Llanelli clinched the SWALEC Cup for a record 14th time with a 20-8 victory after surviving a gutsy second-half turnaround by Carmarthen Quins.
The Welsh cup kings reigned supreme once again thanks to tries by Daniel Newton and Ben Morgan. But they were forced to dig deep after Jamie Davies crashed over in the 63rd minute to hand Quins a lifeline.
Quins produced a stunning second-half comeback after they looked out of the game when they trailed 17-3 at half-time.
Llanelli were twice reduced to 14 men after the break as Quins pressure took its toll. But the knock-out experts clung onto their lead for another cup triumph.
Carmarthen were making their first appearance in the final and Llanelli’s greater experience showed as they seized the initiative as early as the fourth minute.
Full-back Newton picked a clever angle and sped through two defenders to score with Llanelli’s first attack. Steve Shingler converted and added a penalty before Cull got Quins off the mark with a kick of his own. But that was only a brief respite as Llanelli took control of the tie.
Chris Keenan went close and Nick Reynolds saw his try ruled out for a forward pass. It got worse for Quins who saw hooker Rich Wilkes sin binned for a professional foul as Gareth Davies looked to take a penalty quickly.
However Quins looked set to hold out after Shingler struck the post until Llanelli No8 Morgan barged through on the stroke of half time.
Shingler extended the lead to 20-3 early in the second half but Quins got their game back into gear and dominated the last 30 minutes.
Dale Ford was shown a yellow card on 51 minutes for a reckless challenge on Davies in mid-air. Wales Under-20s wing Davies always looked Quins most potent threat and scored on 63 minutes from a well-worked move.
Quins dominated the scrums and that gave veteran scrum-half Sililo Martens the platform to send Davies over from close range.
Cull missed the conversion and while Quins were still on top, they could not find a way through even when Llanelli were again reduced in numbers when Morgan was sin binned for the final nine minutes.
Scorers:
Llanelli: Tries – Newton, Morgan; Cons – Shingler (2); Pens – Shingler (2).
Carmarthen Quins: Try – Davies; Pen – Cull
