THE West Walian derby went the way of Llandovery who maintained their push for a play-off spot with this narrow two tries to one win at Church Bank writes Huw S Thomas.
They move back up to second place, equal on points with Cross Keys and one point behind leaders Pontypridd.
A bumper four figure Tywi Valley crowd witnessed the predicted no holds barred contest between two well coached sides that did the Scarlets region proud.
It was their first Premiership meeting of the season and was always on a knife edge but the marginal better use of possession and stronger finish finally swung the game the way of the Drovers.
The winning coaching trio of Euros Evans, Simon Davies and Gareth Potter were delighted at the success.
"We knew the Quins would challenge us all the way and this is exactly what happened," said Evans.
"We found their defence really hard to break down but we finished strongly and with a real flourish to squeeze home in a great game."
The Drovers were all but over in the very first minute after fly half Jack Maynard had made a good break only for his final pass to wing Matthew Jacobs to go astray.
It was all Llandovery early on but although they lost skipper Ian Jones for 10 minutes for an on the ground infringement, the Quins defended strongly all over the park.
It was only at the end of the first quarter that the visitors put in their first attack of the game before a bad injury to impressive full back Will Thomas weakened the home attack.
When a Quins move broke down, wing Aaron Warren sped away and fed the supporting Rhodri Davies for the scrum half to outpace the turned defence from 50 yards.
Maynard added the conversion but the Quins got another yellow card when flanker Ellis Lloyd was penalised for trampling.
Against the odds, the visitors hit back when a finely judged diagonal kick from fly half Craig Evans was acrobatically taken by centre Iolo Evans for a great score.
The Quins were right back in the game in a contest as close as the pre-match predictions had indicated.
The Quins started off the second half with the greater vim but it was Drover Rhodri Davies who all but got the next try after scuttling away from half way.
Play was as fast as it was furious with both sides striving for the crucial next score.
The Drovers had to defend a series of intense close range drives but so did the Quins at the other end.
A great kick from Maynard set up a good position in the corner and from a scrum eight yards out, pressure was relentless until replacement Mike Evans was put in by centre Jacob Cowley.
Maynard converted with three minutes of normal time remaining to take away the Quins losing bonus point in a game that was huge credit to the Premiership.