BLAENAVON beat Cardiff Harlequins in a thrilling four try encounter on Saturday.

They played the Quins in the SWALEC Division 1 East league clash at a windswept recreation ground in Blaenavon in the first game since the New Year bolstered them by the return of Matthew Billings after a prolonged injury.

It was obvious from the start of the game that the conditions were going to play a major part in the game.

Blaenavon lost the toss and had to play down hill into the wind after some good driving and backs play.

They were deep into the Quins’ half with good runs by Richard Dennington leading the way.

After two minutes, a speculative kick saw Quins winger Dafydd Franklin score in the corner following some poor defensive play by Blaenavon.

Although the conversion was missed it was 5-0, not the start Blaenavon were looking for.

But they soon were in the driving seat and after eight minutes forced the Quins to concede a penalty 35 metres out, usually an easy kick but with the wind against him Darren Pearce did extremely well to land it and make it 5-3.

The Blaenavon forwards were driving at the Quins and causing them problems.

They conceded a penalty which Blaenavon kicked to the corner for a line out.

From the good throw from Peter Loader and catch by Matthew Billings, the marauding Blaenavon pack had a driving line out with Jamie Nobel crashed over to score Blaenavon’s first try.

Darren Pearce duly obliged with the perfectly judged kick against the wind to convert, making it 10-5 to Blaenavon after 12 minutes.

Blaenavon looked comfortable and were on top with some solid attacking work by centre Ben Snell and Scott Creese releasing flying wing Matthew Powell.

But Blaenavon looked rusty after the lay off and he had no support.

From a quick tap penalty Quins put in another speculative kick to the corner and Franklin scored the second try of his hat trick, which P Addams converted to make it 12-10 to the Quins.

They were playing well attacking Blaenavon from all angles and from a scrum against the head Quins broke the Blaenavon defence to put giant winger Franklin in for his third try of the game, which Addams converted to make it 19-10.

After 30 minutes the game was well matched with Blaenavon driving the Quins at every occasion with good play by Chris Baldwin and Chris Jones and sniping runs by Ryan Bates at scrum half breaking the Quins’ defence.

But they were excellent at counter attacking and had Blaenavon in disarray with their quick, crisp passing out of defence.

On such a move saw their centre put in a classic behind his back, back pass to split the Blaenavon defence and allow O Fitzpatrick to score under the post for Quins’ fourth try and bonus point, which Addams had no problem converting, making it 26-10.

Blaenavon now needed to front up. If this wasn’t going to be a rout they battled well, Sam Evans, Lewis John and Wayne Redman putting in the tackles and Jamie Nobel and Chris Baldwin driving the Blaenavon pack forward.

This allowed Ryan Bates at scrum half to score an individual try after some fantastic solo play, which Darren Pearce converted to make it 26-17 at half time to the Cardiff Quins.

The second half started well for Blaenavon.

With the wind in their favour, they took full advantage and were soon well in the Quins’ 22-metre line, putting them under pressure.

From a hopeless clearance kick by the Quins’ centre, Scott Creese charged down and gathered to score under the posts after 56 minutes, which Darren Pearce converted to put Blaenavon right back in the game at 26-24 to the Quins.

The Quins were under pressure with Blaenavon attacking them at every opportunity.

From a great break from Darren Pearce, Blaenavon were awarded a five-metre scrum.

Blaenavon moved the ball well and from some good inter passing flying winger Matthew Powell was put clear to score in the corner.

The difficult conversion was missed and Blaenavon took the lead for the first time 29-26.

The last 10 minutes saw Cardiff Quins attack from everywhere, and it was only the sure fire Blaenavon defence that kept them out with a try saving tackle from Scott Creese to see Blaenavon victorious and win a very thrilling encounter in what was a great game in bad conditions.

Next week will see Blaenavon home again at the recreation ground against Rumney Cardiff ,where they hope to avenge their narrow away defeat against them at the start of the season. The kick off is at 2.30pm.