Cardiff’s two-try burst quickly ends any giant-killing hopes

Jan 28 2008 by Anthony Woolford, South Wales Echo

ANY hopes of a cup giant-killing act by Carmarthen Quins evaporated in the opening quarter as the visitors ran in two unconverted tries on their first sorties into the home 22, writes Alan Evans

For Cardiff, it completed a notable double as they have now accounted for the leaders of both Division One East, Pontypool, and West, the Quins, in successive rounds.

That they also racked up 16 tries in the process against such aspiring opposition raises serious questions about the whole issue of relegation and promotion to the Premiership at the end of the season.

Both games attracted surprisingly low attendances off the pitch and were worryingly one-sided on it.

Unlike Pontypool in the last round, the Quins fielded a near full-strength side, including the evergreen Paul Arnold and Arwel Davies, last year’s Llandovery cup-winning captain.

But they were outgunned in all departments, particularly when the ball was moved away from the set-pieces.

The Blue and Blacks have stuttered in recent Premiership matches but they were impressively comfortable with the ball in hand.

The back-row of Damian Welch, Adam Powell and Adam Whitney dovetailed perfectly with Welch, in particular, making an outstanding contribution.

The return of hooker Ross Johnston also made a big difference to the pack’s ball-carrying while behind the scrum it was always on the cards that ex-Quin Craig Evans would use the ground conditions to maximum effect.

Having pulled the early deficit back to 8-10 shortly before the interval, the Quins were under the cosh for most of the second half.

Replacement scrum-half Dan Hawkins poached a trademark try from a tap penalty to give them some hope of respectability with 10 minutes left but Cardiff soon pulled away again.

Nineteen-year-old wing Nathan Rees with an eye-catching performance, finished with four tries, including a fine solo effort with the last move of the game.

Quins: Tries – C Francis, D Hawkins; Cons – C Jones (2); Pen – C Jones.

Cardiff: Tries – N Rees (4), R Davies, D Welch, R Howells; Cons – C Evans (2), G Davies (2).