EBBW Vale boss Jason Strange declared that his young squad had passed their character test after battling to a hard-earned 28-24 Premiership win at Carmarthen Quins.

The Steelmen had to dig deep to take the spoils out in horrendous conditions out west, fighting back from 24-15 down at the break to build nicely towards the play-offs.

A much-changed Ebbw – with a raft of key figures absent – scored 13 unanswered points in the second half with Dragons-bound Wales Under-20s number eight Owen Conquer catching the eye.

They round off the regular season on Thursday with a Gwent derby against Pontypool at Eugene Cross Park before an away semi-final at either Newport or Llandovery.

"They can be really proud of themselves, it's a real boost for the squad," head coach Strange said to S4C after the win.

"Carmarthen is a really difficult place to come and Quins had some quality players out there, so I thought our youngsters were outstanding.

"At half-time we were 24-15 down and in these conditions it was just about doing the basics well and limiting your errors. Quins made a couple in the second half and we were quite clinical.

"It was a test of the culture of the squad and they stood up and wanted to play for each other. That is more important than anything.

"We want to be competitive in the semi-final of the play-offs but we also have one eye on the future and a number of those youngsters shows we are in a very strong position as a club. he future looks good.

"When you get a collective effort and the boys play for each other you will always have a good performance. They played as a team and that puts us in a good position for Pontypool.”

Ebbw, who had cruised to victory when the sides met at Eugene Cross Park, made a rapid start to lead 12-0 after 10 minutes.

They won a penalty straight from the kick-off that was kicked to the corner for hooker Ieuan Morris to score.

Wing Hamish Anderson then picked off a pass to race over from 55 metres for a try that Kieran Meek converted.

However, the Quins turned things around impressively in the horrendous conditions to lead 24-15 at the break.

Centre Iestyn Gwilliam scored a comical try after the ball bobbled around close to the line after an overthrown lineout.

A Quins counter-attack and some excellent handling led to full-back Rhodri Davies going over in the 33rd minute.

The former Dragons scrum-half, out of position at 15, then got the hosts' third shortly before the break when full-back Morgan Richards failed to deal with a kick over the top in the slippery conditions.

Ebbw got back within a score when Meek slotted a penalty in the 57th minute then hit the front when replacement prop Owen Hatherill barged over from close range five minutes later, Meek adding the extras from next to the posts.

The fly-half earned some breathing space with a penalty in the 77th minute but the Quins finished on the front foot only for the Steelmen to defend a driving lineout well and force a handling error for victory.