Neyland 8 pts.
Tenby United 29
Coastal Cottages sponsored Tenby United travelled to the Athletic Ground at Neyland in confident mood, securely holding second place in the league, to face a home side contesting bottom place in the league with Pembroke Dock Quins.
Despite an excellent opening 30 minutes, for some reason they went off the boil and in the end, although coming away with the expected bonus point, will be worried by their poor ball handling skills and decision-making that let them down at critical times during the game.
Kicking-off, Neyland went straight into attack mode, roared on by their very enthusiastic supporters, but their exuberance was quickly quashed by some sound defensive work by Tenby, who turned defence into attack and stretched the home side with a series of superb moves where swift ball transfer and excellent backing-up by support players had their opponents reeling, and not knowing which way to turn.
Prominent in these initial attacks were Gavin Brace, Sam Smith, Lewis Davies and Gary Nock, with Dan Colley, Dai Meyrick, Gareth Edwards and Johnny Lane joining in as the attacks gained momentum.
Aided by some white line fever individual attempts, the home side defence managed to somehow stop Tenby from crossing the line and, despite these attacks, all the United came away with was a penalty stroked over by Jimmy Davies, which ironically was quickly cancelled out by a similar score for the home side, courtesy of Mark Riley.
Undeterred by this revers,e the Seasiders were quickly back into attack mode and a crisp handling movement, initiated by Sam Smith and Johnny Lane, released Dai Meyrick, who galloped over under the sticks. With Jimmy Davies adding the extras, the lead had gone out to 10-3, with the visitors at last getting a better return for their efforts.
Right from the restart, the deadly combination of Smith and Lane provided the platform for another attack, this time being supported by fellow forward Wyndham Williams, along with fly half Toby Smith and centres Arthur M-M and Gavin Brace, but the scrambling Neyland defence just managed to repel the onslaught.
The 'go-forward' was becoming the dominant feature of the game being played by Tenby and when Toby Smith set off on a mazy run that had Neyland reeling, it was carried on by his threes, who created an opening for burly Johnny Lane to crash over wide out to deservedly increase the United's lead to 15-3.
Tenby were now playing scintillating rugby and Neyland could simply not keep up with the constant series of attacks, involving both backs and forwards, and it came as no surprise when from a clean lineout catch executed by the impressive Gareth Edwards, young scrum-half Dan Thomas combined with Toby Smith to release backs coach Arthur M-M, who shrugged off the last-ditch attempt to prevent the score and strolled over under the posts.
With Jimmy Davies adding the extras, Tenby were now comfortably 22-3 up and keen to secure the all-important fourth try and the associated extra bonus point.
Despite initiating several more attacks before the break, Tenby over-elaborated some of their moves when all that was needed was swift ball transfer to a supporting player, a skill they had used to good effect to open-up the home defence for the initial 30 minutes or so.
The home side were also gaining confidence from this change of fortune, being aided by some sloppy defence by Tenby as holes started to appear in what had been a solid defensive threequarter line.
Emerging from the half-time huddle, Tenby needed to get their all-out attacking mode back into gear, with the forwards re-establishing the platform necessary for this to happen, as they went in search of the vital bonus point try, but this intent soon floundered. Again tackles were missed and Neyland were gaining confidence by the second, as worried faces of the Tenby players replaced the confident smiles and shouts that were present during the early phases of the game.
A missed penalty, by the usually reliably Mark Riley, was a let-off for Tenby, but this slice of luck was almost immediately followed by a double whammy with yellow card offences involving wing Jimmy Davies, who was followed on the 'walk of shame' by Gareth Edwards.
Ironically, being down to 13 men seemed to provide the impetus that was required by Tenby to add to their score, and from a superb long range touch find by Toby Smith, they set up a situation that young Toby capitalised on as he waltzed through the spread-eagled home defence for a try under the posts that he also converted, to extend the lead to 29-3.
With Tenby now back into gear, the dynamic duo of Smith and Lane, linking with young half-backs Dan Thomas and Toby Smith, set up a series of opportunities where their fellow forwards tested the home defence and strike runs by centres Arthur M-M and Gavin Brace, supported by Dan Colley and Dai Meyrick, stretched the tiring home defence to the full.
The tackling that was a concern earlier on in the half had also sharpened up as the 13 players on the park closed ranks and kept any attacks initiated by the home side in check.
With Davies and Edwards returning to the fray, the 13 men had not only kept a clean sheet, but had also scored the vital fourth try and should have increased the lead with a fifth, when from a dropped pass opportunity, scooped up by returning wing Jimmy Davies, he totally messed-up on a simple two-on-one situation and this golden opportunity went abegging.
Fresh legs were wheeled on, with Rob Tuttle replacing the hard-working Johnny Lane and Simon Stanford coming on for Arthur M-M.
As Tenby reshuffled to accommodate the newcomers, a couple of bad missed tackles allowed burly centre Adam Collins to crash over wide out to narrow the lead to 29-8.
Further changes, as the game drifted to a close, saw Rob Clarke on for Lewis Davies, who had put in a fine performance in the front row, while livewire back row forward Gareth Nock was replaced by Terry John.
Despite encouragement from the home crowd, and a couple of crucial decisions that went the way of the home side, Neyland had simply run out of steam with all the defensive tackling they had put in during the first half and they failed to conjure up the guile or have the speed to break through the Tenby defence and the game ended with referee Adrian Slade blowing for time.
Other results on Saturday have seen Neyland take over from Pembroke Dock as the bottom team in the league as Tenby consolidated their second spot, five points clear of chasing Cardigan, and five points behind leaders Amman United. With this somewhat patchy performance in mind, along with an excellent win by the Second XV against Laugharne, where several players put in promising performances, training and selection this week at Heywood Lane will be interesting as a team is selected for the home game tomorrow against a useful Aberaeron side, who were promoted at the end of last season along with Neyland.
Tenby fielded: Dan Colley; Dai Meyrick, Arthur M-M (Simon Stanford), Gavin Brace, Jimmy Davies; Toby Smith, Dan Thomas; Lewis Davies (Rob Clarke), Nicky Guymer (capt), John Palmer, Gareth Edwards, Johnny Lane (Rob Tuttle), Gareth Nock (Terry John), Wyndham Williams, Sam Smith.