News

Laugharne  19pts       Pembroke Dock Quins 11pts   Sat 1st Oct 2016

After the intermittent rain of the past week, the ground was wet underfoot but playable. From the kick off Laugharne were looking to get their season back on track after set backs on the previous three Saturdays. As early as the 4th minute Laugharne flyhalf and captain Owain Thomas put in a neat grubber kick towards the Quins line. As he followed his kick, he was impeded and the referee did not hesitate but to award the penalty try. Centre Tom Jameson converted and Laugharne took the lead which they never relinquished. For much of the half it was Laugharne trying to use the potent backs at their disposal but being dragged into a dog fight with the effective Quins pack. Although the Laugharne pack had parity in the scrums and lineouts they had difficulty in taming the Quins pack in the loose and rolling maul situation. This ding dong affair continued for much of the half and credit to centre/fullback Ross Michael for slotting into the scrum half berth when the regular scrum half was unavailable. The Quins continued to pressurise and in the 31st minute were awarded a penalty for the Laugharne midfield straying off side. Fly half Ben Hathaway duly obliged to close the deficit with a well judged kick.The Laugharne reply was almost immediate with locks Gary Jones and Tomos Rees and prop Rhys Thomas together with the rest of the pack taking the ball into the Quins half. Cleverly they combined with the Laugharne midfield but still the Quins defence held firm. Eventually flanker Mikey Williams broke the ice with a barn storming effort as he spun out of tackles on his way over the line for an unconverted try. However, from the restart and not to be outdone, the Quins won a series of penalties as they worked their way into the Laugharne 22. From the lineout the pack gathered and with a well organised and potent drive, prop D.Wilcox was over for the unconverted try to bring the half time score to Laugharne 12pts Pembroke Dock Quins 8pts.
augharne restarted the 2nd half but it was the Quins who took the initiative and were awarded a penalty soon after the break. Flyhalf Hathaway converted to bring the scores to within a point. However Laugharne did not panic and were still causing problems for the suspect Quins midfield. The Quins are good spoilers and playing the game tight suited them while Laugharne would prefer the more open option with centres Tom Windsor and Tom Jameson together with flyhalf Thomas busily looking for those spaces. However it was from a 5m scrum deep in the Quins 22 that Laugharne `went for the jugular`! Scrum half Michael put the ball into the solid Laugharne scrum. The ball came out and after initial probing by Michael the ball came back for flanker Williams to make an unstoppable surge to the line for that all important score. Michael kicked the conversion to ease any worries Laugharne may have had and effectively opened the game into a two scores lead. For the remainder of the half Laugharne tried desperately hard in trying to secure the bonus point try but this remained elusive and they can feel relieved and thankful for getting that solid win.

Next week Laugharne travel to Cardigan in round 2 of the WRU Bowl competition k.o 2-30pm. Team coach to leave at 12-00 noon
Alun Jenkins Laugharne R.F.C.