A patched-up Pooler side crashed out of the Konica Minolta Cup in only the third round on Saturday, as the recent mini-revival enjoyed by David Gray's men came to an end with a 28-14 reverse at fellow Welsh Premiership strugglers Carmarthen.

Gray rang the changes for this encounter, giving his fringe players the opportunity to stake a claim for a regular place in the first 15. Unfortunately it was an opportunity few of them took.

Pooler lost this match in the first half, trailing 17-0 at the interval after conceding two tries, scored by Darren Simpson and Dominic Day, both of which were converted by Quins fly-half Craig Evans, who also added a penalty.

The hosts were down to 14 men five minutes before the break when scrum half Ricky Richards was dismissed for stamping on the hand of Pooler Skipper Gavin Lucas.

But it took Pontypool some time to exploit their numerical advantage and they went further behind soon after the re-start.

Number eight Gareth Williams stretched Quins lead to 22-0 in the second period - effectively securing his side's place in the third round - before Pooler responded.

Craig Jones crashed over in the 49th minute and Sam Mills converted to give Gray's charges a lifeline and replacement wing Andrew Quick provided genuine hope when he touched down under the posts to give centre Adam Sliczney the simplest of conversions.

But two late penalties from Quins fly-half Evans ensured it was the west Walians that made the hat for the fourth round draw.

After the match Gray admitted cup defeat was not as hard to pallet as a league loss but was still far from satisfied.

"Obviously we didn't want to lose but the league is far more important than the cup, though having said that I would have liked to have had a cup run," said Gray.

"We let in two daft tries and were 17-0 down at half time. I asked for a better performance in the second half and we did come out and take the game to them."

Elaborating on the reasons behind his decision to use some less familiar faces in his starting line up, Gray said: "We've got to utilise our squad. We've got to give some of the other players a bit of experience.

"Some people were given opportunities. Perhaps they didn't take their chance but we can't go through the season with the same 15 players."

"The players know they let themselves down in the first 20 minutes. We'll work on a few problems in training this week and look to go down to Swansea and get a result on Saturday."

Despite being amongst the favourites to claim the Welsh Premiership title, Swansea have struggled to find their feet this year and currently lie two places behind Pooler having only collected nine points so far.

Gray still sees the Whites are one of the prize scalps in the division however.

"That's a real test. It's one thing going to the black and ambers but we want to put in performances against the likes of Swansea and Llanelli," he added. "I believe we're good enough to get a result. We should have a full squad to pick from, Nathan Daniel is the only concern but we're hoping he'll be fit for selection."