Tenby United 18 pts. Hendy 13

As the teams warmed up at Heywood Lane, United lock Ifan 'Box' Davies, practising his scrum technique against the posts, got the shock of his life when the power of his shove caused the post he was pushing against to collapse. Try as they might, the Tenby committee and players could not rectify the damage, so the teams retired to The Clicketts for the encounter. The change of venue and the short walk down to The Clicketts seemed to effect Hendy far more that Tenby, as the home side got of to a cracking start with lock Davies, keen to atone for his embarrassing pre-match mishap, and skipper Rob 'Chunk' James leading by example, aggressively tearing into the heart of the Hendy defence with a series of rampaging runs.

The momentum was maintained by centre Alex Watts who made a superb outside break, only to see his offload go to ground and the move peter out. Keen to follow the example set by his fellow lock, Gareth Edwards skilfully trapped the ball soccer style and slipped the ball to Watts, who again broke through the stretched visitors' defence, with only an infringement preventing Dan Colley from continuing the move which gave Tom Lewis the first real scoring opportunity, which he duly accepted and Tenby slipped into an early comfortable 3-0 lead.

Colley and Lewis combined again straight from the restart and, although the move was stopped by a fine covering tackle by Hendy winger Toth, the momentum was maintained, with flanker Wyndham Williams stealing possession and releasing the straight-running Jimmy Davies. Good ground was made by Davies, and a well-timed pass to fellow centre Watts should have led to a try for Davies, but the inside pass was intercepted and the scoring opportunity wasted.

Not to be disheartened by this lost opportunity, Tenby mounted yet another threequarter move and this time Watts and impressive fullback Aled Griffiths did combine to send winger Tom Dennis galloping over in the corner. A fine touchline conversion by Tom Lewis stretched the lead to 10 -0 and expectations around the touchline were high as more tries were expected from an impressive Tenby outfit. Keen to show that the forwards were also intent on getting in on the act, number eight Sam Smith set off on a rampaging run from the base of a scrum, capitalising on a strike against the head by hooker Mike 'Penfold' Lewis, but his delayed offload was intercepted with only one defender to beat.

Hendy took heart from the numerous missed scoring opportunities the home side were tossing away and in their first real handling movement, it took some solid tackling by Smith and fellow back row colleague Williams to prevent scrum-half Martin Rees from developing a blind-side break by his back row.

Next it was centre Lee Evans who attempted to get Hendy some points, but his ambitious attempt at goal just fell short of the target and fly-half Lewis rubbed salt into the wound by booming out his clearing kick back into the Hendy half, and safely into touch.

Try as they might, Hendy could not breakdown the home defence and a steal at a lineout by the high- soaring Edwards fed the ball to scrum-half Rhys Thomas and Lewis again obliged by sending his touch-finder from the Tenby 22 to the Hendy 22. Hendy had skilfully slowed the game down to a pace they were more comfortable with and the frustration began to take its toll on the home side as a spate of penalties needlessly given away kept the visitors in the game.

On a rare visit to the Hendy half, Tenby were presented with an ideal attacking platform with a scrum on the Hendy 22 slap bang in front of the posts. However, any ideas the home side had to increase their lead from this position were dispelled as the burly Hendy eight shunted the Tenby pack into reverse gear and the threat was cleared.

As half-time approached, a tackle by scrum-half Rees on Aled Griffiths, as the fullback caught the ball way off ground level, gave referee Martin Howells no alternative but to show him the dreaded yellow card. Although down to 14 men, Hendy brought proceedings to a close by snatching a deserved three points as centre Evans slotted a penalty from the halfway line.

Stern words were heard at half-time as coaches Gareth Davies and Emori ripped into the Tenby XV, telling them to get their act together, otherwise they could be on the end of an unacceptable defeat. With this advice still ringing in their ears, the high, hanging kick-off by Lewis was chased down by 'Box' Davies and his fellow forwards and from quick ball, a series of slick passes released skipper Rob James, who crashed over in the corner.

Although missing the difficult conversion, Tenby had at least retaken the initiative and again the crowd settled back for more of the same. This was not to be as Tenby were pinned on their own line for the next five minutes as the big Hendy pack tried to force their way over and their efforts were rewarded when prop Saunders emerged from a pile of players to claim a well-earned try. An easy conversion by Evans took the scores to 15-10 and Tenby knew they were in for a very competitive remaining 30 minutes, especially as the visitors were now back up to a full complement as their influential scrum-half Martin Rees rejoined the action.

Coach Davies tried to inject some fresh ideas into the game by taking Tom Dennis off and getting Rhys Thomas to play out wide, with his vacated number nine slot filled by Will Crockford; flanker Williams was also replaced by Ed Ayres.

The changes nearly had a disastrous effect, as from a maul set-up following a good take at a lineout by the rangy flanker Aaron Shingler, it was Shingler who suddenly emerged on the Tenby side of the maul and set-off on a storming run, only to be halted by a superb tackle by last-line of defence, Aled Griffiths.

More was to follow, as from a ponderous throw-in attempt at a lineout, referee Howells penalised hooker Lewis and it took another thundering tackle, this time by Ed Ayres, to stop the quickly taken penalty.

Will Crockford was the next to offend when a dummy at the base of a scrum by Rees lulled him offside and centre Evans closed the scores to 15 -13. Attacking opportunities seemed to have totally dried-up for the home side and a speculative drop goal attempt by Lewis was all Tenby could muster in response to the rejuvenated visiting XV.

In a final attempt to snatch back the initiative, coach Davies substituted Ben Cray and Gareth Edwards with Nicky Guymer and Emori and this had an even worse impact on the game than his original set of substitutions, as Guymer immediately gave away a penalty, which was well within the range of Evans, but his attempt sailed wide, and from the next play, Emori was yellow-carded, along with the Hendy number five Iwan Thomas.

Despite sending both players to the sideline, the penalty was awarded to Tenby but unusually, Lewis fluffed his pot at goal.

Hendy were at last being pinged by referee Howells for their persistent infringing around the side of the maul and from the first penalty Lewis atoned for his earlier miss by sending the ball between the uprights for an 18-13 lead and from a second, for a similar infringement at the next maul, he sent the Hendy forwards back from the Tenby 22 to their own 10-metre line.

With time rapidly running out, Hendy spurned the penalties they were awarded, as a converted try was needed to snatch an unexpected victory, and they pounded the Tenby line with a series of rolling mauls and scrums, with one concerted effort boldly being given as 'held-up' be referee Howells, much to the disgust of the visiting supporters.

Try as they might, Hendy could just not breach the red and black defensive line and as referee Howells blew for time, there was a great deal of relief on the faces of the home players, coaches and supporters alike.

Coach Davies was obviously pleased with the result, which took Tenby to the top of the division, but accepted that this was not the time to be at the top; end of season was when it really counted. He also admitted, it was a rather fortunate victory, with lots of things to be taken from the game as they prepare for their next league encounter at newly- promoted Tycroes on September 22.

Thanks go to main sponsors Chevron; match sponsors A. and V. Builders, of Jefferyston, Tony and Ann Jones, Summer Inns, Dai and Mandy, The Chemist Inn, Peter Kidney, plumber, Steve Hilling, electrical, Mike Carrington, Newey and Eyre, Martin Hurlow, builders; match ball sponsors John Thwaites, Tenby Rock Shop, and Paul Evenden; and Tenby United man-of-the-match sponsor, J .V. Rowe.

Tenby fielded: Aled Griffiths, Tom Dennis (Will Crockford), Jimmy Davies, Alex Watts, Dan Colley, Tom Lewis, Rhys Thomas, Geoff Martin, Mike Lewis, Ben Cray, Ifan Davies, Gareth Edwards (Emori Katalau), Wyndham Williams (Ed Ayres) Robert James (capt.), Sam Smith.