Cardiff Harlequins - 35

HAVING won their last six games Blaenavon approached their match against Cardiff Harlequins thinking that they had a good chance of winning number seven against a side who are languishing at the lower end of division one.

Yet it just wasn't to be Blaenavon's day. From the kick off the determined Quins pack put Blaenavon under all sorts of pressure, resulting in an early injury to hooker Dan Horseman, who was stretched off the field with torn ligaments and needing hospital treatment.

The Quins onslaught was relentless, forcing Blaenavon, in particular Sam Cooke, to make some try saving tackles.

Blaenavon were not fairing any better in the scrums, and 20 minutes in the Quins had a pushover try, which they converted, 7-0.

From the restart, a good take by Chris Jones soon came to nothing and some desperate defence saw Blaenavon just about holding on, with good clearance kicks by Dan Phillips against the wind.

A Quins penalty and further try made it 17-0, and although Blaenavon got back into the game a comedy of errors saw them cough up another easy penalty.

The second half saw a brief Blaenavon revival led by a penalty kick taken by Darren Pearce but this was countered by Quins dropping a 30 yard drop goal to make it 23-3.

A brilliant solo try by the Quins centre ended Blaenavon's hopes of taking anything out of this game, and the last throw of the dice saw the Quins number eight and their man of the match cross the line for their fourth try and bonus point to round up a disappointing afternoon all round for Blaenavon supporters and players alike.

Blaenavon get to do it all again next week and hopefully put things right, as they travel to Cardiff to play Llanishen RFC ahead of their Ben Francis Cup Semi final clash with Pill Harriers which will be played at Croesyceiliog on Tuesday April 28 at the coffee bar ground.