Tenby UTD. YOUTH 55 pts. Pembroke Dock Quins 8
Tenby United Youth, sponsored by PRL Plant Hire, met local rivals Pembroke Dock Quins on Friday evening in the quarter-finals of the Griffiths Cup at Heywood Lane. On a crisp, clear evening, in front of a sizable crowd, the young Tenby side took the field intent on progressing to a home semi-final game next month with Neyland. The tempo of the game was set by the young Seasiders right from the off, with the ball quickly secured from the kick-off, allowing scrum-half Rhys Thomas to release his speedy backs, which ended with James Davies crashing over wide out for a very quick 5-0 lead. The visitors were obviously shaken by this early setback, so much so that the restart failed to go the necessary 10 metres. The resulting scrum on the halfway line presented Adam Ball with the opportunity to show his paces, as he cleanly gathered the ball from the base of the scrum and outpaced the entire Quins defence to score under the posts. He successfully added the extras to take the score out to 12-0, and with barely five minutes played, the visitors had to come to terms with the fact that they were in for a very hard and fast game. To their credit, they pressurised the home side from the restart and were rewarded with a penalty, narrowing the lead to 12-3 and signalling a change for Tenby, with Lloyd Wilson replacing the injured Mike Coburn, who retired with a back injury. Stung by this reverse, Tenby went on the rampage, with quick ball from a lineout being capitalised on by lively scrum-half Rhys Thomas, who went over unopposed under the sticks and, with Adam Ball adding the extra two points, the home side had extended the lead to 19-3 and were coasting. To emphasise their dominance, John Feneck powered over in the corner and Ball showed his versatility by slotting the conversion from the touchline to stretch the lead to an impressive 26-3. Right on half-time, a move involving Luke Deadman, John Feneck, Paul Woods and Gareth Merriman released Adam Ball for his second try of the game and a 33-3 interval lead. The half-time talk obviously benefited the visitors, as a far more determined Quins XV started the second period well and tightened their defence, keeping Tenby at bay, but it was not long before the combined efforts of Rob Clarke, James Holsworth, Paul Woods, Rob Tuttle and big Ieuan Rowell took control of both scrum and lineout, enabling Steve Handicott to kick the home side into a good attacking position deep in the Quins half. A neat chip through was gathered skilfully by Dan Colley, who in turn released Luke Deadman, who galloped over for the sixth try of the match, with the conversion sliding the score out to 40-3 and the game well won. Ringing the changes, team manager John Handicott replaced John Feneck, Rob Clarke, James Holsworth with Jonathan Lewis, Paul Dalling and Jamie Marden and the introduction of 'fresh legs' immediately paid dividends, with Dan Colley next across the try line. The Quins were rewarded for their endeavour with an unconverted try in the corner as Tenby entered the final quarter of the match leading 45-8. Jamie Robbins replaced the influential Rhys Thomas at scrum-half as Tenby attempted to end the game on a high by adding to their already sizeable lead and it was the very impressive Adam Ball who scampered over for his third try of the night, to be quickly followed, by what turned out to be the final score of the evening, as Dan Colley broke through the visitors' stretched defence to take the score to 55-8. Manager John Handicott and his supporting coaches were well pleased with the overall performance of the young Tenby side, where one or two of the younger members of the squad took full advantage of getting some game time in this Under 18 competition. Tomorrow (Saturday) sees the full squad travel the short distance to Whitland RFC for a very testing encounter against a side playing in a higher league. Squad: Jamie Marden, Rob Clarke, Ieuan Rowell, Luke Deadman, Tom James, Rob Tuttle, Steve Handicott, Rhys Thomas, Gareth Merriman, Dan Colley, Jonathan Lewis, Nathan Allright, Mike Coburn, Paul Woods, James Holsworth, Adam Ball, John Feneck, James Davies, Paul Dalling, Jamie Robbins, Rob Whitfield and Lloyd Wilson.