Cardiff ground out a hard-fought win at Carmarthen Park and maintained second place in the Indigo Premiership table.
On a sunny day in West Wales it was the home side that came out all guns blazing. The Quins had several penalties that led to lineout catch and drives, but the Blue & Black defence was up to the challenge, as it has been all season. And the visitors were first on the board following a catch and drive of their own. A penalty for offside was launched into the corner and from a few meters out no one was going to stop the pack rumbling Alun Rees over. Harrison James converted.
But the Quins were having their own wins, especially in the scrum and they too had catch and drive opportunities, the difference though was the Cardiff defence, with the back row of Ellis Thomas, Morgan Allen and debutant Lucas De La Rua to the fore.
James added a penalty to extend the Blue & Black advantage and it could have been more as a long pass to the wing just failed to reach its target with the line beckoning. That left Cardiff 10-0 up at the break.
The second half was a scrappy affair. Cardiff were trying to play rugby at pace, but the ball didn’t seem to want to stick. The Quins were in no mood to give it up easily, especially in their last home game of the season and a try by Aron Hemmings got them back into the game and with Steffan Marshall converting. There was still 20 minutes left and all to play for. Dan Fish extended the lead before Ioan Evans landed another putting the Blue and Blacks two scores clear
The Blue & Blacks were still playing the rugby, but the ball just would not stick. With time running out Evans latched onto a mistake in the Quins half to set up another penalty opportunity. This time the call was to the corner and when the drive was stopped, the ball was moved back into midfield. Morgan Allen took the ball on, driving through vain Quins tackles before passing out to centre Ryan Wilkins who coasted over. Evans was again on target with the kick and with a few minutes left it looked like that was it.
The Quins though had the last say, Josh Helps going under the sticks as the home side looked to get a consolation try. Marshall added the extras but it wasn’t enough to stop the Blue & Blacks recording a win, albeit a scruffy one.