Last Saturday, Tenby Youth, sponsored by PRL plant hire, travelled to Neyland for their first match of 2006, hoping to continue where they left off at Fishguard in December. On a very cold, but bright afternoon, Tenby kicked off, with the referee immediately penalising them for an infringement. From the resulting penalty, Neyland kicked deep into the Tenby half, but from the lineout, Ieuan Rowell, who was outstanding all afternoon, took the ball against the throw. Unfortunately, however, when the Seasiders tried to break out of defence, a clearing kick was charged down, resulting in Neyland scoring a converted try under the posts. Not the way to start 2006. Responding, captain Alex Jenkins rallied his troops, which resulted in him scoring his first try of the afternoon, and with Steve Handicott adding the conversion, the game was all-square with only 10 minutes gone. Not to be outdone by this reverse, the home side hit back and again took the lead when their outside-half kicked a fine penalty from 40 metres out. Next it was the visitors who upped the tempo, with strong-running centre Dave Otton piercing the home defence to score an excellent converted try. The final try of the first half came from the impressive Alex Jenkins, who broke from a ruck before linking with supporting fullback Dan Colley, who scored a superb try wide out to increase the lead to 19-10 right on half-time. Neyland kicked off the second period, but it was the visitors who were first out of the blocks with what turned out to be the try of the match. James Davies secured possession and skilfully fed outside-half Steve Handicott, who made a searing break through the covering Neyland defence before feeding Johnsie Lewis, who was in support. He in turn powered up field for fully 50 metres, drawing the last line of defence before offloading to Ieuan Rowell, who went on to score an excellent team try. With Steve Handicott adding the extras, Tenby were in a commanding lead of 26-10. The next 15 minutes turned out to be the visitors' best period of play, with prop Robbie Clark, who was by far the pick of the forwards, continually making big inroads into the Neyland defence. The onslaught was such that tries came at regular intervals right through to fulltime. Team manager John Handicott and his coaching team also rang the changes, allowing everyone who travelled to get involved in the game. The changes made involved BFT coming on for Steve Handicott, Jamie Marden for Rob Clarke, Rhys Thomas for Johnsie Lewis, Craig Mcghee into the second row for Ieuan Rowell, Richard May and Marvin Thomas. Tries were scored by Johnsie Lewis (converted by Handicott), Dan Colley, Rhys Thomas, with his first touch, and finally Alex Jenkins, his second, which was converted by BFT, bringing the score to 50-10. But the scoring had not quite finished. In the dying minutes, Nathan Walters got in on the scoring act (again converted by BFT), with Dan Colley, who had an excellent all-round game, crossing for his third try of the afternoon, to bring the final score to 62-10. Players and team management were well pleased with the start made to 2006 and look forward to the remaining games with anticipation and expectation. Squad: R. Clarke, P. Woods, M. Cockburn, I. Rowell, L. Dedman, R. Tuttle, A. Jenkins (capt.), N. Walters, J. Davies, S. Handicott, D. Otton, J. Fenwick, R. McKenzie, J. Lewis, D. Colley, M. Thomas, C. Mcghee, J. Marden, R. Thomas, BFT, R. May. Next match is tomorrow (Saturday), when the United youngsters entertain their Pembroke Dock Quins counterparts in the Youth KO Cup. Kick-off at Heywood Lane is at 2.30 pm.
