INJURY-RAVAGED Ebbw Vale showed their mettle by blowing away an accomplished Carmarthen Quins side to record an impressive bonus point victory.

The Steelmen outscored the visitors four tries to two in the second half with some scintillating play, the champions moving up to fourth in the table after their triumph.

The Eugene Cross Park side took the lead in the 13th minute after a scrappy start by both teams to the game in which errors abounded.

Fly-half Josh Lewis nailed a penalty after Quins infringed at a lineout.

Vale were on the wrong side of a controversial decision by the officials almost immediately after when they lost their full-back Dan Haymond to the sin bin for a perceived tip tackle on his opposite number Gavin Thomas after they got themselves into a great position again, deep in the West Walians’ territory.

The visitors had their chances but their outside-half Craig Evans was off target with two long range penalty efforts.

The high error count continued with both sides unable to build any momentum for much of the first half in which there was no pattern or particularly dominant team.

The hosts did get themselves further ahead when Lewis kicked a monster penalty from over halfway after his forwards had shoved Quins back with a powerful scrum.

It was 6-0 after just over half an hour.

The Steelmen were given a great chance to use their devastating catch and drive lineout from close range, only for a penalty kick to touch to miss its target.

Lewis made amends in a way almost immediately when he slotted over a drop goal after they put the visitors under more pressure.

Quins had the opportunity of getting right back into it just before the interval, but they couldn’t exploit an initial overlap and Vale held them out.

The visitors did strike before the interval when Evans was on target with a penalty after his forwards had pushed Vale back.

As soon as the kick sailed over, Scottish referee Graeme Wells brought an eminently forgettable first 40 minutes to an end with the hosts 9-3 up.

Quins started the second half as they ended the first with Evans putting over a simple penalty early on.

Spurred into action at last, from the re-start, Vale’s No 9 Chris Thomas, on his 100th league game, finished superbly after his side finally broke down some determined Quins defending.

His half back partner Lewis, who was having a fine game, gave them a 10-point cushion with the extras.

The visitors’ problems were compounded when their No 15 Thomas was given a yellow card for taking out Lewis as he chipped the ball into their 22 and he struck the ensuing penalty to make it 19-6.

Quins didn’t throw in the towel and struck back through hooker Torin Myhill, who bagged a converted touchdown from a quick tap penalty.

With the game really coming alive now at 19-13, it was replacement Liam Jones, on for the injured Lewis, who popped up to score a crucial try as Vale again put the West Wales side under the cosh.

Centre Dai Langdon’s conversion made it 26-13 with just over a quarter of an hour to go.

Vale made sure they would get the victory when they got their third try in the 74th minute, replacement back Craig Duncan crossing for a super converted touchdown.

Quins weren’t finished though and wing Chris Banfield hit back with a converted score before replacement back row forward Ben Papp, on permit from Usk, finished off a sweeping move to bag that all important bonus point try which made it a five-point victory for the clinical Steelmen.

Ebbw Vale: D Haymond, C Levesley, N Preece, D Langdon, R Gardner (C Duncan 57), J Lewis (L Jones 62), C Thomas (D Jones 76), I George (R Jones 55), J Franchi (J Bowen 76), G Robinson (R Sevenoaks 55, J Bartlett, D Hudd (capt), R Kynes, D Rubasniak (B Papp 69), R Clarke.

Ebbw Vale scorers: Tries – Chris Thomas, Liam Jones, Craig Duncan, Ben Papp, Conversions – Josh Lewis, Dai Langdon (3), Penalties – Lewis (3), Drop goal – Lewis.

Carmarthen Quins: G Thomas, C Banfield, I Evans (J Batcup 66), J Williams, K Jones, C Evans (S Marshall 59), C Lloyd, G Robinson (S Phillips 55), T Myhill, S Thomas (J Sebastain 55), B Thompson (R Osborn 68), H Pugh, S Jones, E Lloyd, L Taylor.

Carmarthen Quins scorers: Tries – Torin Myhill, Chris Banfield, Conversions – Craig Evans, Steffan Marshall, Penalties – Evans (2).

Referee: Graeme Wells (SRU)