TENBY UNITED 11 pts.
MUMBLES 11
Tenby United had to settle for just one point from this division four (west) clash with Mumbles at Heywood Lane on Saturday, with the visitors staging a late fight-back to sneak a hard-fought 11-all draw.
While disappointing for the United, who led 11-3 at one stage, they did ride their luck a little and were doubly fortunate that Mumbles stand-off Justin Price appeared to have forgotten his kicking boots, successfully landing just two out of seven penalty attempts as the Seasiders were regularly penalised for indiscipline and misdemeanours in the loose.
They also had to endure an intense period of pressure from the Gower based side in the closing stages of the second half, but were fortunate that, although Mumbles crossed their their line at the death, referee Mr. M. Keane, of Loughor, ruled that the ball had not been grounded.
Kicking off with a diagonal cross wind to the Heywood Mount corner and persistent drizzle, conditions were not ideal and the greasy ball caused problems for both sides, but to their credit, they both looked to play an open attacking game from the outset.
Locks Steve Bloan and Richard Lancaster provided a generous amount of platform ball for Mumbles at the linesout, with quick second phase allowing their inventive threequarter line to exploit the gaps behind the rather flat Tenby defence to put the pressure on.
However, while on the back foot, Tenby grafted their way back into the game, with all Mumbles having to show for their first quarter industry being one successful Price penalty out of three attempts at goal.
With a solid pack in front of him, Tenby scrum-half Dylan Lawrence was able to vary his options, and half-back partner Neil Powling worked the touchline well to keep the Seasiders going forward, but attempts to move the ball open or crash through midfield, were thwarted by poor ball retention in the contact.
Price missed another penalty, before Tenby lost the services of lock Ben Armstrong, sidelined by a leg injury.
He was replaced by Nicky Allen, with Tenby reshuffling the pack to bring Paul Broaders into the second row.
Allen was quickly in action making hard yards alongside Justin Richards, Andrew Dennis and Broaders, but the Seasiders could not find a chink in the Mumbles armour until Powling set the ground alight with a chip and chase.
The United were unable to capitalise at the breakdown, but netted a penalty, only for fullback Darren Rees to be off target with the place kick.
Finding they quite liked playing in the opposition half, the United came right back at Mumbles, Richards making ground from the base.
Quick second phase enabled Rees to cut inside and when the ball squirted free from the resultant ruck, centre Neil Truman - having an outstanding game both in defence and attack - was on hand to secure possession and feed Powling, who slotted over a neat drop goal to draw the homesters level.
Price missed two more penalties, one either side of the break, before some excellent combination play got the Seasiders moving again.
Good work by Dennis around the fringes of the lineout allowed possession to be fed out to Powling who threw out a long pass to Jonathan Dodd who looped around and split the Mumbles defence.
Dodd has been playing some of his best rugby in a Tenby shirt this season and it looked as if the winger would go it alone, but he drew the Mumbles cover expertly to feed young Mark Stevens who crossed in the corner.
Rees missed the conversion from wide out, but the Seasiders were firing on all cylinders, Richards again breaking the gain line.
Possession was recycled out to Truman who carved his way through with Stevens in support, but the young wing was less successful on this occasion, being held up just inside the five.
However, Mumbles had infringed in the contact, allowing Powling to increase Tenby's advantage with a well-struck penalty.
Trailing by eight points, Mumbles started to pile the pressure on, capitalising on their lineout dominance to work the blind-side option.
However, Tenby rose to the occasion with some tenacious tackling, especially from Truman, co-centre Anthony Griffiths, Allen, Stevens and lock Gene Hocking.
Kiwi Hocking was in particularly inspired form, covering acres of ground, while Rees, although slight of build, was a tower of strength in defence and a master of the quick counter.
Rees rescued the United when wing Andy Price tried to ghost through on the blind side, while the Seasiders were also fortunate to see Mumbles skipper James Richards fumble the ball as he crashed through from a close range scrum.
However, they could not keep Mumbles out forever, with wing Price getting his name on the score-sheet when he was again set free on the blind-side and bulldozed his way over.
Centre Richard Jones took over the kicking duties for Mumbles, but missed with the conversion from wide out.
With place kicking duties handed back, Price made no mistake with a penalty minutes later to put the teams back on terms.
He was less successful with another shortly afterwards, just prior to Tenby losing the services of hard-working skipper Richard Rossiter, who was replaced by Dafydd Lewis.
Again exploiting gaps behind the Tenby line, Mumbles threw caution to the wind in the closing stages, but were unable to break through the Tenby defence.
It did look as though they had snatched victory going into time added on when flanker Mark Todd crashed through, but Tenby managed to prevent him from grounding the ball, while in the last move of the game, number eight Alan James tried to sneak through on the blind-side from close range, but Stevens was alert and bundled him into touch.
Tomorrow (Saturday) Tenby travel to take on Kidwelly.
Tenby United fielded: Darren Rees, Jonathan Dodd, Neil Truman, Anthony Griffiths, Mark Stevens, Neil Powling, Dylan Lawrence, Dai Balkwill, Richard Rossiter (capt), Lee Tucker, Gene Hocking, Ben Armstrong, Paul Broaders, Andrew Dennis, Justin Richards.