Ponty fail to end abysmal run at Carmarthen Park

Adam Thomas' double not enough to end Ponty's hoodoo at Carmarthen Park.

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Pontypridd's abysmal league record at Carmarthen Park continued as the Valley Commandos were felled by Carmarthen Quins 27-26.

Ponty, who dominated proceedings, must be scratching their heads as to how they managed to come away on the losing side but they failed to put the hosts to bed after running the show in the second half.

Quins somehow survived despite a malfunctioning lineout and they had to play a quarter of the game with 14 players, after technical yellow cards for centre Alex Pickersgill and flanker James Davies.

The opening half was a fairly even affair, the boot of Simon Humberstone gave the visitors an early lead but Quins hit back well with Craig Everett crossing for a fine try, full back Chris Banfield adding the extras.

Humberstone and Banfield exchanged penalties before centre Dafydd Lockyer capitalised on a Quins error to send full back Adam Thomas over for an unconverted try.

However, their lead was short-lived, as scrum half Ricky Richards started and finished a move from a tap penalty with help from Pickersgill and lock Haydn Pugh, and Banfield’s conversion put the Quins 17-11 ahead at half time.

After the break, Ponty came out firing on all cylinders and a Humberstone penalty was soon followed by tries from winger Matthew Nuthall and a second from Thomas in the 75^th minute, converted by Humberstone.

The visitors looked to be home and dry but Quins rallied and found themselves in the Ponty 22 for the first time in the half. Replacement winger Jason Howells worked the blind side with winger Jason Harries, who crossed for a try, duly converted by replacement Daniel Evans to set up a grandstand finish.

Speedster Harries crosses to bring Quins back into the match.

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Ponty looked like deer in headlights as Quins sensed blood and when the referee penalised Pontypridd at a ruck, Evans coolly stepped up and fired home the penalty from 40 metres to clinch an unlikely victory.

Daniel Evans lines up last gasp penalty for Quins.
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The triumph sees Carmarthen move up to fourth in the table, leapfrogging Ponty in the process and Quins Team Manager, Steff Thomas, was delighted with his side's resolve.“We played some great rugby in the first half but as the game wore on, Ponty came into the match as we expected them to. But credit to the boys, we stuck in there showing good character and got the result.We are giving ourselves a real chance of a British and Irish Cup spot.”