Tenby UNITED 53 pts

St David's 12

Coastal Cottages sponsored Tenby United 1st XV welcomed St. David's to Heywood Lane on Wednesday evening for their much-anticipated Pembrokeshire Knock Out Cup clash.

Following the stormy weather that hit the area earlier in the day, there was doubt as to whether the game would go ahead, but after a 4.30 pm pitch inspection, the reliable Heywood Lane pitch didn't disappoint and as the match started, was in its normal excellent contition.

The Tenby side were going to settle for nothing less than a win and this was apparent right from the whistle as they stormed into the visitors' half and put punishing pressure on their catcher and forced the turnover straight away. Energetic scrum-half Jason Scarfe was able to use the quick ruck ball to his advantage and went on a sniping run, before linking with big Tongan lock Mosese Makasini, who took the crash ball and made great yards into the Saints' 22.

He was held up by two or three tacklers, but was still able to get the ball away to open-side flanker Luke Dedman, who outpaced the remaining defenders to score the try right on three minutes. The conversion attempt narrowly went wide.

From the restart, it was the home side who again mounted attack after attack, with impressive running from both Simon Stanford and nippy centre Tom Taylor, with superb field kicking from Lloyd Thomas at outside-half.

The Seasiders' next score wasn't long in the making as number eight Justin Richards picked up from a ruck and smashed over from five yards out. Again the breeze made the conversion avoid the centre of the sticks.

By now, just 12 minutes in, United were firmly in the driving seat and were looking like they were enjoying the game and, apart from a few handling errors, were playing some good rugby.

St. David's managed to gain possession in the Tenby 22 as they were awarded a penalty for an offside. However, they were also being hounded by the wind as their attempt at goal went wide.

From the drop-out, Lloyd Thomas put a perfectly weighted kick up the touchline deep into the visitors' 22 and strong follow-up running by blind-side Andrew Cooke and fullback Sion Brace gave the lonely defender only one option to run the ball into touch.

Dedman claimed the lineout ball and dropped it into the hands of Scarfe, who set the backs running and it went through the hands as far as centre Dan Colley until an unlikely suspect jogged up alongside him to take the ball on in the form of the auburn handlebar moustached prop forward Rob Clarke, who danced around two defenders and went over for a well-worked try right under the posts. Thomas added the extra two points, bringing the Seasiders lead up to 1- nil.

The next score came no more than a minute later when Thomas's kick was well chased by Stanford, who found himself in a miss-match against the whole Saints front row, who were still on the line from the last try. He won the tussle and went through the prop's legs to go over for a well-deserved solo effort right out in the corner.

The next try was scored by the visitors, who were showing great spirit in not letting their heads drop, despite being 22 points to nil down. After a well-worked move off a scrum, they were able to cross for a touchdown, which went unconverted.

Next to cross the line was Thomas after Dedman stole the Saints throw at the lineout and a thundering drive by the Tenby pack, led by skipper Guymer, edged them close enough for the backs to launch another attack, but not without the help of prop Geoffrey Martin, who popped up unannounced and selflessly gave the ball to Colley, who floated the ball to Thomas and he cantered in for the try. Davies slotted the conversion.

One more score before half-time came from Stanford, once again following a trademark bullocking run by Makasini, who hit a huge hole in the defence before offloading to Thomas, who made yards and then sent the flying winger in for his second score.

Davies was again successful and his conversion brought the half to a close, with Tenby comfortable leaders by 36 points to five.

Tactical half-time changes by coaches Katalau and Pie saw a well played Justin Richards make way for Ashley Bonser, Martin off for Jonny Palmer and new signing James Criddle on for the two-try scoring Stanford.

Bonser was straight into the thick of it, smashing the St. Davids catcher back with his tackle at the re-start, giving the visitors an ever-growing mountain to climb to get back out of their half.

Continued United pressure and strong defensive tackling from Guymer, Bonser, Brace, Cooke and Colley meant that the visitors couldn't get any form of platform off which to play.

One such Guymer tackle caused the turnover and Scarfe got the ball to Thomas, who put a well-weighted chip over the would-be defender for Taylor to chase, and some fancy footwork and patient dribbling from the centre meant he went in for a well-deserved try which went unconverted.

The Seasiders were straight back into their opponents' half as Wyndham Williams, who had run well all game, broke through two tackles before giving the ball to Makasini to carry forward; he popped it out to Bonser, who drew the tackler in and passed to Williams, who crashed in for a try, which was duly converted by Davies.

With 20 minutes remaining, Tenby brought on the rest of their bench in the form of Dylan Grifin for Makasini, Spencer Rourke for Davies, Tom Richards for Lloyd Thomas and prop Palmer making way for the same prop he replaced at half-time, Martin, due to a 'blood' injury.

Tenby seemed to ease off the gas for five minutes and in that time the visitors were able to score their second try, which was converted with little problem.

It wasn't to be St David's who had the last word, however, because after strong running from Martin and Griffin, who set the back line running, guess who popped up again in midfield? Hint... handlebar moustache!

Clarke plucked the ball out of the air and by now the ball had gone from one touchline to the other and back again and captain Guymer went over for a very well-deserved but unconverted try, bringing the game to an end with the Seasiders running out comfortable winners by 53 points to 12.

Tenby took plenty of positives out of the game and most importantly that much needed win after a one point defeat and a draw in their last two league games.

It is back to league duty (tomorrow) Saturday as Tenby entertain Pontyberem at Heywood Lane with kick-off at 2.30 pm.

Tenby side: Sion Brace, Simon Stanford (James Criddle), Dan Colley, Tom Taylor, Jimmy Davies (Spencer Rourke), Lloyd Thomas (Tom Richards), Jason Scarfe, Justin Richards (Ashley Bonser), Andrew Cooke, Luke Dedman, Mosesi Makasini (Dylan Grifin), Wyndham Williams, Geoffrey Martin (Jonny Palmer), Nicky Guymer (Captain), Robert Clarke.