Cefneithin 13 pts. Tenby United 36
With the previous week's defeat by Amman United well behind them, Coastal Cottages sponsored Tenby United travelled to Cefneithin on Saturday with the clear objective of getting their league programme back on track.
This goal was achieved, despite a rather curious, inconsistent and somewhat disjointed performance, not helped by a 45-minute break in the game as a combination of ambulance and air ambulance dealt with a serious injury to local player Andrew Cudd near the end of the first half.
Despite heavy overnight rain, the pitch at Cae Carwyn James was in good nick as Tenby kicked off into a swirling cross-field wind and went straight on the attack, with Sam Smith first to test the home defence with a typical charging run.
From the first penalty awarded by referee Peter Evans, returning scrum-half Richard Rossiter took a quick tap and go and crisp handling by the backs ended with fullback Dan Colley going over wide out. With Jimmy Davies adding the extras, Tenby had taken a 7-0 lead with barely two minutes on the clock.
The next five minutes were taken-up by the Cefneithin defence desperately trying to stem a series of attacks put together by Tenby, and their plight was not being helped by a totally dominant United pack shunting the home side's eight backwards at a great rate of knots at every scrum.
Their reward for this constant pressure eventually paid off when, in the seventh minute, from another quick tapped penalty, Toby Smith glided through the stretched defence and neatly slipped the ball to brother Sam, who scored under the posts.
With the extras added, Tenby were in full flight and their target of a win, plus try bonus point, was seen as a very achievable objective.
The incessant Tenby pressure was broken occasionally as the home side tried to mirror the visitors by putting together a series of swift ball transfer moves which floundered, as the final pass went astray or the solid line of red and black defenders stood firm.
Although their intent was to be applauded, Cefneithin simply didn't have the pace or guile to match what Tenby had achieved in the opening quarter, and from one of their sorties, a dropped ball was scooped up by Toby Smith who, from a slick show and go, outwitted what was left of the home defence to go over under the sticks.
With Davies again adding the extras, Tenby had established a healthy 21-0 lead.
Cefneithin were rewarded for their efforts when, from a tapped penalty, referee Evans deemed that Tenby centre Arthur M-M was not the obligatory 10 metres and in addition to the yellow card dished out, home captain Richard Watts got his side on the scoreboard with a well-struck penalty.
Spurning a chance to get the much-needed bonus point try, centre Gavin Brace ignored his supporting colleagues and was bundled into touch.
Tenby put together a series of forward charges, led by props John Palmer and Rob Clarke, but the home defence just about managed to prevent a score.
The lineout, which is usually a Tenby banker as a platform to launch from, was not functioning at all, with throws being mistimed or not straight, and the home side capitalised on this weakness as they either stole the throw-in or disrupted any attempts the United made to secure the ball.
From a tackle situation in midfield, home flanker Andrew Cudd was seriously injured and, following his departure for hospital, referee and captains agreed to call a premature end to the half and recommence the game with the home side kicking off for the second period.
After the extended break, it was the home side who got into their stride first, aided by some sloppy, uncharacteristic play by Tenby. Several miracle passes were attempted, when all that was needed was to take the ball to ground and win the breakdown situation, along with several mistimed passes in midfield, a situation not helped as Tenby also started to back-chat on some of the decisions given by referee Evans.
From a promising home attacking situation, however, it was Tenby who capitalised on a spilled ball by Cefneithin as Arthur M-M, Dan Colley, Simon Stanford, Sam Smith and Gavin Brace combined to send nippy winger Stanford over in the corner for the vital fourth bonus point try. With the conversion attempt just falling short, Tenby were now back in command at 26-3.
The Tenby try machine swiftly got back into action as Cefneithin were now pinned on their line, but it was a case of white line fever as first Toby Smith, to be quickly followed by hooker Terry John and finally Luke Dedman, all ignored better placed supporting players as they attempted to go for the five points.
To their credit, the home side held firm and eventually cleared their lines and it took a crunching tackle by in-form number eight Sam Smith to prevent a try-threatening situation at the other end of the field.
Sensing that something was needed, coach Emori Katalau rapidly wheeled out his replacements, with Lewis Davies replacing Rob Clark, Ilaisa Torau on for Luke Dedman and Tom Lewis replacing Arthur M-M. The final substitution resulted in Tom Lewis going into the outside-half slot, Toby Smith stepping back to fullback and Dan Colley stepping forward to play at centre.
Before this newly-shaped threequarter-line could settle in, the home side took advantage of the disruption, aided by a couple of weak and missed tackles, to send replacement Jason Matthews over in the corner, to narrow the scores to 26-8.
From the restart, Tenby put together a promising move, taking play deep into the home 22 and from a pick-up, number eight Sam Smith barrelled his way over. With the conversion striking the upright, Tenby had established a 31-8 lead and with time running out were happy with their day's work.
However, the home side were still hunting a score and from the restart, Ilaisa Torau was pinged by referee Evans for holding on, and from a quick tap and go penalty, the Cefneithin threes exploited the opportunity as they put together a series of quick passes that ended with fullback Leighton Rees going over wide out.
Not to be outdone at the death, Tenby squeezed the final score of the game as the deep restart kick resulted in a scrum, and from a strike against the head, number eight Sam Smith rounded off a splendid individual performance by picking up from the base and charging over for his third try. With the final kick of the game failing to add to the score, Tenby trotted off with a 36-13 win.
With leaders Amman United being surprisingly turned over at home by third placed Cardigan, Tenby surged to the top of the table, but in terms of the league and promotion possibilities, it is only half-time, with just 11 of the 22 league games completed.
Games in hand over the chasing clubs in third and fourth position, along with a healthy 10/11 point lead, will count for nothing if the winning streak dries-up, as clubs go in search of wins to either consolidate their league position or stave off relegation.
The league programme continues tomorrow (Saturday) with Neyland the visitors to Heywood Lane.
Tenby fielded: Dan Colley; Jimmy Davies, Gavin Brace, Arthur M-M (Tom Lewis), Simon Stanford; Toby Smith, Richard Rossiter; John Palmer, Terry John, Rob Clarke (Lewis Davies), Gareth Edwards, Wyndham Williams, Luke Dedman (Ilaisa Torau), Sam Smith, Nicky Guymer (capt).