By A Nomad
October 19 2014
This was another of those “so close, yet so far” results. The afternoon started with a mystery - who were Albion playing? It was billed as Carmarthen Quins, yet complementary tickets sent to the club showed the game as Llanelli v Albion. But tickets sold at the stadium did show Quins as our opponents! Late during the week the game was moved from Carmarthen to Parc y Scarlets. Three clubs had engaged in a play-off to decide who represented the West Wales Region in the B & I Cup; Llanelli lost to Llandovery, who in turn were defeated by Quins.
Once the supporters coach arrived the rumour mill was in full flow. It was thought that two senior officials at Carmarthen had resigned in protest of the region taking responsibility for the B & I Cup entry. No matter what was happening behind the scenes, Albion had a match to win against whoever represented Quins. (It has now been confirmed that the Quins were represented by players from all three local teams and one suspects, Scarlets players.)
The stadium is a magnificent arena for top class rugby, but was it the place to hold a match attended by barely 200 souls, not many of whom seemed to shout for the Quins? The Albion fans soon realised that the vast amount of empty stands produced an excellent echo!
Albion had a number of first choice forwards missing through injury - this proved to be crucial in what was a close game until the very end. From the first scrum it was obvious that the Quins would have the upper hand as they tended to out-scrummage Albion, who conceded frequent penalties. In consequence, Albion fell 9 points to 3 behind. Then came the first try of the match - Albion kicked a penalty to the left hand corner. It was re-cycled, with the ball moving out to Jake Henry on the wing who went in unopposed to score in the corner. Rayner made an excellent conversion for Albion to take the lead 10 - 9 at half time.
During the early part of the second half, Albion had their best scrum of the match. They pushed Quins back some distance - if only that had happened more often. Albion took a quick tapped penalty and although Quins did not retreat 10 metres, the referee played advantage and they were stopped just a metre out from the line. Shortly afterwards Albion increased their lead with another Rayner penalty.
Quins got back into the match with their fourth penalty. Albion had defended well and it looked as if the only way their opponents would score was by kicking penalties. They did create some opportunities, but also made mistakes. Things changed in the last 10 minutes. Quins made a break and scored an unconverted try giving them the narrowest of leads. Albion conceded another penalty and Quins kicked deep down the right hand wing. From the line out, they were able to score the second try which went unconverted.
So with only minutes left Albion were still in the game. In spite of being a magnificent stadium the score board was rather rudimentary. It displayed the scores and the clock displayed what time it was. Albion were awarded a penalty on their right wing near their own 22. It was then clear that time was up; rather than opting for a kick down the line, they took a tapped kick in an effort to score a try at the other end. Regrettably things got bogged on in the centre of the pitch - control of the ball was lost and an alert Quin was able to pick up the ball that had emerged behind the Albion players. He ran run the under the posts for a try that was converted. This of course took away Albion’s losing bonus; so for all the hard work they returned home pointless.
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