Fixture

If ever a game had everything then this was it. A total of 86 points were almost evenly shared between the two teams. Twelve tries, some of which were truly spectacular, were scored and the lead changed hands five times. Then at the death when the game was finally decided there was the mixture of pure elation and utter dejection. Unfortunately for the Brecon faithful the dejection was felt by them. Not so much because they lost narrowly to Cardiff Quins, the outright league leaders, but because they had the game in the bag with ten minutes to play. Having played superbly they led by 17 points. Surely their opponents, no matter how dangerous they were, couldn’t score three tries to overhaul the lead in ten minutes. Or could they? They did and as a result broke the hearts of a Brecon team which offered so much for so long in this game.

While Cardiff Quins have to be congratulated for the way in which they pulled the game out of the fire Brecon must also look at themselves to make sense and learn from what happened. Brecon had established a winning lead through, in the first instance, stout defence allied to effective first phase play and a willingness to keep the ball in hand. In those last desperate minutes Brecon looked to peg their opponents deep back into their own territory but this played into their hands. The Quins back three of P. Adams, X Thomas and R Broad revelled in the opportunity to run in open spaces and the pace and ball skills of full back Adams in particular caused untold problems. Brecon’s wide defence also began to be exposed and mistakes crept into the game. Three notable errors contributed to the eventual downfall. A penalty from near halfway was kicked dead surrendering territory and possession to the visitors. Then from a line out in their 22 Brecon gave away a soft free kick in an area of the game where they had been totally secure throughout the afternoon. Finally instead of keeping the ball tight, working through the phases and making use of their increasingly dominant scrum and line out to eat up time, they kicked away possession.

That finale was totally unexpected. Brecon had started the game bravely facing a severe test from a very mobile team which thrived on broken play. Even in these early stages Adams showed what a threat he was when he gathered a kick ahead with time and space. However, although the early exchanges clearly went to the Quins Brecon defended well. Centre Eifion Jones snuffed out one clear opportunity when live wire scrum half Sion Ellis broke but finally the pace of the Quins told and wing Xavier Thomas scored in the corner. Adams converted from the wide angle.

Brecon quickly struck back with a great piece of opportunism. Gari Davies received a poor pass just outside the Quins 22. Instantly he realised that the whole back line was flat footed and took the responsibility on himself to strike an impromptu drop kick straight between the uprights.

Once again under pressure from the kick off Brecon showed great resilience. Gwyn Pengelly pulled off an outstanding try saving tackle and at the following line out Danny Howe leapt high to secure the ball and allow Brecon to gain good ground. Following a number of superb phases Brecon took the lead for the first time. Tom Daley broke from the front of a line out and linked with hooker Aaron Horne who made ground before linking with Wyn Davies. Wyn showed great pace but was eventually closed down with no close support so he kicked infield. Although the ball was gathered the Brecon chase was good and under pressure the Quins put in a loose kick. Tom Daley gathered at full tilt. He linked with Steve Jackson who crashed through the first tackle and fed Eifion Jones who drew the last vestiges of the defence before feeding Davey Herdman who duly crashed over. Gari Davies converted.

Quins came straight back into the lead when the ball was dropped off the kick off. After some stout defence impressive Number 8, C Thomas made a break. He seemed to be held up on the line but somehow he released a pass to supporting wing R Broad who flopped over for the try.

The lead was quickly increased when Quins again showed how dangerous they were on the counter. Adams gathered a kick ahead and spread the ball wide. When the cover finally closed in deep in the home 22 the ball was moved infield and second row D Franklin crossed under the posts giving Adams an easy conversion.

With half time approaching Brecon needed to get back in touch and they did so in style. Danny Howe and Davey Herdman forced a turnover and wing Ryan James set off on a weaving run. The ball was moved quickly across the field and Eifion Jones showed pace and strength as he outflanked the defence and claimed the score. Gari Davies converted as the half time whistle sounded.

The high tempo of the first half continued into the second. Brecon started the more dominant and this became reflected in the score as they regained the lead through a Gari Davies penalty and then extended it after a superb 50 metre Tom Daley break and lovely link to Jake Newman, who scored under the posts to give Davies no problem with the conversion.

Again Brecon allowed Quins to come back after a kick was dropped in the home 22. Following a period of pressure second row D Franklin was driven over for his second try.

In no time at all Brecon once again stretched their lead and earned a try bonus point. Gwyn Pengelly made the initial break and that was followed up with a great flowing movement in which Eifion Jones, Aaron Horne and Wyn Davies featured before Danny Howe carried to the line and showed that he too could handle as he popped up a superb pass out of the tackle to Davey Herdman who claimed his second try. Davies again converted.

With Brecon’s scrum now becoming dominant further gaps in the Quins defence began to appear. Eifion Jones made the most of front foot ball when he sliced through on a lovely outside break which put him in space and with just the full back to beat he turned the ball inside for Gwyn Pengelly to score and Gari Davies to again add the conversion. With seventeen minutes to go Brecon found themselves with a 17 point advantage.

They initially continued where they left off. Another great Tom Daley run and a superb Eifion Jones break almost brought a sixth try but that failure saw the turning point of the game. With ten minutes on the clock the Quins ran everything and unbelievably turned the game on its head. The flood gates opened when left wing Broad scored in the corner and Adams converted from wide out. Then after being given a soft penalty in the home 22 No 8, Thomas crashed over and again Adams converted. With only seconds left scrum half Sion Ellis weaved his way through the whole of the Brecon mid field defence and Adams again converted to bring unbelievable joy to the visitors and equally unbelievable dismay to the whole Brecon contingent.