TENBY UNITED 60 pts

FALL BAY 5

Tenby United eased into the first round proper of the Principality Welsh Cup with a commanding 60 points to five victory over Fall Bay at Heywood Lane on Saturday.

Although on paper it would have seemed inevitable that the Division Four (west) Seasiders would easily overcome the Swansea District Leaguers, everyone knows that the Principality Cup is no respecter of reputations, and with the United's sporadic form of late, nothing was cut and dried.

However, Tenby stated their intentions from the outset, with an inventive back line working in tandem with their grafting pack to outscore their Gower-based opposition by nine tries to one.

Although the bulkier Fall Bay pack held their own in the scrums and won plenty of useful ball in the linesout through lock John Grove, Tenby out-performed them in the loose, with new back row trio of Nicky Roch, Anthony Griffiths and Andrew Dennis consistently pressurising the gain line from the base.

Fall Bay's inability to find touch when in possession also proved instrumental in their undoing, with United fullback Sion Brace relishing every opportunity to launch jinking attacks from deep, while the visitors' defence had little answer to the slick interpassing of the Seasiders' back line.

Although its undoubtedly early days in the season, their was plenty of promise from the United, with a patient build-up and commitment reaping rewards.

Although they lost their momentum in the third quarter, a tendency to over-elaborate seeing the basics neglected, Tenby had already secured victory thanks to a commanding 34-0 interval lead, and the remainder of the game proved a useful workout for the team.

Tenby drew first blood following an early period of pressure, when outside-half Neil Powling slotted over a penalty.

Fall Bay counterpart Ivor Parry was off target with a similar strike at the other end during one of their rare incursions into Tenby territory, but they were soon on the backfoot again following some inventiveness from wing Kim Harland.

New Zealander Gene Hocking came close for Tenby when he muscled over from five yards out, but was unable to ground the ball.

The Seasiders were not to be denied, however, Griffiths breaking blind from the base of a close range scrum before moving the ball open to Powling who ghosted over near the posts to give himself the simplest of conversions.

Tenby lost the services of Craig Maxwell shortly after the restart when the wing came off badly in a tackle as he put pressure on his Fall Bay counterpart down the line. He was replaced by Darren Rees, who made an immediate impact when he took a feed from fullback Brace just inside the visitors' half, skirted his way around four would-be tacklers and ran in under the posts for Tenby's second try.

Powling added the extras to make up for a missed penalty earlier on, but was unsuccessful with another three-pointer minutes later.

The outside-half was on target from medium range to add the extras after Justin Richards netted a deserved try for his industry throughout, following good support play from a scrum.

Impressive flanker Dennis increased the home advantage further when he ran in a superb solo try from inside his own half, but Powling was unable to improve the scoreline from wide out.

Tenby continued to put the visitors under the cosh with a prolonged period of pressure which saw them recycle through numerous phases before Roch barged his way through to touch down.

Powling failed with the conversion to leave the United 34-0 in front at the break.

Shortly after the change around, Tenby replaced prop Paul Bevan with Scott Payne, while Gavin Nicholls and Paul Broaders came on for Roch and Richards, respectively.

However, the United seemed to lose their way slightly after the interval, with Fall Bay enjoying the opportunity to capitalise on a series of handing errors, wrong options and unforced errors to attack the Tenby line, but they were unable to breach the Red and Black defences.

Tenby hit back when Broaders made a break from loose against the run of play before slipping the ball to Powling who hared over from 30 metres and then nipped around behind the posts to give himself another simple conversion.

Fall Bay hit back with a well-worked try when good lineout ball from Grove allowed scrum-half Charlie Davies to get his line moving and Andrew Griffiths jinked his way through to touch down in the corner.

Parry was unable to add the extras from the touchline.

Both sides were reduced to 14 men going into the final phases when Hocking and his Fall Bay counterpart were involved in a little altercation, Hocking receiving his 10 minutes in the sin bin for retaliation.

The last 10 minutes saw virtually one-way traffic from the Seasiders, with Nicholls bulldozing over from a tap penalty to touch down under the posts and Powling converting.

Broaders got his name on the scoresheet virtually from the restart when he ran in an unconverted try from 15 metres following another quick tap penalty from the United, while Dennis capped an outstanding debut for the Seasiders with his second try when he seized on loose ball at a scrum and ghosted through under the posts from 25 metres.

Powling added the extras with the last kick of the game.

It was a solid start for the Seasiders with a good all-round team performance which can only bode well when they kick-off their league campaign tomorrow (Saturday) when they welcome Ystalyfera to Heywood Lane.

Tenby United fielded: Sion Brace, Craig Maxwell, Carl Broaders, Gavin Brace, Kim Harland, Neil Powling, Oliver Brace, Lee Tucker, Richard Rossiter (capt), Paul Bevan, Gene Hocking, Justin Richards, Nicky Roch, Anthony Griffiths, Andrew Dennis.