Pre-season friendlies can be tricky affairs, they are a fantastic opportunity to see the pre-season work in practice in a competitive environment, but teams are also acutely aware that you don’t want to lose your star players to injury before the season properly gets underway.
The opening twenty minutes of Quins’ home pre-season friendly against Birmingham Moseley Rugby had exactly that feel about it. Tentatively competitive but lacking a spark.
It was Quins who broke the duck on the twenty-minute mark with a try, and conversion by 17-year-old Madoc Evans.
Notably, five of Quins’ starting backline are still in their teens. Tomos Lewis (19), Jayden Brown (18), Ashton Owen (18), Madoc Evans (17) and Alfie Luger (18).
The visitors got their scoreline moving on the cusp of half time after keeping the pressure on the home team in their 22.
Fullback Freddie Painter crossed the whitewash with 10 Harry Read adding the conversion.
It was 7 points apiece as the referee blew the whistle to bring the first half to a close.
A sharper second half form both sides saw Quins dominate, crossing for two tries, scored by Aron Hemmings and Joe Denman. Evans and Ifan Davies added the conversions respectively.
Final score 21-7
Carmarthen Quins
15 Tomos Lewis, 14 Eilir George, 13 Jayden Brown, 12 Ashton Owen, 11 Ifan Davies, 10 Madoc Evans, 9 Alfie Luger, 8 Shaun Evans, 7 Joe Denman, 6 Iestyn Richards, 5 Lee Taylor, 4 Sam Williams, 3 Ifan James, 2 Lewis Morgan, 1 Rhys Fawcett
Replacements; Steff Evans, Thomas Williams, Ifan Phillips, Frazer Gregory, Aron Hemmings, Theo Rogers, Tom Phillips, Dylan Rowe, Ryan Bean, Dom Brown, Connor Allen, Jake Bowen, Hudson Nevin
Birmingham Moseley Rugby starting XV
15 Freddie Painter, 14 Vilieme SaluSalu, 13 Austin Nevitt, 12 Elliott Creed, 11 Nathan Decalmer, 10 Harry Read, 9 Harry Gipson, 8 Sammy Erstine, 7 Morgan Dawes, 6 Will Safe, 5 Fin Smith (c), 4 Harry Butler, 3 Nick Bingham, 2 Ben Pogson, 1 Ethan Priest (c)
