On an afternoon that was obviously going to be dominated by the blustery conditions that prevailed at Heywood Lane, Chevron Texaco sponsored Tenby United, lying in third place in the division four west table, faced second-placed Llandeilo intent on narrowing the gap in terms of league points as well as being hell-bent on avenging a narrow defeat at Llandeilo earlier in the season.
Confidence was high, despite some strange positional moves forced on coach Kenny Davies by illness, injury and work commitments. Scrum-half Will Crockford took the field with number 11 on his back, the other wing was livewire flanker Harry Bolton, keen to get back to rugby following the birth of his son, and hooker Ed Ayres was packing down at prop.
A reasonable-sized crowd was present, despite the counter attraction of the televised Scarlets game, as Llandeilo kicked off with the blustery wind in their favour and within minutes had slipped into a 3-0 lead as Tenby were forced offside as they came up very quickly to stop a promising attacking move from gaining momentum.
With Alex Jenkins repeating the excellent form in the lineout he had shown against Llanybydder two weeks ago, Tenby started to capitalise on this as a source of steady possession, as fly-half Tom Lewis stroked the ball low into the wind and into touch, knowing that Jenkins, and fellow second row Nicky Allen would either steal the throw or disrupt the Llandeilo jumpers.
From one such ploy, Lewis skilfully slid the ball, with pinpoint accuracy, through the on-rushing defence, only to see fullback Dennis just fail to get the touchdown the move deserved.
Next to shine was Sam Smith, who took a high up and under superbly, to set-off on a rampaging run, with the eventual ruck ball being pinged deep into the Llandeilo half by the alert Lewis.
Both sides found the gusting wind a difficult obstacle to overcome and, although it obviously favoured Llandeilo in terms of high hanging up and unders, it occasionally took the ball way over the Tenby deadball line, with a scrum being awarded back at the point of the kick, so thought needed to be put into when this tactic was brought into the play.
Tenby, on the other hand, were restricted to bouts of short, sharp/quick ball transfer involving both forwards and backs, as any long looping passes were simply carrying on the wind and going behind the intended receiver.
One thing that both sides did efficiently was defend; the tackling was impressive as both sides tried to stop anything developing, with, for the home side, Wyndham Williams, Mark Brace, Mike Lewis, Gavin Brace, Nicky Allen and Ed Ayres showing the way.
Unfortunately, one such tackle, by Emyr Hughes, was harshly adjudged by referee Griffiths to involve holding onto the tackled players as the ruck formed, and from the resulting penalty Llandeilo extended their lead to 6-0.
The visitors had obviously done their homework on the attacking plays of Tenby and two or three players were gang-tackling the dangerous Sam Smith every time he threatened to burst through. He did, however, manage one pick-up from the base of the scrum and, although held, managed to slip the ball to the fleet-footed Will Crockford, who left his opposite number for dead as he skipped around him on the outside, only to eventually be bundled into touch by the covering defence.
As the half drew to a close, it was Llandeilo who were next to show some attacking flare and it took some brave defending from Harry Bolton and Tom Dennis to stop the visitors adding to their lead as referee Griffiths blew for half-time.
Restricting Llandeilo to a six-point margin was a situation coach Davies would have taken at the start of the match as he laid down the game plan for the second half, urging his side not to just relax and assume that because they had the wind in their favour it would be plain sailing; he stressed the need to concentrate and think how the gusty conditions could be turned into their advantage.
The advice was obviously taken on board as within five minutes Tenby had drawn level through the trusty boot of Tom Lewis. The first three points as a result of a penalty for holding in a ruck, the second a sweetly struck drop goal following some slick handling involving Sam Smith and the impressive Rhys Thomas as Tom Dennis was held-up just short of the line, having been put away by a move involving Lewis, Arthur M-M and Bolton.
Llandeilo were rocked by these quick reverses and with the crowd shouting the home side on, obviously expecting more of the same, it was the visitors who upped the pace and Tenby spent the next 20 minutes or so pinned deep in their half, unable to gain sufficient quick ball to drive the visitors back towards their line.
Somewhat against the run of play, however, a breakaway by the Tenby threes ended with alert winger Harry Bolton diving through the legs of his opposite number as he stood and waited for the rolling ball to go over the try line.
The failed conversion took the score to 11-6, but not to be outdone by this somewhat silly lapse in concentration, the visitors again took the game straight back at Tenby and a slick threequarter movement exploited a gap in the home defence, ending with the winger sliding over close to the corner and an 11-11 game.
A turning point in the game was a crunching tackle by Arthur M-M that stopped a promising attack dead in its tracks, which was followed by a lung- bursting run by number eight Sam Smith. The momentum was maintained as a charged down clearance kick ended with Will Crockford out- stripping the scampering visiting defence and diving on the ball as it rolled over the line.
The conversion by Lewis gave Tenby the cushion they needed and forced Llandeilo to go on all-out attack, with a try needed to salvage something from the game. The intent and need to score a try close to the posts was highlighted when their classy fullback ignored a two-man overlap on the outside to cut inside the sliding defence and go for the line under the posts, only for a try-saving tackle to be put in by Tom Dennis, with the attacker losing the ball in contact.
From the resulting scrum, it was left-footed Rhys Thomas who took advantage of the windy conditions by hoofing the ball up field and scampering after it. Although the chase ended with a penalty to the visitors, for diving-in on the resulting ruck, they fumbled as they tried to run out of defence and an infringement at the ensuing ruck gave Lewis the opportunity to extend the lead to 21-11, which was followed by the final whistle.
With two hard victories against the first and second-placed clubs in the league, Tenby have now positioned themselves to continue their push for promotion, but there are still some tricky games to come, and Kenny Davies and his fellow coaches will be focusing the players on tomorrow's (Saturday's) home game against local rivals Neyland, who will no doubt be keen to avenge the defeat they suffered against Tenby in the game earlier in the season and coming off a high-scoring home encounter with Hendy last Saturday.
Tenby fielded: Tom Dennis, Harry Bolton, Gavin Brace (capt.), Arthur M-M, Will Crockford, Tom Lewis, Rhys Thomas, Mark Brace, Mike Lewis, Ed Ayres, Nicky Allen, Alex Jenkins, Emyr Hughes, Sam Smith, Wyndham Williams.
Other results: Cardigan 8 Crymych 3; Llanybydder 47 Milford 3; New Dock Stars 16 Morriston 30; Neyland 55 Hendy 28; Pembroke 22 Burry Port 5.