Tenby United 33 pts. Mumbles 28

Playing their first home league game of 2017, Tenby Tourers sponsored Tenby United were keen to get the double over visitors Mumbles, whom they had comfortably beaten 38-10 back in early September,

They were also intent on getting back to winning ways after their unexpected defeat away to Fishguard & Goodwick a couple of weeks ago.

Mumbles were obviously buoyant following their seven-try 43-0 thrashing of Haverfordwest on the same Saturday, so with the weather all set for an open game of rugby, the visitors kicked off into a slight breeze and kept Tenby pinned in their half for the opening few minutes.

The pressure was relieved when a dropped ball was scooped up by Toby Smith, who scythed through the Mumbles defence, only to see his flipped back-handed pass to unmarked Greg Lees Griffiths go to ground with the line at his mercy.

Mumbles kicked into action from deep inside the Tenby half with a combination of long passes and, when closer to the line, reverted to a series of pick and go’s, but the home defence held firm, until flanker Andrew Cooke infringed to present them with the opportunity to go for the corner with a penalty. The resulting lineout, however, produced nothing and Tenby cleared their lines.

Play switched to the visitors’ 22 and a mix-up between the Mumbles half-back pairing gave Tenby a scrum close to the line, where a clean strike by Joe Poole gave number eight Barry Parsons the chance to pick and go from the base of the scrum, which he skilfully took and crashed over for an unconverted try and an early 5-0 lead.

Straight from the restart it was Mumbles who went onto the attack and a stretched Tenby defence gave a away penalty, which outside-half Adam Nicklin took, to narrow the gap to 5-3.

Determined to retain their momentum, Tenby, via scrum-half Kieran Machin and a quickly taken penalty, put Mumbles on the backfoot, only for a pass from Scott James to be intercepted as he attempted to keep the move going, allowing Mumbles to clear the danger with a kick deep into the Tenby 22.

Fielding the kick, fullback Morgan launched his own reply, only to see his dangerous opposite number Tom Powell field it and set off on a searing break through the onrushing Tenby players and, via his centres and supporting back row, linked with winger Matthew Flynn, who crashed over wide out to give the visitors a deserved 8-5 lead.

This was short-lived, however, as from the restart, Mumbles fluffed a clearance kick and, with players not retreating, it offered Ashley Sutton an immediate opportunity to level the scores, which he took with an excellent penalty from the halfway line.

Barry Parsons picked up what looked like a neck injury in the build-up to the penalty and was replaced by Mike Davis.

Play switched from end to end during the next five minutes as both sides probed for an opening, and a looping run by number 10 Adam Nicklin, which was continued by his back row colleagues, tested the Tenby defence to the full, but the subsequent dropped ball was scooped up by the United and quick hands released Toby Smith, who linked with the supporting Ashley Sutton, who crossed the whitewash for an excellent try, which he also converted, taking the score out to 15-8.

Maintaining the pressure, a scrum against the head offered Tenby a quick opportunity to add to their lead and a neat chip over the onrushing defence by Ashley Sutton was regained, only for a subsequent offload pass to be knocked-on.

It was Mumbles who scored next when, after quick delivery off the top of a lineout by Luke Dedman, the Tenby move that developed was over-complicated, with Andrew Cooke attempting a miracle pass, which was intercepted, and quick hands released winger Matthew Flynn, who crossed for his second try of the afternoon, which was converted by Nicklin, and it was now a 15-15 game.

The restart failed to travel the necessary distance and Tenby upped the pace from the resulting scrum, with Luke Dedman, Lee Hansford, Joe Poole, Mike Davis, Andrew Cooke and Ashley Sutton all involved in a concerted effort that stretched the Mumbles defence to breaking point, with a jinking run by Scott James being capitalised on by Toby Smith, who crossed wide out for an excellent team try, which regained the lead for the home side at 20-15, and that’s the way it stayed until half-time.

The second half started with both sides attempting to test each other’s defensive qualities, but strangely these threats seemed to consist of more lateral moves, with little or no forward momentum, a pattern that was shattered when a majestic break by Toby Smith was maintained by a series of one-out charges by the forwards, ending with livewire scrum-half Kieran Machin sneaking over for his first Tenby try, which was also the bonus earning fourth try of the game, and with Sutton converting, it pushed the lead out to 27-15.

If Tenby thought that was it, game safe, they were wrong as Mumbles immediately went on the attack and a slick move ended with centre Ewan Gully crossing the line to narrow the lead to 27-20.

And, what’s more, while they were still recovering from this score, Tenby were rocked by another try when nippy scrum-half James Griffiths outwitted the home defence, with the aid of a sleight of hand pass from second row Ben Fox, to cross for the Mumbles bonus fourth try, closing the scores to 27-25 and game on.

Tenby reverted to their bench in an attempt to regain the momentum, with Geoff Martin, Matthew Morgan and Will Crockford coming on for Dan McDermott, Greg Lees-Griffiths and Kieran Machin, but taking the chance offered with so many changes, Mumbles regained the lead when from a blatant offside, Nicklin stroked over the resultant penalty to snatch back the advantage at 28-27.

Despite the intensity of the game, the fearful thought that the newly introduced high tackle law would dominate proceedings, referee Davies blew for the first high tackle of the game, by Luke Dedman, which was accompanied by a finger waving telling off, rather that the dreaded march to the naughty step as seen of late on televised games.

A jinking run by Jonny Morgan, which took play deep into the Mumbles half, set up the opportunity for Tenby to put together a series of pick and go’s by the forwards, which was maintained with darting runs from Will Crockford, Toby Smith, Matthew and Jonny Morgan, along with Jordan Asparassa, and ended with Mumbles giving away a penalty which was stroked over by Sutton, providing Tenby with the satisfaction of regaining the lead at 30-28.

As the visitors had regained the lead on several occasions during this intriguing contest, and recalling how they had totally lost control of the game in the final quarter at Fishguard, Tenby desperately required some sensible game management and number 10 Ashley Sutton provided this in spades, and this, combined with Luke Dedman and Mike Davis dominating the lineout, saw Mumbles struggling to get back into the game.

From another catch and drive at the lineout, the Tenby forwards exerted pressure on the Mumbles defence and when the ball was released, Toby Smith set up a maul by targeting his opposite number, forcing Mumbles to give away another penalty, accompanied by a yellow card for holding, which again Ashley Sutton stroked over the crossbar, taking Tenby into a 33-28 lead and ending his well-taken 18-point match contribution.

Try as they might, and only needing another try to level the scores, Mumbles could just not breakdown the resilient home defence and, despite losing Andrew Cooke to a late yellow card, Tenby hung on in there and, with referee Davies blowing for time, they marched off the pitch with a five-point haul to match that gained by league leaders Pontarddulais against luckless Haverfordwest, setting up an intriguing top-of-the-table contest tomorrow (Saturday) as the sides meet down at Pontarddulais.

Mumbles did not deserve to go away empty-handed and for their efforts walked off with two bonus points for their four tries and a less than seven-point defeat.

Tenby United would like to thank Folly Farm for their match and ball sponsorship, as well as Heywood’s Butchers for man-of-the-match sponsorship, as well as new shirt sponsors Tenby Tourers, Newey and Eyre, Worthington and Folly Farm.

Tenby fielded: Jonny Morgan, Greg Lees Griffiths (Matthew Morgan), Toby Smith, Scott James, Jordan Asparassa, Ashley Sutton, Kieran Machin (Will Crockford), Dan McDermott( Geoff Martin), Joe Poole, Ethan Morgan, Luke Dedman, Alex Thomas, Andrew Cooke, Barry Parsons (Mike Davis), Luke Hansford. Rep: Dan Allen.