Tenby United 33 pts. Birchgrove

With autumn replacing the sunny and warm weather that has become the norm for games played so far this season at Heywood Lane, Chevron sponsored Tenby United faced newly-promoted Birchgrove RFC, paying their first ever visit to Tenby on a chilly and blustery afternoon. Kicking off, Tenby very quickly established how they wanted the game played by swinging play from right to left, with some excellent handling among the threes, allowing wing Jimmy Davies to slip the ball inside to flanker Chunk James , who crashed over in the corner. With Turbo Lewis banging over the conversion from wide out, Tenby were seven points up and Birchgrove had hardly touched the ball or made any telling tackles. Fielding the kick-off, the visitors eventually applied some pressure on the home side, but they failed to capitalise on the pressure as fullback Hopkins pulled his simple penalty attempt wide of the uprights. Sparked by this near miss, Tenby surged into the Birchgrove half and a superb feed off the top of the lineout by Box Davies allowed half-backs Thomas and Lewis to feed centre Mark Heywood, who sliced through some token tackling by Birchgrove to transfer the ball to the supporting Robert 'Chunk' James, who crashed over under the posts for his second try of the game. The angle of run chosen by Heywood totally bemused the Birchgrove defence as they all looked at each other under the posts wondering who should have stopped the score, while Turbo slotted the conversion. Despite the odd sortie into the Tenby half, the visitors were spending considerable amounts of time on the defensive and a huge clearance kick by Turbo was turned into the next attacking opportunity as the chasing Gavin Brace and Mark Heywood nailed the Birchgrove wing, Sion Hopkins, who had fielded the kick and tried to run it out of his own 22. The resulting scrum allowed number eight Wyndham Williams to break from the back row and a slick inside pass to scrum-half Rhys Thomas was shipped on to Turbo Lewis who had spotted that the Birchgrove wing Brookes had drifted off his touchline, and a deft high flighted kick was excellently fielded by Jimmy Davies on the charge, who stepped inside the last line of defence to slide over. With his third successful conversion, Turbo Lewis took the score to 21-0 with only 15 minutes played and the crowd settled back for a bonanza of scoring as a dispirited Birchgrove XV trotted slowly back to the halfway line to restart what had been a very one-sided contest. Things got worse for the visitors when in the next slick threequarter move, speedy wing Paul Luger was blatantly tripped by hooker Watkins as he tried to round him to chase his chip through and surprisingly referee Griffiths selected only a yellow card for the offence and Birchgrove were down to 14 men. The penalty attempt sailed high over the top of the upright and the consensus amongst the two linesmen and the referee was 'no score'. Facing a depleted and still dispirited side, Tenby had an ideal opportunity to capitalise on the situation and run up a big score, but for some unknown reason failed to do so. Individual efforts replaced the team approach adopted in the opening period and their game degenerated to the level of the opposition and became a stop-start affair for the next 20 minutes or so. Frustration started to creep into their play and this was highlighted when prop Lee Tucker was yellow carded for a technical offence at the ruck. Wyndham Williams trooped off and replacement prop Damian Hanolan slotted into the front row. The frustration was also having an effect on the visiting side, as several penalties awarded to them were overturned by referee Griffiths for disparaging remarks made as they lined-up to take the penalties. It came as some relief to the spectators as the referee brought the game to a halt as he blew for half-time. With Tucker reappearing at the start of the second half, coach Davies took the opportunity to give Sam Smith an outing following his lay-off with injury as he replaced the hard-working Nicky Guymer. The changes continued as fullback Alex Watts suffered a leg injury and Jimmy Davies slotted into the vacated position, with the versatile Will Crockford taking the field as replacement wing. The game was struggling to reach even close to the heights shown in the opening period as Tenby desperately sought a fourth try, and with it, their first bonus point of the season. Opportunities to put supporting players away continued to be spurned and as the game drifted on, Birchgrove appeared happy that their defence was holding-up, as they were very much in damage limitation mode. Despite a marked improvement in this aspect of their game, the fact that they had stemmed the scoring rhythm was more down to the home side simply not cashing-in on the many opportunities they created. With the game drifting to a close, Damian Hanlan replaced Mark Brace and the changes continued as Emori Katalau and Nicky Guymer came on for the impressive Gareth Edwards and an injured Mike Lewis. The introduction of new blood seemed to be the spark that was needed to kick-start the game back into life, as a superb combined break by centres Brace and Heywood saw scrum-half Thomas deftly pick-up a pass from down round his ankles and skilfully feed winger Paul Luger, who smashed his way over the line. He actually travelled about six metres, but back in the clubhouse the length of his run increased as he talked his fellow players through the score... again and again and again. With the try bonus secured and the pressure off, Tenby turned on the style again and with the tiring visiting XV being stretched, it came as no surprise as the home side took to score out to 33-0 when Wyndham Williams and replacement Emori Katalau combined well to create an opportunity for impressive centre Mark Heywood to grab his second try of the afternoon, converted by Lewis. Birchgrove were totally frustrated by this late surge being applied by a now rampant home side and a dreadful high tackle by the last line of defence, fullback Hopkins, on Rhys Thomas as he went for a score surprisingly only yielded a yellow card. With Tenby now rampant, and Birchgrove down to 14 men, the situation deteriorated even further for the visitors when number eight Callum was also yellow carded for tripping home skipper James, as he eluded his would-be tackle. Somehow Tenby failed to add to their commanding lead and referee Griffiths brought proceedings to a halt; it had been a real curate's egg of a game. Coach Davies was pleased with the result, but commented on the lack of consistency shown by his team, with players appearing to switch-off for long periods in the game when they should have been upping the pace and totally securing what could have been a far more commanding victory. However, with five tries, a zero score against and no serious injuries, he was happy to talk to the players after the match about what needed to be done during the week as they prepare for their next encounter away at Neyland tomorrow (Saturday). Thanks go to main sponsors Chevron, match sponsor The Buccaneer, match ball sponsors Dec Brace, Mike Fry and Keith Walker and Tenby United man of the match sponsor, J. V. Rowe. Tenby fielded: Alex Watts (Will Crockford), Jimmy Davies, Mark Heywood, Gavin Brace, Paul Luger, Tom Lewis, Rhys Thomas, Mark Brace (Damian Hanlan), Mike Lewis, Lee Tucker, Ifan Davies, Gareth Edwards (Emori Katalau), Wyndham Williams, Robert James (capt.), Nicky Guymer (Sam Smith).