Both sides were very keen to maintain a winning streak, with the visitors chasing their fifth consecutive win, while Tenby were attempting to chalk-up their seventh consecutive victory, a sequence that has seen them rise to a very respectable second place in the league.
Kicking off with the wind in their favour, Tenby were very aware that the blustery conditions would make for a very difficult game and that extra effort to seize on all and any scoring opportunities would be required while they had the wind in their favour in the first half.
These intentions were brought home to the sizable crowd, swelled by a large contingent of vocal Neyland supporters gathered on the far touchline, when fly-half Tom Lewis fired an attempted drop goal to the left of the posts with the game only two minutes in.
Gaining the ball from the restart, Lewis put in a high up-and-under to test the visiting fullback, only for the following attack to be stifled, but not before referee John Griffiths had spotted a Neyland player offside and awarded a penalty.
Surprisingly, the usually reliable Tom Lewis fired his attempt wide of the mark and, within minutes, had scorned the second opportunity to get his side on the scoreboard when a penalty, awarded for not rolling away following a tackle, sailed wide of the target. It was now obvious the gusty conditions would take its toll in terms of penalty opportunities. Tenby continued to take the game to the visitors and following a sweeping attacking move, emanating from a superb high catch from a speculative high up-and-under that got caught in the wind, Alex Jenkins, with his fellow forwards in support, allowed Rhys Thomas to feed quick ball out to Lewis, who skilfully chipped the ball over the on-rushing defence for fullback Tom Dennis to kick through and win the chase for the touchdown. This time, judging the wind to perfection, Lewis added the extra two points for a deserved 7-0 lead.
A sloppy restart resulted in the ball being kicked direct to a Tenby player in midfield and again it was Alex Jenkins who slipped the ball to Tom Lewis, who boomed out a huge touch-finder to within 10 metres of the Neyland line. One move later, it was 10-0 as Lewis pivoted and fired over a neat drop goal, well, referee Griffiths deemed it good, and with a wry grin on his face Lewis trotted back for the restart.
Stung by this latest reverse, Neyland started to turn their possession into worthwhile moves, but their insistence on trying to simply crash through opposing players in the centre of the field had limited advantage, as the well organised Tenby defence held firm, with a supporting player putting in the telling tackle.
Ironically, it was from one such Neyland attack that the next score came, as a dropped ball deep in the Tenby half was hacked through, with Neyland just about recovering in time to scamper the ball into touch.
The resulting throw was well secured by Nicky Allen, around who the driving maul was started, and Neyland offended as they tried to stop the drive by coming in from the side. The penalty success by Lewis took the score out to 13-0, with Tenby now threatening to take complete command of the game.
It spoke volumes for the determination of the visitors as they slowly clawed their way back into it with some lung-bursting runs by both wings, exploiting the lack of real experience on both Tenby flanks. It took some heroic tackling and defending to stop Neyland from troubling the scorers.
For a change, the usually rampant Sam Smith was having a quiet game, but that soon changed when within a very short passage of play he put two bursts in to alert the visitors to the threat he could be.
From a steal at the back of the lineout, he thundered into the centre of the field, only for a delayed offload bringing the move to a standstill, but the recycled ball found its way magically back to Smith, whose floated pass out to the unmarked Harry Bolton drifted on the wind and ended-up in touch.
Smith was straight back into the action when, along with back row colleague Wyndham Williams, they created an opportunity for Lewis to try another drop at goal, which wickedly skewed wide and was correctly deemed unsuccessful.
The pressure was building as Tenby were keen to add to their tally and a superb set play resulted in Arthur M-M strolling over the try line, only to find that the score had been disallowed by referee Griffiths as he had been caught-up in the move leading to the 'try' and was bowled over by the on- rushing Sam Smith. Correctly, he could not award what he did not see, and the game was restarted with an attacking scrum.
Not to be thwarted, Tenby maintained the pressure and a bad penalty miss by Lewis was atoned for when an all-engulfing tackle by Harry Bolton stopped Neyland from breaking away, and from a ball dropped by the visitors' fly-half, the alert Rhys Thomas scooped up the ball, drew the last defender and Lewis strolled over for a try that brought the half to a close with Tenby leading 18-0.
Surprisingly, it was Tenby who mounted the first attack of the second half, with Lewis testing the strength of the wind by firing a raking touch-finder that took play deep into the visitors' half. Offside during a passage of play that took the game back into the Tenby half gave Mark Riley the first opportunity to see what he could make of the gusty conditions and, like Lewis before him, he found the distance and the conditions against him as the ball drifted wide of the uprights.
From yet another Alex Jenkins steal, this time on the ground and not at a lineout, scrum-half Rhys Thomas chipped the ball down the nearside touchline, forcing the fullback to side-foot the ball into touch. Pulling down at the lineout gave Lewis an opportunity to add to the score, but his attempt sailed wide.
Neyland were beginning to become a more dominant force as the half progressed and it took a superb tackle by wing Harry Bolton, assisted by flanker Emyr Hughes, to prevent a two-man overlap being exploited to the full.
Coach Davies obviously needed some fresh legs at this point and Mark Stevens replaced Arthur M-M, a move that paid dividends within minutes, when the lively Rhys Thomas was adjudged to have been late tackled as he chased his kick over the defence and Lewis stepped-up and judged the wind to perfection to fire over the penalty awarded, taking Tenby out to a commanding 21-0 lead.
The Neyland left wing was starting to threaten the rather disorganised Tenby defence and in one mazy run left three would-be tacklers floundering as he weaved his way towards the Tenby line, with the threat coming to a rather fortunate end as the result of a forward pass.
The Tenby defence was now under pressure and the latest run by the wing was the wake-up call they needed to regroup as Neyland mounted several attacks hell-bent on crossing the Tenby try line. Switching play from side to side, Neyland tested the home defence to breaking point, and that point came after Mark Stevens was pinged for illegally stopping the ball from being won after the tackle, being sent by referee Griffiths to the bin for 10 minutes - less than 60 seconds later, Neyland made their extra player count as they managed to break the resolute Tenby defence and close the scores to 21-5.
With his side under the cosh, coach Davies brought on his two remaining substitutes, with Ed Ayres being replaced by Nick Griffiths and the equally hard-working Wyndham Williams being replaced by Richard Rossiter.
One or two sorties into the Neyland half brought some respite for the home defence, but in the final minutes of the game it was back at the Tenby end of the field, with the visitors again trying to add to their five points. This they did with a series of concerted attacks, which eventually led to an overlap being exploited as the wing slid over wide out.
With Stevens back on, and Tenby back to full complement, it was the home side that finished the game on the attack, with Lewis firing another drop goal attempt wide of the target.
The game was well won by Tenby, albeit with a lead of 21-0 whittled down to 21-10 at the whistle, but with Lewis missing five penalties (all from distances well within his capabilities), the victory might seem a tad hollow. But any victory that takes an unbeaten run to seven and puts a halt to the opposition from gaining their fifth on the trot has its merits.
The day was made even more pleasing when, back at the club, it was discovered that both Llandeilo and Cardigan, teams fighting with Tenby for second place in the league, both lost. A warning, however, was contained in one of the results, with lowly- placed Milford turning over second-placed Llandeilo - as Tenby play Milford, away, tomorrow. Tenby fielded: Tom Dennis, Harry Bolton, Gavin Brace (capt.), Arthur M-M (Mark Stevens), Will Crockford, Tom Lewis, Rhys Thomas, Mark Brace, Mike Lewis, Ed Ayres (Nick Griffiths), Nicky Allen (Chase Hann), Alex Jenkins, Emyr Hughes, Sam Smith, Wyndham Williams (Richard Rossiter).