Tenby United 20 pts. Amman United 6

Andrew Price, FBM Holidays and Molson Coors sponsored Tenby Utd 1st XV welcomed an unbeaten Amman United side to Heywood Lane on Saturday who were confident of upsetting the Seasiders' recent successes and boasting maximum try bonus points in all of their games so far this season.

Tenby United were also quietly confident, but were more than happy to go into the game as slight underdogs, as that was the way the critics were calling it.

In front of the largest crowd of local support seen at Heywood Lane for a number of years, the young United side were keen to show what they can do.

Receiving the kick-off, Tenby hit straight at the heart of the visitors' pack through a fine catch and run by lock Gareth Edwards, supported by flankers Jason Ronowitz and Roy Osborn. With the United eight all fired up, the ball was quickly recycled and in the hands of scrum-half Will Crockford, who spun it wide to number 10 Lloyd Thomas. Even with the Amman back line up on them quickly, the Tenby backs made good distance into the visitors' 22 after Thomas brought the hard and direct running centre Mark Heywood down the middle. He was able to make the hard yards and take out two would-be defenders, before slipping the ball to Dan Colley, who also made yards and unleashed speedy winger Simon Stanford down the touchline. It looked like Stanford would score, but a last-ditch tackle by his opposite number brought him down just short of the line.

It was the home side, though, that had made their mark on the game early on and done the hard work of getting into the visitors' 22, and that is where they planned to play most of the rugby.

With Amman unable to secure clean lineout ball thanks to the disruption of Luke Dedman and Gareth Edwards, they were forced to set up a ruck dangerously close to their try line and, with Osborn and Ronowitz working hard to make sure the scrum-half had no quick ball to play with, along with hooker Nicky Guymer, it meant that they were unable to get up a head of steam.

And when they did eventually get the ball out wide, any danger was soon snuffed out by the excellent defence of Lloyd Thomas, Toby Smith, Colley and Stanford; and it was this gritty defence and determination that set the script for the entire game.

With Tenby running hard at them through forwards and backs and creating plenty of chances in attack and also knocking them down every time they attempted to run the ball, the expected frustration soon began to show from Amman United, who were shocked that after scoring at least four tries a game in their previous matches, they found themselves all but trapped in their own half.

It was as a result of this frustration that the first points of the opening half came about. With Tenby mounting another attack, the visiting centre partnership came up a bit too soon and were caught by the referee a country mile offside.

The Seasiders, however, still had nothing by way of points to show for their hard work that they deserved and with the scores still at nil-nil and an Amman United team capable of scoring from anywhere at anytime in front of them, they didn't go to sleep.

Every player, from one to 15, worked extremely hard in attack and defence, with props Clarke and Palmer running hard, number eight Sam Smith causing the visitors terrible problems, despite them trying to mark him and his brother out of the game, and flankers Ronowitz and Osborn playing out of their skin in the loose to make sure either Tenby had quick clean ball to play with or that Amman had slow or no ball to play with as they turned them over on many occasion.

The United's backline were also on form, with fullback Aled Bowen causing the visitors no end of problems with his strong attacking runs or with his huge high kicks, chased by Heywood and Toby Smith, giving the Amman United backline a torrid time.

The usually confident visitors looked like they were in shock and with whichever player having to defuse one of Bowen's bombs getting tackled hard as soon as his feet hit the ground, they found it all but impossible to get into their stride.

Even with the United reduced to 14 men following a yellow card, the way the game was being played did not changed and the rest of the team upped their games even more to make sure that the extra Amman man didn't cause too big a problem.

Amman tried their share of attacking during the first half and there was one player whose low centre of gravity and nippy 'Jason Robinson' style of running did make yards and set one or two alarm bells ringing, and that was fullback Gavin Lewis. He was the only visiting player who looked likely to cross the United try line, when on one such run, he managed to weave his way through the home defence, only to be forcefully put into touch by Simon Stanford, who himself had also looked like scoring on many of his own jaunts with ball in hand.

The end of the first period was drawing nearer and it looked like it would end at zero points apiece until an Amman United offence gave Toby Smith the chance to give his side the lead they deserved going into the interval. On 40 minutes, Smith stepped up and slotted the penalty straight between the sticks.

As the whistle sounded, with the United ahead by three points to nil, they could be happy to have come through the half not only in the lead on the scoreboard, but in almost every area of the game, with the pack winning their battles in the scrum, lineout and in the loose and the threequarters winning their tussles behind.

As the second half kicked off, the visitors knew that they had to strike early if they were to get a foothold in the game and keep up their 100 per cent record, and they tried everything to make this happen.

They spread the ball to their quick and normally dangerous back three, but the well organised Seasiders' defence was up quickly with hard but fair tackling to make sure that no danger would come from such attacks. And with everything the visitors threw at them being soaked up and snuffed out, it was the United who were to take control again early, as they did in the first half, through nothing short of hard work and determination.

The large and vocal crowd of supporters didn't have to wait as long to see some points registered on the scoreboard in the second half, though, as Amman United hands in a ruck prevented Crockford moving the ball wide and Toby Smith was able to add another three points to the tally, effortlessly making it six points to nil from the penalty after 43 minutes.

As the home side were giving 100 per cent each, from one to 15, it was time to make the first replacement, prop Johnny Palmer making way for Lee Tucker after a half he could be proud of in the set-piece and in open play.

Although the United looked to have the game under control, it was through an offside in midfield that the next points would come and this time it was Amman's Ricky Jones who slotted a penalty through the uprights, bringing his side to within three points of the Seasiders and right back into the game.

The home team, however, weren't about to let their hard-earned lead and their grip on the game be taken away from them and some impressive backline play from Thomas, Smith, Colley and Heywood put Tenby back on the front foot and, with the back row working hard at the breakdown, as they had done all day, along with Tucker, Sam Smith and Edwards, Crockford was given clean ball to play with deep in Amman territory.

He used this ball to good effect, knowing when to move it wide to allow Lloyd Thomas to dictate play, or when to put the box kick down the touchline, forcing the visitors to turn and chase.

On one such occasion, the ball went wide to Thomas and with a lovely floated pass to Heywood, the Amman defensive line came up quickly. Rather than taking the normal direct route straight at the defence, Heywood brought the dangerous Aled Bowen into the line like a steam train, only for him to be put out of action by a cheap shot to the side of the head, forcing him to leave the field after a having a superb game. He was replaced by Chris Heesom.

As the match reached the final 10 minutes, neither side had crossed the try line, despite both teams trying to do so many times.

But that was about to change. With a crunching double effort tackle from Osborn and Ronowitz forcing an Amman attacker to spill the ball forward, a halfway line scrum was awarded to the Seasiders on 71 minutes. The United's scrum was solid and, within a split second of Guymer hooking the ball, it was in Crockford's hands as he darted past the visiting back row, drawing the next defender and passing to Toby Smith, who broke three more tackles on his way in for the try, and amidst an almighty roar from the home support, he touched the ball down.

Lloyd Thomas gladly added the extra two points, making the scoreboard read 13 points to three in Tenby's favour.

This caused the frustration to rear its ugly head again for Amman United and within 10 seconds of the restart they found themselves down to 14 men after a yellow card offence.

Smelling blood, the Seasiders went on the hunt and began to turn the screw, with Lloyd Thomas pinning the visitors in their own half through excellent positional kicking.

Whilst Amman were down to 14 men, the United were soon to follow suit when Colley, not hearing the referee's whistle blow, hoofed a loose ball up field and was surprised to be on the receiving end of another yellow card.

Amman's Ricky Jones kicked the resulting penalty, bringing the score to 13-6, and with both teams facing the final eight minutes with 14 men apiece, it would be an interesting end to the game.

The Seasiders knew that it was far from over and that they would have to knuckle down and give their all in order to maintain the lead and snatch the win, and they did just that.

The home side closed the game out with clever use of possession and hard work at the breakdown, knowing when to run or kick in attack and through stern tackling and slowing down opposition ball in defence.

With the game all but over and the sniff of an upset in the air, the Seasiders made double sure of the win on 79 minutes when Luke Dedman crossed the Amman line to hammer the final nail in their coffin.

This excellent try came as the result of another tackle from Osborn and Ronowitz and with Guymer, Sam Smith and Gareth Edwards countering the Amman ruck, it allowed Dedman to rip the ball from the grasp of the tackled winger Dean (brother of Shane) Williams and canter down the touchline in front of the emphatic home support to score the final try of the game.

Lloyd Thomas landed the conversion and as the linesmen's flags were raised, the final whistle sounded with Tenby United running out deserved and comfortable winners by 20 points to six.

The players, coaches and management would like to give a huge thanks to the massive support they received from the people of the town and surrounding areas; you gave the players a big lift and also witnessed the attractive rugby and hard work that the boys are putting in.

It would be great to see everyone again, and more of you, at Heywood Lane tomorrow (Saturday) to cheer the boys on in their next league game against Lampeter, with kick-off being 2.30 pm.

Tenby United fielded: Aled Bowen (Chris Heesom), Simon Stanford, Mark Heywood, Toby Smith, Dan Colley, Lloyd Thomas, Will Crockford, Sam Smith, Jason Ronowitz, Roy Osborn, Gareth Edwards, Luke Dedman, John Palmer (Lee Tucker), Nicky Guymer, Rob Clarke.