With two sides sitting at the foot of the league table and desperate for their first win of the season, the game at Hendy last Saturday could have been a very tough and dour match.

As it turned out, it was a game where both sides tried to run the ball on every occasion and defences were stretched trying to prevent tries.

Receiving the kick-off, Tenby tested the home defence immediately as they very quickly gained the upper hand through a series of driving surges deep into the heart of the Hendy defence, led by the impressive Justin Richards.

From one such move, Hendy were forced to concede a penalty for a deliberate knock-on and recent newcomer from Haverfordwest, Owen Thomas, was successful with his initial attempt and a deserved 3-0 lead.

Despite having a penalty attempt which went wide, Hendy were forced onto the back foot as Tenby attempted to capitalise on their excellent start and from an attacking scrum the visitors set-up a maul, drawing in the Hendy players to expose a gap which allowed scrum-half Will Crockford the room he needed. Breaking wide, he fed the supporting Justin Richards, who continued the move, neatly linking with centre Jimmy Davies, who in turn found the ever-present Sion Brace on his shoulder to finish off the move by rounding the Hendy centre and wing to score an excellent team try wide out.

To maintain the momentum, Thomas converted with a magnificent effort from the touchline.

The home side were stung into action by this reverse and this time it was the Tenby defence that was severely tested, and a flowing move that involved their entire back division resulted in the scrum-half forcing his way across the line for an unconverted try.

Needing to grasp back the initiative, Tenby attacked straight from the restart and the home side were forced to give away a penalty for offside and Thomas was successful with the kick at goal to give a 13-5 interval lead.

Over-eagerness to add to their lead by Tenby dominated the initial period of the second half, as several chances went begging as the final pass was dropped or knocked-on, but at least they were creating the openings with quick inter-passing and good support - a massive improvement on last week's performance in this respect.

The home side rarely threatened the Tenby line as the defence stood firm and even when they managed to cross the line, they failed to ground the ball.

The hard-working Justin Richards was replaced by Sam Smith, who was just as much trouble to the home side as Richards had been. He very quickly became actively involved, putting in some storming charges and setting-up several attacking opportunities.

From one such ruck, set-up by the supporting forwards, centre 'Chunk' James broke through and linked with the impressive Stuart Tyrie, who dragged in the remaining defence to slip the ball to the supporting Owen Thomas, who went over for an excellent try.

The conversion was unsuccessful, but with a commanding 18-5 lead, the visitors saw out the remainder of the game and earned a well deserved three league points to take them from the foot of the table.

The coaching staff and players can be well pleased with the overall performance in terms of both attack and defence, as well as the discipline shown over the 80 minutes, with no yellow cards brandished by referee Harris.

Training during the week will attempt to build on this momentum as next Saturday, Tenby United entertain high-flying Llanelli Wanderers at Heywood Lane, who last weekend beat visitors Llangefni to inflict the first league defeat on the North Walians.

Tenby fielded: L. Rose (Tenby Auto Centre Car Sales), B. Wolverson (W3designs Affordable Web Design), R. James (Anne and Jeremy Rossiter, of Londis Stores, Manorbier), J. Davies (N. D. Toye and Partners Ltd), O. Thomas (Tenby Glass), S. Brace (Rossiter Funeral Directors, of Tenby), W. Crockford (J. Newell) - (Pam Pam Restaurant Tenby), J. Lane (M. Badham) - (Lewis and Lewis and Co. Solicitors), M. Lewis (John Boot, of Lydstep), S. Payne (The Bay Tree Restaurant), J. Richards (S. Smith) - (Alan Jones), G. Edwards (Rumbleway Caravan Park), A. Griffiths (Gavin and Dudley Scotcher, Capital Roasters Coffee Company), S. Tyrie (Mike Brace Home Maintenance Service), S. James (Neil Finlay Cars Sales).