Tenby United 2nd XV played host to rivals Narberth 2nds at the Clicketts ground in a crucial Worthington Cream Flow League match last Saturday. With Narberth tipped as the league's strongest challengers, Tenby viewed this game as a must win if they were to have a chance of the silverware this season. Tenby, wearing their new playing shirts sponsored by the Lamb Inn, kicked off and were immediately penalised as Mark Brace was guilty of a little over- eagerness and tackled a would-be receiver before he had secured the ball. This allowed Narberth to kick up field and set up early field position deep in Tenby territory. Good work by Chris 'Niffy' Brace, Nicky Allen and Justin Richards quickly stopped Narberth gaining any further ground, however, and saw Tenby work the ball deep into the visitors' half and win a penalty at the ruck for Narberth hands coming in illegally. Tenby used this penalty to gain a good attacking lineout on the Narberth 22, from which Tom James secured good clean ball, which was fed out to the threequarters by scrum-half Dylan Lawrence. Fullback Richard Rossiter entered the line at pace and tried to crash his way through in midfield on the 22. As the move continued, Narberth were penalised for offside at the ruck and this gave Delwyn Brace the chance to open the scoring with a very strange looking penalty attempt, 3-0. After the restart, Nicky Allen showed good awareness and looked hungry for the ball after a fine kick ahead from the base of the scrum. His fine effort resulted in a scrum on the Narberth 10-metre line, from which outside-half Del Brace linked well with centre Neil Truman, looping round to feed winger Nicky Rees, who kicked ahead to touch five metres out. Despite this good work, Narberth were able to secure clean lineout ball and clear the danger back up field. Excellent work by the likes of Simon Griffiths, Mark Brace, Jeff Martin and Chris Brace in the tight, ensured that Tenby's back row of Nicky Allen, Justin Richards and Lewis Merrony had plenty of ball to work with and in turn they supplied their backline with a strong platform from which to attack. Despite Tenby's increasing amount of possession and territory, they were unable to increase their narrow lead, with many wrong options being taken behind the scrum and over-complicated moves at the wrong time conspiring to halt any further progress. As the first half progressed, Narberth were able to work the ball back up into the Tenby half and this pressure soon told as the United lost the services of hard-working back row man Justin Richards to the sin-bin after the referee had adjudged him to have made one infringement too many at the breakdown. He was joined two minutes later by his opposite number as the referee showed that he was nothing but consistent in his use of the card and he sent the Narberth man to join Justin for a 10-minute breather. Again Tenby got the upper hand in the tight exchanges, with excellent effort being shown by Jeff Martin, Nicky Rees and Simon Rossiter. Tenby then lost the services of their alert scrum- half Dylan Lawrence to injury, which saw a reshuffle, with Richard Rossiter moving from fullback to scrum-half, Mark Wooles from wing to fullback, Lewis Merrony from flanker to wing and the veteran Mike Evans coming on in the back row. Evans was soon in the thick of the action and he put in a very useful kick ahead from the base of a scrum, a move that brought a quote from the spectating Darren Griffiths that "form is only temporary, class lasts forever!" Tenby's pack became more and more dominant as the half progressed and they were now putting the Narberth eight under considerable pressure at both scrum and lineout. Despite this dominance, Narberth were still able to work their way up field as Tenby continued with some excellent tackling in midfield by the likes of Neil Truman and his centre partner Simon Rossiter. Tenby's defence was dogged and, although they kept the Narberth attack at bay, they did concede a penalty at a ruck in front of the sticks, but fortunately for the Seasiders, the visiting kicker was unable to convert this and the home lead stood firm going into half-time. Narberth lost the services of one of their front row men at half-time and this meant that the scrums in the second period were uncontested. This was not a welcome prospect for the home team, as they had worked hard to gain superioty at the scrum during the first half. This meant that the lineout took on even greater importance in the second half and was where Tenby looked to gain their advantage. Despite losing their advantage in the scrum, Tenby continued to win good ball in other areas and they began to pressurise the visitors on their own 22, with the referee again going to his yellow card, this time to sin-bin the Narberth number eight for repeated infringements. Tenby now started to run the ball through their backline which saw it move swiftly through the hands of skipper Delwyn Brace, Simon Rossiter, and Neil Truman to winger Lewis Merrony, who was tackled well into touch by his opposite number on the Narberth 22-metre line. From the lineout, the pack set up a rolling maul and headed towards the Narberth try-line, but as they crossed, the referee adjudged the ball carrier to have run into one of his team-mates and the try was disallowed. From the scrum, Tenby again drove for the line, but were held up going over. Nevertheless, they kept the pressure on by gaining a five-metre scrum. With the scrum being uncontestable and therefore driving the opposition pack over their own line not allowed, Tenby relied on their experienced back row of Evans, Allen and Richards to perform a move and set up a maul to drive to the line once more. Despite the ball clearly being grounded, the referee was unsighted and claimed it had been held up. With comments made by the Tenby bench, the referee awarded Narberth a penalty, which relieved the pressure and ended the home side's long period of dominance. Further indiscipline saw Narberth work the ball deep into Tenby territory and they now seemed to be having a little better of the action and threatened to cross Tenby's line. Tenby lost the services of Delwyn Brace, who was required by the 1sts due to injuries in their side, and this saw Neil Truman switch to outside-half, Nicky Allen move to centre and Peter James come on in the pack. The game seemed to be going from end to end now, with both teams making breaks and gaining ground into each other's half. It also saw mistakes from both teams, with any advantage each had gained being nullified by the other. It was Tenby, however, who seemed to gain the upper hand again going into the final quarter of the match after a penalty was kicked to touch five metres out and a well-taken lineout was driven over the line, only for it to again be held up by the gritty Narberth pack. From the scrum-five, first Simon Griffiths and then Justin Richards tried to drive over from close range, but both failed, before a knock-on once again allowed Narberth to clear. Tenby now replaced Lewis Merrony with Aled Williams and Ben Cray replaced the hard-working Jeff Martin. Both replacements worked hard in the loose to gain further advantage, but it was Narberth who managed to gain this advantage quicker and a good break by their number 10 in midfield saw him cruising towards the line, with only a try-saving tackle by veteran centre Neil Truman stopping a certain score. Narberth continued to pressurise the Tenby line, but fine defence from the likes of Neil Truman, Simon and Richard Rossiter, Mike Evans, Justin Richards and Simon Griffiths ensured this did not happen. Steve 'second team pin-up' Sharma now replaced Justin Richards in the back row and he immediately made his presence felt at the tackle and ruck situations. His work in winning the ball enabled the Tenby backs to attack once again, only for winger Mark Wooles to be tackled into touch on the 22. Chris 'Niffy' Brace rose like a leaping gazelle at the lineout and claimed excellent possessio,n which was again driven forward by the rest of his pack. Narberth continued to pose a threat right up until the final whistle and with the score poised at 3-0 for over an hour of play, many in the crowd were praying for the final whistle. Tenby managed to hang on for the all-important win and, although perhaps it should have been by a bigger margin, any win over old rivals Narberth is a good win, no matter what the score on the board. Before the match, Tenby 2nds were presented with a set of training jackets sponsored by Four Seasons, of Tenby, and Acorn Garden Services. Along with the playing shirts sponsored by the Lamb Inn, this kind of sponsorship is greatly appreciated, and Faddy and the boys would like to extend their thanks to the sponsors and hope that their support continues in the future. Tenby fielded: Richard Rossiter, Mark Wooles, Simon Rossiter, Neil Truman, Nicky Rees, Delwyn Brace, Dylan Lawrence, Mark Brace, Simon Griffiths, Jeff Martin, Chris Brace, Tom James, Nicky Allen, Justin Richards, Lewis Merrony. Subs: Mike Evans, Steve Sharma, Aled Williams, Ben Cray, Peter James.
