The home side prevailed 33-21 in what was a fine advertisement for the Premiership.
The artificial pitch and near perfect playing conditions, the scene was set for an open game and that is what the players dished up, together with referee Wayne Davies insistence on keeping the game flowing.
For the second week running the Quins began with a bang, and after four minutes a powerful drive from good line out possession gave Ellis Lloyd the chance to use his strength to go over. Craig Evans added the conversion.
This confident start saw more Quins pressure and from a neat break by Rhys Williams from his own 22 three more team mates handled giving wing Gavin Thomas space to cross wide out. Craig Evans added the points from near the touch line. Fourteen points in eleven minutes.
Three minutes later Gareth Llewellyn in his debut for the city side put over a penalty. These opening minutes saw both sides showing a willingness to move the ball and both sets of supporters were kept on the edge of their seats.
After 17 minutes scrum half Tom Slatter found a gap in the Quins defence to go over for a try only to see the conversion sail wide.
End to end play gave the supporters plenty to wonder at and after 27 minutes wing Chris Knight neatly jinked his way past three Quins defenders to score a fine try. Llewellyn converted to put the home side ahead.
The ball was kept moving and Llewellyn made a break and with a try looking on the cards Lee Williams showed his class with a tremendous tackle and the ball was scrambled to safety.
The Quins scrum was solid and their line out with Haydn Pugh and Aidan Laxton in commanding form the Quins were able to test the Cardiff defence for long periods. With the interval looming Llewellyn was gifted a penalty and well into injury time Knight went over for his second unconverted try giving the Cardiff side a 23-14 half time lead.
More of the same was seen for the second period and this end to end stuff was thrilling viewing for all.
The Cardiff No 8 James Sheekey opened the scoring in the second minute to increase his sides lead and more enterprising play, this time from the Quins saw Lee Williams go over for a brilliant try and Craig Evans pulled the Quins back to within a score with the conversion. It really was end to end play with both sides going close and both defences were kept busy.
With time running out the Cardiff skipper Jonathan Edwards, clinched matters with his side’s fifth try and move to within six points of the Quins with three games in hand. This means that to stay in contention for a League play off place the Quins will have to rely on other teams performance with just five games remaining.
The Quins performance gives plenty of optimism for next week’s Cup game with Bridgend Athletic at the Park with a quarter final spot the reward.
The next few weeks will see the top five Clubs going all out for a play-off place and results will be interesting
