The fixture was a league game and one Tenby needed to win to keep their title chances alive. Cardigan are always a very tough, physical side and a very hard team to beat on their home turf, so Tenby knew they had to go out and give it their all.
From the kick-off, Cardigan made their intentions clear and kept the ball within their big pack of forwards, driving Tenby back in both rucks and scrums.
Tenby's defence was magnificent, with Craig Hamilton, Russ Milnes and Chris (Faddy) Thomas defending as if their lives depended upon it.
At this stage, a head injury to Chris (Niffy) Brace forced him to leave the field for treatment, and this now seemed to stir the Tenby pack into life.
From a subsequent scrum, Michael (Penfold) Lewis drove hard at the Cardigan forwards which resulted in quick ball for the majestic Luke Lawrence to ghost through the Cardigan defence before feeding Nicky Guymer; he in turn fed Ben Brooks, who crashed over in the corner for the game's first try.
From the restart it was all Tenby, with their forwards on top and the backs making excellent use of good ball. The backs used superb angles of running, with both Nicky Guymer and James Davies always coming into the game at pace.
It was from another good lineout ball that Tenby went down the blind with speedy Gareth Thomas who fed back inside to the not so speedy Niffy Brace; a ruck was formed and Luke Lawrence put in a cross kick that Jonny Wilkinson would have been proud of for Ben Brooks to collect out on the wing and again crash over in the corner. Luke converted the extra points to put Tenby in command with only minutes until half-time.
It was at this point that the Tenby pack relaxed and got penalised for offside. Cardigan ran the penalty and through some sloppy tackling by the Tenby forwards, the number 8 from Cardigan scored their first points. The conversion was missed and the referee blew for half-time.
Andrew Rose, the team manger, and Michael (Penfold) Lewis, the captain, gave positive, stirring team talks at half-time and this boosted Tenby for the second half of the game.
The Seasiders kicked off and never gave an inch, with excellent pick-ups and drives, especially by Ed Pritchard and Russ Milnes keeping them going forward and feeding the outstanding, ever-present Will Crockford, who has been in fine form all season.
The next Tenby try came from a penalty, and when Penfold cleverly called for a scrum, the smaller United pack pushed Cardigan back at a rate of knots. Crockford wen in to to pick up and score, but an offside Cardigan player prevented him from doing so and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try, which Luke Lawrence easily converted.
Tenby were now rampant, with the backs running at every occasion and enjoying the stream of quality ball that the pack gave them.
This resulted in the try of the match. Luke Lawrence took the ball at outside-half and fed Delwyn Brace coming at pace; he wyn went through two would-be tacklers, side-stepped the fullback to cross under the posts for an excellent try.
With only minutes remaining, Tenby knew that they had taken a big away victory, but Cardigan never say die and threw caution to the wind and ran straight back at Tenby to score the game's final try.
Tenby would like to thank Cardigan for an excellent game and for the hospitality back at their club at which the players were given a warm welcome. They also wish Cardigan well for the rest of their season.
Niffy, Andrew Rose, Penfold and Russ would like to say a big thank you to all the players who gave such a big effort last Saturday and now ask that they all make every effort to turn up for training on Thursdays, so they can continue with the good work put in by all.