Tenby United 16 pts. Llanybydder 23
On another glorious sunny day, Chevron Texaco sponsored Tenby United took on already crowned divisional champions Llanybydder on a very busy rugby day for the town club. As well as this match, the Youth were playing Haverfordwest in a County Cup semi-final prior to the 1st XV and the 2nd XV taking on a Vets touring side from Cambridge, down at The Clicketts. With an outside mathematical chance of grabbing the runners-up spot in the league, assuming a victory was forthcoming and Cardigan lost their two remaining games, Tenby were more than focused on the task they had to achieve, while Llanybydder were intent on avenging the only loss they had suffered all season when Tenby defeated them, in a very close game, by 10 points to three, at the end of December.
Kicking-off, the visitors soon had a taste of what was to come as Tenby secured the ball from the first ruck, allowing stand-off Lewis to rifle his kick way back to the Llanybydder 22. A concerted effort involving Sam Smith, Tom Dennis, Ifan Davies and Neil Powling released fullback Dennis, who was just pushed into touch yards from the line. The pressure play had not yielded the desired result and the visitors showed Tenby what should have been achieved when a fine handling movement took play deep into their half, where a penalty allowed stand-off Barry Thomas to stroke the ball between the sticks for a 3-0 lead. Undeterred by this early reverse, Tenby went straight back on the attack and a superb piece of pilfering by wing Neil Powling ended with Alex Jenkins putting rampaging fullback Tom Dennis in the clear, only for the ball to roll dead before he could put a hand to his tricky chip through the defensive wall of Llanybydder players. As with their first score, the visitors again showed the home side how chances should be taken when a slick handling movement ended with winger Rhys Bowen sliding over in the corner as the Tenby defenders all drifted inside, allowing room on the outside for the winger to take the ball and cross the try line. Youth player Dan Colley was next into action as play continued to switch from end to end and his darting, confident run created a gap for Sam Smith to act as the link man as the ball was transferred to Tom Lewis, who sent a huge kick spiralling toward the visitors' line. The momentum was maintained by Will Crockford, who stole the ball off the Llanybydder fullback as he tried to counter-attack from deep, but lack of adequate support saw the move fizzle out. Another huge kick by Lewis was again fielded by fullback Williamson, who was intent on the counter-attack, and this time it was skipper Gavin Brace who halted his progress, allowing the forwards to take the ball back towards the Llanybydder line. Quick ball was all Tom Lewis needed as he fired his drop goal attempt straight and true to narrow the gap to 8-3. The good work was quickly undone as a silly penalty for killing the ball at a ruck, gave Thomas the opportunity he needed to put his side back to eight points in front and, despite some courageous covering work by the hard working Ifan Thomas, Tenby should have gone into the interval trailing by 11 points as another needless penalty quickly followed, accompanied by 10 minutes in the bin for flanker Wyndham Williams, but the effort by Thomas struck the upright and was cleared, with referee Davies blowing for half-time. Down to 14 men for the first nine minutes of the second half, Tenby kicked off expecting to be in defensive mode, but another superb break by the impressive Dan Colley saw him link with the supporting Gavin Brace, who in turn shipped the ball to Lewis, who sent it deep into Llanybydder territory. The pressure continued to be applied by Tenby, forcing Llanybydder to give away a penalty and Lewis stroked the ball over to take the game to 11 -6 and still all to play for. Coach Davies beefed-up his front row by replacing the hard-working Geoff Martin with Ben Cray and he made his presence felt immediately, forcing the visitors' front row to concede a penalty on the halfway line, but the ambitious attempt by Lewis sailed wide of the uprights. While Llanybydder had undoubtedly shaded the first half, it was Tenby who were now playing the attractive rugby and a length of the field attack involving Mark Brace, who won the ball in a tackle situation, allowed scrum-half Will Crockford to break on the open side, initiating a move that involved Sam Smith, Richard Rossiter, Crockford again, and quick inter-passing between Sam Smith and Neil Powling, ending with Llanybydder just about forcing Crockford into touch as he attempted to take his third pass in the move.
With Tenby now in dominant mood, it came as no surprise to the cheering home crowd when Alex Watts slipped through a gap to start the next attack, linking with co-centre Brace, who in turn linked with supporting forwards Alex Jenkins and Williams (who had returned to the field), stretching the visitors' defence to the limit, but, they held out. From an ensuing lineout, clean ball won by Alex Jenkins provided the pack with an opportunity to test the visitors' mauling prowess and as the maul drove purposefully towards the Llanybydder half, it was number eight Smith who broke free and linked with Lewis, who fired-out a quick pass to wing Neil Powling, who was eventually bundled into touch by the overworked Llanybydder defence. An injury to the returning Alex Watts saw some positional changes as Tenby had been forced to start the game without a recognised back sub as Watts, who was to have been the back sub, had to start the game as Arthur M-M was injured during the pre-game warm-up.
The end result was that Robert 'Chunk' James was forced to take the field as a wing, with Dan Colley switching to fullback and Tom Dennis moving to centre. The enforced changes did not alter the pattern of play, with Llanybydder still on the rack as wave after wave of Tenby attack was just held at bay. Eventually the pressure paid dividends as Sam Smith, following on from some excellent concerted driving mauls by his fellow forwards, was just held short of the line, but the final drive saw hooker Ed Ayres crash over for a try, converted by Lewis, taking Tenby into the lead for the first time at 13 -11. Extra poundage was added to the front row as Johnny Lane replaced Mark Brace as Tenby continued to apply the pressure, with Alex Jenkins and try scorer Ed Ayres neatly combining to put Will Crockford in the clear, only for his neat chip over the defence to go into touch off a cruel bounce. Attacks were coming thick and fast and Dan Colley was prominent in several of them, initially linking with flanker Williams and then repeating the zig- zag run, this time feeding Sam Smith, who in turn linked with the supporting Ed Ayres, ending with Tom Lewis being brought down as he tried to squeeze through the defence.
Coach Davies brought his last replacement on, with the venerable Nicky Allen replacing the industrious Wyndham Williams, and Allen was quickly into the action when he stole the ball off a covering Llanybydder defender, as he smothered a chip through, following another threatening run by Dan Colley. With time running out, Llanybydder staged a final assault on the Tenby line with a series of scrums and mauls which tested the home defence to the full, but their excellent organisation held firm as tackle after tackle went in to defend their narrow lead. The pressure, however, told in the end as the blindside winger came through at pace on a superb angle to slice through the defensive line close to the posts for a converted try and an 18-16 scoreline.
Fielding the restart, Llanybydder immediately returned the ball deep into the Tenby half, and more in desperation than anything else, the United tried to run the ball from deep, only to lose the ball in the tackle, presenting Dafydd Edwards with the opportunity to scoop-up the rolling ball and slide over. Thomas missed the conversion, and the game ended with a hard won victory at 23-16 to the visitors. Talking after the game, coach Kenny Davies was very praiseworthy of the performance put in by his team and these observations were reflected back at the club by both home and away players and supporters, who were united in their agreement that they had taken part in/watched, a splendid game of rugby which was well refereed by Wayne Davies. Tenby now have a week off and play their final game away at Hendy on Saturday, April 28. Thanks go to Kiln Park and Broughton Farm Caravans, who sponsored the game, and to the ball sponsors, who were Five Ways Garage, Phil Oadley, Mike Evans and Keith Walker. Tenby United would like to thank all involved for their continued support.
Tomorrow (Saturday) at Heywood Lane, the Second XV play host to touring side Ross-on-Wye, with kick-off at one o'clock to allow players and supporters alike to retire to the club to watch the Scarlets thrash the Leicester Tigers!
Tenby fielded: Tom Dennis, Dan Colley, Gavin Brace (capt.), Alex Watts (Robert James), Neil Powling, Tom Dennis, Will Crockford, Mark Brace (Johnny Lane), Ed Ayres, Geoff Martin (Ben Cray), Ifan Davies, Alex Jenkins, Sam Smith, Wyndham Williams (Nicky Allen).