At a breezy Neyland on Saturday, Chevron sponsored Tenby United got this Division Four West game off to a bright start, with fullback Jimmy Davies and centre Mark Heywood putting in a couple of strong early runs which tested the strength of the All Blacks' defence.
Following suit, it was next the turn of forwards Ifan 'Box' Davies and number eight Sam Smith to trouble the stretched home defence and, setting-up an attacking ruck, winger Will Crockford was unlucky to see the ball bounce wickedly away from him as he chased a neat chip through by Tom 'Turbo' Lewis. A swift combined attacking move involving Arthur M-M, Will Crockford, Turbo and Mark Heywood released centre Arthur M-M, who was shunted into touch as he went for the line, but despite all the threatening attacking moves, it was the home side who had the first real scoring opportunity, only for outside-half Paul Murray to pull his penalty attempt well wide of the uprights.
Tenby stuck to their attacking policy and next it was Rhys Thomas and prop Lee Tucker who neatly combined to put Davies through, but a fine defensive tackle stopped the move. Over-eagerness in the resulting scrum by a Neyland forward, however, gave Turbo the opportunity to open the scores for Tenby with a well-judged shot at goal. Centre Mark Heywood was providing the home defence with plenty of problems, as twice within the space of a couple of minutes he sliced through, linking with wing Will Crockford on the first occasion, only for the speedster to be bundled into touch. His second sortie gave forwards Lee Tucker and Sam Smith the opportunity to maintain the momentum, and diving into the ruck by a Neyland forward to prevent a quick release of the ball, gave Turbo his second opportunity to bisect the uprights, which he did despite the tricky cross-field breeze.
Number eight Smith initiated the next attack. Picking-up from the base of the scrum, he linked down the blind-side with Heywood and wing Gavin Brace, only for a knock-on to bring the attack to an abrupt end. The next scrum on the Tenby 22 was the cause of some concern to the visitors as the ball flew out of the base and a penalty given away by a desperate defender, presented Paul Murray with the opportunity to make amends for his earlier miss, but the young outside-half again blasted the ball way wide of the uprights. Will Crockford, Wyndham Williams, Mark Heywood and Nicky Guymer combined well down the left flank to give Crockford the opportunity to chip the ball over the last line of defence, only for a late tackle to floor the flying winger. Referee Shepperd issued some stern words to the offender and Turbo slotted his third penalty, despite the now swirling breeze.
Complacency seemed to set-in from the restart as no Tenby player fielded the average kick, allowing Neyland to secure an attacking position, which they turned to their advantage with a neat chip over the spread-eagled United defence, compounded as wing Crockford lost his footing when he went for the ball. The resulting ruck was won quickly by the advancing Neyland forwards and a speculative up- and-under bounced straight into the hands of wing Darren John, who crashed over under the posts. A successful conversion by Murray closed the score to 9-7, this despite the fact that the home side had only paid three visits to the Tenby 22 with 30 minutes of the first half played. Tenby maintained this air of complacency when fullback Davies, having done the hard bit by cleanly fielding a high ball and neatly stepping around the chasing home players, went into tunnel vision mode as he totally ignored supporting and unmarked players on his right and clattered into a Neyland defender.
The Tenby forwards injected a spark of life back into the game as a superb take and give off the top of the lineout by Gareth Edwards saw centre Mark Heywood combine with Gavin Brace to release rampaging forwards Wyndham Williams and Box Davies, and only a last-ditch tackle close to the Neyland line prevented the first try of the game. With the game drifting towards half-time, surprisingly, Neyland grabbed the lead as Murray banged over a penalty and coaches Davies and Katalau got the Tenby team together to issue a stern half-time talk. An injury to centre Arthur M-M, earlier in the half, forced changes at the restart, with Gavin Brace switching to centre, Dai Meyrick slotting in on the wing and to finalise the changes, coach Davies carried out a positional swap with wing Will Crockford and scrum-half Rhys Thomas changing positions.
Neyland got the second half off to an ideal start for Tenby as the ball sailed over the touchline from the off and their good luck continued when an infringement on the halfway line gave Turbo an opportunity to get them back into the lead. His superb effort just scraped the outside of the upright, however. The changes to personnel were unsettling the Tenby threes, and a mix-up between Brace and Meyrick nearly let the home side in for a score, but the ball was somehow scrambled away.
Spurred on by their supporters, the pressure was still being applied by the home XV and a silly tug of a jersey as a Neyland player was chasing a kick through by Turbo, gave Murray the opportunity to extend the lead, but his effort was nowhere near the posts. Tenby had slipped into silly 'miss pass move mode', when use of the nearest supporting player would have paid dividends as the swirling and freshening wind caused the ball to float wide of the intended player. The one time a short, sharp, slipped pass was used, released centre Heywood on a searing run which took him from 22 to 22, only for a knock-on to bring the move to a halt. Wyndham Williams, Lee Tucker and Crockford combined in a neat move which stretched the home defence, causing a defender to dive in over the top of a maul and Turbo slotted his fourth successful kick and restore a lead Tenby did not yield for the remainder of the game.
An all-engulfing tackle by Crockford on his opposite number Williams at the base of a retreating scrum, forced the next penalty and the challenge facing kicker Lewis was made easier as back-chat by the Neyland captain took the kick 10 metres on and so the score went out to 15-10. Fitness was now beginning to tell on the home XV as they struggled to maintain their shape and another quick ball from the lineout by Box Davies released number eight Sam Smith on a typical bullocking run from the Neyland 22. The defence simply melted away as Sam touched down and Tenby had now grasped control with the score a healthy 20-10. In an attempt to at least grab a losing bonus point, Neyland surprisingly went for a shot at goal with referee Shepperd awarding a penalty for offside, but Murray completed a miserable day with his kicking by pulling his attempt wide. The last effort to narrow the gap had an even more disastrous end when an attempt to spin the ball wide, deep in their own 22, saw Turbo slickly taking an interception and strolling over under the posts. His final kick extended the lead to 17 points and, despite not gaining any try bonus point, Tenby trooped off worthy winners, condemning Neyland to the bottom slot in the league. With a break in league action until November 3, when Tenby entertain Crymych at Heywood Lane, the team travel east tomorrow (Saturday) to face high-flying Division Two outfit Mumbles in the first round of the Konica Minolta Welsh Cup. Tenby fielded: Jimmy Davies, Will Crockford, Mark Heywood, Arthur M-M (Dai Meyrick), Gavin Brace, Tom Lewis, Rhys Thomas, Ben Cray (Johnny Lane), Nicky Guymer (Mike Lewis), Lee Tucker, Ifan Davies, Gareth Edwards Wyndham Williams, Robert James, capt. (Emori Katalau), Sam Smith.