RGC suffered their first away defeat of the Principality Premiership season as they fell to a 35-22 reverse at Carmarthen Quins.

The Gogs were unable to claim a morale-boosting victory despite another spirited display on their travels, and Mark Jones’ side will look to avoid a third consecutive loss this Saturday when they host Bargoed at Stadiwm Zip World (2.30pm).

A frantic start to proceedings saw both sides go close in the opening exchanges, but it was the hosts that drew first blood when Aled Thomas despatched a penalty after ten minutes.

This provoked a strong response from the away side, who notched the first try of the contest soon after when winger Sam Jones displayed his trademark pace to latch onto a Dion Jones kick to cross the white wash. Billy McBryde added the extras.

Their joy proved to be short lived as Quins regained the initiative immediately following the restart when a defensive mix-up enabled Dylan Morgan to go over in the corner.

A well-struck McBryde penalty added to the Gogs’ tally midway through the half, but their task was made more difficult when Josh Leach was shown a yellow card and Morgan dotted over for his second score of the afternoon.

They managed to weather the storm until the interval despite their numerical disadvantage thanks to some outstanding defensive work, but after the interval saw a line out error punished when Shaun Thomas touched down to increase the hosts’ advantage, with Thomas firing over the conversion attempt.

The assured boot of Thomas gave RGC a further mountain two climb with a pair of penalties to increase their lead, and the home side managed to secure the bonus point when Hayden Pugh benefitted from a powerful maul to go over. Thomas added the extras.

Jordan Scott and Cameron Davies both scored late tries for the Gogs, one of which was converted by McBryde, but it did not prevent Quins from seeing out the game in comfortable fashion to condemn Jones’ men to defeat.