TENBY UNITED nil
BRITISH STEEL 71
After apparently turning the corner following their victory over Birchgrove the previous weekend, Tenby United found that it led only to a brick (or should it be steel?) wall at Heywood Lane on Saturday when they suffered one of their heaviest defeats since joining the National League set-up, a 71 points to nil drubbing at the hands of British Steel.
Mid-table in National League division three (west), British Steel handed the Seasiders a short, sharp lesson in how to combine a hard, driving pack with a free-flowing threequarter line, running in 11 tries without reply.
The Saints completely dominated up front, controlling the set-pieces and disrupting in the loose, winning a plentiful supply of turnover ball to allow their pacy midfield to run off at angles and keep the United defence under constant pressure.
Although they started confidently, probing British Steel's defences, Tenby found themselves on the back foot within the first 10 minutes, with the Saints grabbing two tries in quick succession.
Influential pivot, Gareth Lewis, grabbed the first from a tap penalty when he scythed through some rather lacklustre Tenby defence to touch down under the posts and then added the extras with the simplest of conversions.
The visitors pulled further ahead from the restart when straight-running centre Russell Evans was supplied quick ball and hared over from just inside his own half to touch down for an unconverted try.
With skipper Phil Davies and back row partners Adam Knight and John Stenner disrupting in the loose and driving at the Seasiders from the base, the Saints continually exposed holes in the United defence, sucking the Tenby cover in to leave them with plenty of options out wide.
Centres Evans and Jason Lownes proved a penetrative partnership, breaking through the first Tenby line of defence virtually at will, while wings Alan Lloyd and Graham Barnet provided plenty of pace down the line.
British Steel edged further in front when tight driving play from the pack created an overlap for lock Mervyn Meredith to cross and Lewis pouched the conversion.
Lewis was on hand to claim his second and the visitors' fourth when they took a close range scrum against the head, the stand-off darting over under the posts to give him another simple conversion.
Trailing by 26 points in as many minutes, Tenby refused to give up, with captain Nicky Allen and young back row partner Rob James to the fore, but poor support at the breakdown and the spoiling of the Steelmen, denied the Seasiders the momentum at the point of contact.
Another turnover in the loose allowed Barnet to run in the fifth try under the posts, which Lewis again converted.
Tenby lost the services of prop Gareth Noot on the half-hour.
Although Tenby stand-off Neil Powling tried to harness the wind at his back to gain field position, the Tenby lineout struggled to gain a workable platform and the Saints struck again when Evans benefited from quick ball, broke the first line of Tenby defence with a jinking run and sent Lloyd over under the posts.
Lewis added the extras and then was instrumental in the half's final score when he broke from his own half and sent a perfectly weighted chip ahead for skipper Davies to run onto and touch down.
The outside-half slotted over the conversion to put the visitors a virtually unassailable 47 points ahead at the interval.
During the break, the United replaced Paul Broaders with Peter James, Justin Richards with Chris Brace and Jonathan Dodd with Jason Rossiter.
Shortly after the restart, both packs were reduced to seven men, when each side had a prop yellow carded for an incident in the loose, but it failed to dent the Saints' confidence, flanker John Stenner grabbing a try off the back of a close range scrum to take the visitors over the 50-point mark.
Lewis converted, but was off target when Stenner picked up his second minutes later after Evans again sliced through the Tenby defence.
To their credit, the Seasiders refused to let their heads drop, with Gavin Brace, slotting in at scrum-half while Richard Rossiter covered the front row, probing at every opportunity.
However, sluggish support by the Seasiders at the breakdown continued to allow the Saints' mobile pack to steal possession in the tackle, allowing Lewis and half-back partner Nathan Smith to dictate the options and peg the United back in their own territory for much of the half.
The visitors edged further in front with a classy piece of threequarter handling which saw them draw the cover with a break on the open side before they switched possession blind for fullback Lyn Lloyd to cross in the corner.
Lewis missed with the conversion from wide out, but again made amends when he picked up his try hat-trick after selling a neat dummy on the Tenby 10-metre line before cutting back inside to touch down under the posts.
Lewis again added the extras.
Even though time was running out, Tenby refused to give up, wing Neil Truman seizing on loose ball to launch a promising attack, but the threequarter was tackled just inside the Saints' 22.
Truman came off badly in the contact, and, with the Tenby stalwart having to be carried from the field and the United having no back replacements left, referee Mr. Ken Bowen decided to call time on proceedings.
While it was a heavy defeat for the United, it was more a case of inexperience being the telling factor rather than commitment.
The Seasiders are still trying to rebuild following last season's mass exodus of playing staff and this is an unforgiving division.
Although they can do without morale-sapping defeats like this, they will, given time, find their feet and, with their next league game not scheduled until October 27, they have a bit of breathing space to iron out the flaws.
Tenby United fielded: Jonathan Dodd, Neil Truman, Dean Bowen, Gavin Brace, Rob Garland, Neil Powling, Richard Rossiter, Gareth Noot, Lee Tucker, Mark Badham, Matt Cammack, Paul Broaders, Justin Richards, Rob James, Nicky Allen (capt).