Team: Carmarthen Quins
Position: 2nd
After a 10th place finish last term the West Walians will be ecstatic with their campaign this season finishing just 7 points of league leaders Cardiff. Quins, under the guidance of former Scarlets hooker Emyr Phillips still had the ‘Blue & Blacks’ in their sights in the league as well as a Specsavers Cup semi-final against them to come before the season was cut agonisingly short.
Carmarthen started their season by knocking Newport out of the Cup at Rodney Parade before suffering a narrow defeat to Pontypridd at Sardis Road in their first league outing. October saw two home victories at The Park against rivals Llanelli and Swansea, but also suffered a second away defeat, this time at the hands of Cardiff at Cardiff Arms Park. Quins went unbeaten in November with comfortable home wins over RGC and strugglers Bridgend Ravens and a 26-20 win on the road at Ebbw Vale. They also progressed to the quarter finals of the national cup with a 34-3 thumping of National Championship side, Beddau.
Their only defeat in December came at The Wern against Merthyr with a home win against Newport as well as a win at Aberavon and a draw at Church Bank against Llandovery keeping them well and truly in the title chase. 3 huge victories after Christmas over Pontypridd and Cardiff at The Park saw them gain considerable ground at the top of the league, whilst they also progressed to the semi-final of the cup by inflicting Championship high-flyers Pontypool their first defeat of the season 21-17 at Pontypool Park.
Quins could only manage draws with RGC in North Wales and Ebbw Vale at The Park, as well as a losing bonus point at home to Llandovery in February before regaining their winning feeling with a win against Bridgend at the start of March. But alas it was not to be for Quins whose double-chasing season was ended by the coronavirus outbreak.
Coach Phillips was delighted with his sides performance this term. Highlighting his teams ‘maturity’ and game management as marked differences from last season. “We turned around a lot of games that last season we lost by one or two scores so this season it was us winning by one or two scores” he said. “I think Cardiff away was the only game we weren’t really competitive in, but I’m happy with the season overall”.
Phillips conceded that Quins may have left themselves to much ground to gain on Cardiff in the league by saying “the league was probably Cardiff’s to lose”. However, he was confident that his team could have repeated their performance in their January home win over the Blue and Blacks for a chance to play at the Principality Stadium in the final. On his ambitions for next term Phillips’ message was more of the same. “We’ve got some really good, experienced guys such as Haydn Pugh and Torin Myhill and they’ve really helped the young guys coming through this year, the young guys have been excellent but hopefully the exposure they’ve got this year and what they’ve learned off the more experienced guys can push us on to another level next season” finished Phillips.
Haydn Evans 