Jones being injured and having to leave the field, an inside pass put wing Lewis Haynes away for him to run 45 metres for an unconverted try and make it

5-0. After a fine 50 metre clearance kick by full back Declan Conway took play from the Mount 22 to the Quins’ 22, a strong direct run by centre Alex Hughes caused the visitors defence problems but a knock on 10 metres out let the Quins off the hook. A yellow card for a dangerous tackle reduced Mount to 14, but the Old Firm continued to have the better of the territory and made ground on a couple of occasions from driving mauls. However, some poor catching and passing let them down and turned over the ball. The Quins lineout was supplying them with plenty of ball, but from one of the few mistakes they made during the match, the Mount forwards were the first on to an overthrow in the visitors’ 22, where the ball was taken through several phases before the Quins conceded a penalty 5 metres out, which scrum half Ross Davies took quickly to dive in for the equalising score after 35 minutes. From a lineout take on the Quins’ 22 just before half time, centre Alex Hughes put in another strong run and broke a couple of tackles before being stopped and setting up a ruck where quick ball was moved to outside half Holley for him to jink through a disorganised Quins defence to score Mount’s first try midway out, which he also converted to make it 12-5 to the Old Firm at half time.

Early in the second half, an inside pass from a ruck saw the visitors’ No.8 break free and only a desperate tackle 10 metres out stopped him. Some committed defence from Mount held another player up over the line and then defended a 5 metre scrum. Shortly after, some sloppy play by the Old Firm in defence saw the ball knocked on twice and then a chip over the oncoming backs charged down which resulted in Quins centre David Miller picking up and running over from 5 metres out to score near the posts. Full back Paul Adams converted to make it 12-12 after an hour of play. Things got worse for the Old Firm a few minutes later when a player was sent off for an incident at a ruck on the far side of the field, which gave the Quins a one man advantage. Some close quarter forward play took play to just over halfway, which was one of the few times in the second half the Old Firm managed to get into the Quins’ half, and resulted in a much needed penalty, but frustratingly, the kick to touch was just short and the visitors cleared to halfway. Replacement prop Geraint Lock caused the Quins scrum problems when he came on and the Mount team were committed in defence despite being a man down. From a scrum on the Mount 22 metre line, a superb tackle by scrum half Ross Davies on the visitors’ No.8 saved a certain try, but with just two minutes left, over eagerness at a ruck resulted in a 30 metre penalty for the visitors, which full back Adams converted to put his side in front 15-12, and then as the game entered injury time, an outside break through midfield created an overlap from which wing Haynes run in for his second try to seal victory for the Quins.