Christmas cracker at Heywood Lane

Tenby Utd. Past XV 33 pts. Tenby Utd. Present XV 24

Heywood Lane was the venue on Boxing Day for Tenby United's much-awaited and heavily advertised 'Old Boys' match, which saw a host of old faces from days gone by pull on their boots and line up against some of today's younger players. A very large crowd, somewhere in the region of 700, came to watch this much-anticipated game in aid of the Gareth Scotcher Trust Fund. Referee for the afternoon was Mr. Steve Williams, who wore a very fetching elf outfit and he was ably assisted by his two touch judges, Mr. John Handicott and Mr. Stuart Tyrie, who also entered into the festive spirit by joining Mr. Williams in wearing their own elf outfits, kindly loaned for the day by Penfold and Faddy! On the stroke of 1.30 pm, both teams ran out onto the field. I say both teams ran out, but it was actually more like, the Present XV ran out in their usual red and black strip and they were followed by the Past XV limping and with bones creaking, wearing a Pembrokeshire County strip, kindly provided by Mr. Kim Norkett. Before kick-off, a one minute silence was observed for Mr. Peter Cray, who sadly passed away last Thursday morning. Peter was a long-standing member and friend of Tenby United RFC, having been a player, coach, committee man and fixture secretary over many years, and he will be both sorely missed and fondly remembered by all at the club. With the formalities and weeks of preparation and 'training' out of the way, it was now down to the players to live up to all the hype and provide Tenby with festive rugby once again, and within seconds of the whistle, that's what they did. Some thought it would be a fun and light-hearted game, others a blood-bath, but in reality, it quickly became a mixture of both, as helpful taps on the back and hands up off the floor were followed by hard tackles and some fierce footwork at the ruck situations. In the early exchanges, notable tackles were made by Harry Bolton, Scott Payne and Nicky Allen for the Presents and Mike Evans, Ross Llewellyn and Steve Sharma for the Past XV. With the Past XV having had little opportunity to train and practice together before the match, the Present XV started to gain good quality ball up front, despite some awful infringements by the Old Boys being missed by the referee! When clean ball was won, it was quickly fed out through the threequarter line, where Mark Heywood and Jimmy Davies tried to break through in the centre. Neil Truman, Chris Evans and Gavin Scotcher did not give an inch and ensured that their younger counterparts did not gain ground. They did, however, strike first when, instead of running at the heart of the defence, Jimmy Davies ran outside his man and ran in a lovely try from some 50 yards, despite Neil 'Tatty' Truman chasing him down all the way to the line. This score seemed to spur the Old Boys into life and a few early changes to their line-up seemed to highlight to all that if they didn't perform they would be subbed. This saw one of the biggest cheers of the afternoon as ex-1st team captain and coach, Mr. Gethin 'Bimbo' Evans, took to the field. He was soon in the thick of the action after Mike Evans took a quick tap penalty and passed the ball to Evans to drive up. This saw a host of present players' faces light up with glee and many were hungry to be the man to tackle the rapidly ageing Evans. Nicky Allen was the first man to him and had the honour of clattering him to the ground, but despite his efforts, Evans was able to set up the ball for his team to continue in attack. The Past XV now seemed to be gaining some dominance through good work in the forwards from the likes of Johnny Richards, Simon Griffiths, Ian Thomas, Jeremy Rossiter and Nicky Rees, and with a fine display of tactical kicking by both Ben Childs and Gavin Scotcher, the Present XV found themselves penned into their own 22 for some time. Further good work at the lineout by Chris 'Niffy' Brace saw the Past pack drive the ball towards and over the Present's try line. As the heap of mangled bodies (nearly twice as many as there should have been!) got up, it was Simon Griffiths who came up with the ball and claimed the Past XV's first score, which was converted by Gavin Scotcher, bringing them level at 7seven points each. From the restart, the Past XV continued to press again and used the same tactics as before to gain ground in the Present's half, with Childs and Scotcher both working the touchlines well. Another lineout inside the Present's 22 was again driven up by the Past's pack and once again Simon Griffiths came up with the ball and claimed his second try of the afternoon. Niffy did comment, however, that if he had let go of the pork pie that he was so busy munching on in the middle of the maul, then he could have claimed the try himself, but was only able to get one of his chubby little hands on the ball as it was touched down! It was now time for the Present XV to have some of the territory and possession and their youth and fitness levels soon started to pay off as they worked the ball into some good attacking positions. A good break from the base of a ruck by the young and talented Geoff Martin saw Nicky Allen in close support to take the offload and gallop the remaining 20 yards to the line for a fine score. This closed the gap to two points, but the Past were still ahead 14 points to 12 going into half-time. This first half had seen both teams use as many as 25 different players, with both sides using the rolling subs rule to the full. Notable appearances for the Past XV included club chairman, Mr. Alan Jones, Paul Heywood facing up to son Mark in the centre, Steve Hartland, Dylan Lawrence, Charles Davies, Phil Rees, Chris 'Splash' Williams, Dai Robbins, Wayne and Gammy Llewellyn joining their other brother Ross, as well as Louis and Ginger Beynon combining at various times in the half. This period also saw the appearance of many exiles joining the ranks of the Present XV, including Steve 'Officer' Williams, Luke Lawrence, Mark Chaichan, Anthony 'Guffy' Griffiths and Alex 'Hello Sailor' Watt. During the interval, many old traditions and half- time rituals were witnessed by the large crowd, who were by now enjoying a very entertaining game of rugby. Steve Hartland had his usual half-time fag and can of Strongbow, Gethin Evans and Alan Jones received oxygen from St. John Ambulance personnel and others took the time to rest and ease many aching joints! Much to Gethin and Alan's disappointment, referee Steve Williams signalled the restart and once again both teams looked to impress the crowd with free- flowing running rugby. One particular moment of magic by the Old Boys saw Ben Childs break from his own line and evade four or five would-be tacklers before offloading to Chris Evans, who continued the move, linking with his old centre partner Neil Truman, who also gained ground before passing inside to the supporting Mike Evans, who was finally tackled by Johnny Lane on halfway. The move brought great applause from the crowd and memories of the Heineken League some 12 years ago came flooding back. Despite these fine efforts, it was the Present XV who scored first through another exile, Shaun James, currently playing for the Cornish Pirates in the English first division. This gave the Present XV a 17 points to 14 lead. The Past XV soon recovered the lead when scrum- half Gethin Williams scrambled over, but this time the kick proved too much for Scotcher and the score was now 19 points to 17. The Old Boys then struck again, extending their lead when yet another drive by the ever-increasing number of Past XV forwards crossed the line and Ian 'Yobbler' Thomas claimed the touchdown. One member of the crowd commented that he had counted 21 yellow shirts on the field at one point! Scotcher converted and the score now read 26-17 going into the final quarter. Both sides now started to fully utilise the rolling subs rule and upwards of 20-a-side were seen on the pitch at one time, despite many players being off the pitch paying fines for red and yellow cards by way of a can of cider on Faddy's mound at the far end of the ground! Despite the numbers on the pitch, both teams were able to score again, with the Present XV crossing first through outside-half Delwyn Brace; his try converted by Richard Rossiter, reducing the Past XV's lead to 26 points to 24. Neil Truman then strengthened the Past's lead once again after a break in midfield into a gap created at a ruck by Mike Evans, who stated with a large grin after the match, that he had completely taken out brothers Justin Richards and Harry Bolton, who had then left a huge hole for Tatty to race through unopposed.Scotcher again converted to leave the final score 33 points to 24 in the Past XV's favour. A first half try by Anthony Griffiths, disallowed for a forward pass, which later on in the clubhouse when the video of the game was replayed, seemed perfectly legal, could well have meant the final score was only one conversion apart. A contentious issue and a talking point for a long time to come, I am sure! The final whistle saw relief painted across many of the Old Boys' faces, but most were delighted to have made a welcome return to playing and were especially pleased at running out winners. From the interest shown by both the Old Boys and the many exiles involved in the Present XV, as well as the huge crowd that turned out to watch this game, it is clear that a Boxing Day match has been missed at the club for far too many years, and that this kind of game should take place every year. After the match, the players, their families and supporters enjoyed a variety of entertainment back at the clubhouse. There was free pop, sweets and crisps for the youngsters to enjoy, as well as a magic show and hot dogs to keep them happy well into the evening. With the kids happy, the parents were able to relax in the bar and watch a re-run of the game on the big screen, while the players enjoyed a post-match buffet. In hindsight, post-match soup might have been a better option, as many of the Past XV found the sandwiches a little hard to chew with barely a full set of teeth between them! Later in the evening, the raffle was drawn, with many great prizes on offer, generously donated by many local businesses and individuals. One of the highlights of the evening was Ross Llewellyn's impromptu auction, where some of the remaining raffle prizes were auctioned off to raise more money for the charity. This saw a cuddly toy and other small prizes attract an enormous amount of money through some bidding wars between the likes of Bambi, Mike Evans and David Lewis! There were two main aims of the Boxing Day match; one was to provide an entertaining game of rugby for the people of Tenby to enjoy and the other was to raise as much money as possible for the Gareth Scotcher Trust Fund. The crowd in excess of 600 people proved that the aim of providing an entertaining fixture was successfully achieved and the grand total of £2,132.69 raised on the day proves that the club certainly achieved its aim of raising money for Gareth's Trust Fund. Tenby United RFC would like to thank all those involved in making this such a successful event, the players (old and new), match officials, individuals who helped on the gate and with other behind the scenes activities, the very generous spectators, the numerous local businesses and individuals that provided prizes and other gestures of goodwill and Christine and her staff at the clubhouse. Thank you all once again and we now hope that we can go on to make this event even bigger and better again next year. Happy New Year to you all from Tenby United RFC. Present XV fielded: Scott Payne (capt.), Mike 'Penfold' Lewis, Mark Badham, Johnny Lane, Nicky Guymer, Wyndham Williams, Ben Cray, Gareth Edwards, Justin Richards, Harry Bolton, Nicky Allen, Will Crockford, Luke Lawrence, Owen Thomas, Delwyn Brace, Mark Heywood, Jimmy Davies, Alex Watt, Jason Newell, Lewis Merrony, Anthony Griffiths, Mark Chaichan, Shaun James, Richard Rossiter, Julian Rossiter, Matthew Miller, John Sheesby, Sam Smith, Geoff Martin, Sion Jenkins. Past XV fielded: Gavin Scotcher (capt.), Simon Griffiths, Johnny Richards, Ian 'Yobbler' Thomas, Chris 'Niffy' Brace, Jeremy 'Longy' Rossiter, Nicky Rees, Mike Evans, Ross Llewellyn, Steve Sharma, Gethin 'Bimbo' Evans, Alan Jones, Dylan Lawrence, Robert 'Jazzy' Thomas, Ben Childs, Phil Rees, Louis Beynon, Colin 'Ginger' Beynon, Neil 'Tatty' Truman, Chris 'Blue' Evans, Chris 'Splash' Williams, Dai Robbins, Wayne Llewellyn, Gammy Llewellyn, Charles Davies, Graham Fry, Paul Heywood, Steve Hartland, Simon 'Jim' Rossiter, Andrew 'Goofy' Brace, Craig O'Neil.