Caerphilly v NEC Harlequins

Half-time: Caerphilly 13 - NEC Harlequins 35
Parker Pen Tournament 1st Round played home at Virginia Park on Saturday 12th October 2002
Attendance 1,500
Referee: Eric Darrlera (France), Touch Judges: C. Bardos (France), P. Bellet (France), Howard Hopkins (Wales)

After a poor performance last week, Mark Ring was looking to his side to produce the goods in the first match of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup, against NEC Harlequins.

Caerphilly came out of the blocks well, and were ahead thanks to Outside-Half, Luke Richards. The penalty came after only 3 minutes, with the Harlequins penalised for hands in the ruck. This was the only time Caerphilly were to lead the game.

Three minutes later a try was scored and converted by Harlequins Full-Back, Nathan Williams on his way to a 25 point haul. This was followed 5 minutes later with a try by winger, Matt Moore, also converted by Williams.

Caerphilly tried hard to break the Harlequins defence, and came close on two occasions, with only the touchline spoiling their efforts. After several exchanges of territory and further scores by the Harlequins the home supporters finally had something to cheer about.

A break from their own 22 metre line saw Winger, Geraint Lewis run the length of the field avoiding tackles and side-stepping the Full-Back, Williams to score a try. This was converted by Richards, bringing the score to 13-28 after 30 minutes. Harlequins struck again before the half-time whistle, bringing the score to 13-35 at the interval.

The second half started badly for the home side. With only 4 minutes played, a poor kick and some wayward tackling created space for wing, Matt Moore to score his second try of the game. From the restart, an interception gifted the Quins another try scored by flanker, Luke Sherriff and converted by Williams.

Good possession from the restart for Caerphilly resulted in pressure on the visitors. This pressure produced a try for Ryan Howells. He burst through the Harlequins defence at speed from 5 metres stretching to reach the line. The conversion was slotted over by Richards. This was to be Caerphilly's last score of the game.

The remainder of the match saw many handling errors by the cheesemen. Slack tackling allowed the Quins to score 4 more tries, with Jim Evans, Nick Duncombe and Simon Miall all crossing the line.

The fourth a penalty try. The match ended a little sour when Luke Richards left the field on 34mins with a shoulder injury, no replacement was available as the home side had used it's complement of substitutes.

Both teams had a man sin-binned in the dying minutes, leaving Caerphilly with 13 men, and Harlequins with 14. Caerphilly now have to face the Harlequins, at the Stoop on the 19th October for the return leg. Caerphilly must improve their performance, still searching for their first win of the season.

Match report by Mark Tamplin, pictures by Mark Tamplin, Steve John and Fiona Harris