Tenby United 43 pts. Haverfordwest 10

Local rivals Haverfordwest were the latest opposition to take on Tenby Tourers sponsored Tenby United and, despite their lowly position in the league and being on a run of 10 consecutive defeats, arrived at Heywood Lane intent on giving the fourth-placed home side a real hard afternoon.

Mathematically, Haverfordwest could still escape relegation, but with only seven points so far in the league, and the two clubs above them on 26 points (both with a game in hand), it was really a lost cause and pride was the only thing they could really play for as they were also attempting to prevent Tenby from getting the double over them after a 22-10 defeat down at Merlins Bridge back in November.

Kicking off 10 minutes late, due to the late arrival of referee Mike Bulpitt from Bynea, a bright and still afternoon was made for running rugby, and it took the home side less than two minutes to cross the whitewash and go into a 5-0 lead as backs Ashley Sutton, Jonny Morgan, Greg Lees-Griffiths, Matthew Morgan and prop Dan McDermott combined well to create an opportunity for outside-half Toby Smith to place a kick, tantalisingly close to the Haverfordwest line, for centre Jonny Morgan to catch and cross for an unconverted try, which turned out to be the first of seven scored by Tenby United as the match unfolded.

With the mood for the rest of the match established that early, Tenby put Haverfordwest under pressure from the restart, forcing a knock-on, and a marginal forward pass of what should have been a clear scoring pass by Toby Smith to Greg Lees Griffiths, was all that prevented them from adding to their early score.

Not letting that missed opportunity worry them, Tenby kept up the pressure and a movement from quick ball at the next breakdown involving Ashley Sutton, Jonny Morgan, Scott James and Mark Heywood ended with Toby Smith releasing prop Dan McDermott to romp over the line and under the sticks for his first try at first team level - which explained the smile on his face as he acknowledged supporting calls from the spectators.

With Toby Smith adding the extras, Tenby slipped into a comfortable 12-0 lead with just 10 minutes played.

As expected, Haverfordwest knuckled down to the difficult situation and for the next five minutes or so tested the home defence, but through a combination of progressing more laterally than going forward, and a solid Tenby defence, they had little return for their efforts, with the attack being brought to a halt by referee Bulpitt who spotted a knock-on.

From the scrum, a series of quick accurate passes by the threequarters took Tenby deep into the Haverfordwest half and the final pass back inside by Greg Lees-Griffiths to Toby Smith released the outside-half, who cantered over for the third try of the afternoon, and his 70th in a first team shirt, which he also converted, extending the lead to 19-0.

With three tries in the bag and the first quarter still in progress, the fourth try seemed to be a mere formality, but a combination of some stout defending by Haverfordwest and a Tenby side which for some unknown reason abandoned their simple method of quick passing and excellent support work, resulted in a stalemate emerging, with the Blues slowly gaining the upper hand.

Their efforts were rewarded when centre Matthew Phillips seared through a huge hole in the Tenby defensive line to touch down under the sticks. Winger Gareth John duly added the extras to reduce the lead to a deserved 19-7.

Tenby went deeper into ragged mode with a series of losses at the lineout, down to a combination of bad throws by the usually reliable hooker Joe Poole, mistimed jumps by Luke Dedman and Mike Davis and/or inadequate effort by the lifters - whatever the reason, it prevented the United from regaining their composure.

Haverfordwest took their opportunities well and Tenby were fortunate when another searing break, this time by dangerous fullback Danny Morgans, spluttered to a halt due to lack of support. But the visitors got some reward from their efforts when a high tackle by a stretched Tenby defence led to Gareth John slotting the resulting penalty and a 19-10 game.

As quickly as Tenby had gone into sloppy mode, they snapped out of it, with the catalyst being Joe Poole putting in one of his customary dumper truck tackles and from quick ball at the breakdown, Scott James was able to put Greg Lees Griffiths clear to canter over under the posts, which surprisingly went unconverted, but with the valuable bonus point fourth try in the bag, it was hoped Tenby would now build on their 24-10 lead.

With half-time approaching, it was a welcome return of the usual Tenby attacking style of play and a move involving Jonny Morgan, Toby Smith, Barry Parsons and Matthew Morgan ended with second row Luke Dedman (who was also involved earlier in the move) crossing for an unconverted try and an interval lead of 29-10.

Tenby started the second half as they had the first, this time aided by a slow reacting Haverfordwest defence, and the lead was nearly increased as Jonny Morgan, Scott James and Toby Smith just waltzed forward past a mesmerised group of defenders, only for the momentum to be lost with an untimely knock-on.

Their lineout was also now returning to normal, but it was a rather fortunate tap down scooped up by the alert Matthew Morgan which allowed the scrum-half to release the threes and Mark Heywood was on hand to crash over for try number six for Tenby and with Toby Smith adding the extras, a 36-10 lead was a daunting task facing a tiring opposition.

Spurred on, however, by fullback Danny Morgans, along with Lee Summons, Jack Clancy and the impressive Liam Brown at number eight, Haverfordwest manfully stuck to their task, but Tenby, with some excellent defence, kept the visitors at bay.

Even a yellow card dished out to Greg Lees Griffiths, and the loss of a key strike force, didn’t stop them from severely testing the Haverfordwest defence to the full, and it speaks volumes for the effort put in by the visitors that there was a slowing down of the regular try-scoring efforts of the home side.

It was not all backfoot defence for Haverfordwest, but their main attacking thrusts were all forward dominated, with the pick and go charge at line method being used predominately and all their attempts to cross the whitewash were more than adequately handled by the well-organised home defence, who forced Haverfordwest backwards with solid tackle after solid tackle and eventually cleared their lines.

The Tenby coaching staff also thought the game was well won as they cleared their bench with what are now called ‘finishers’ and one of the players coming off the bench, Charlie Patching, was on hand to capitalise on another sweeping threequarter move as he received the ball from Toby Smith and cantered over the line for the final try of the afternoon. With Smith successful with his conversion, it brought his match tally to 11 points, taking him only 10 points short of an impressive 500 for Tenby at first team level.

Try as they might, Tenby could just not rack up the extra points to reach the 50 mark as they stretched the Haverfordwest defence from right to left and then left to right, but with a combination of mistimed passes, knock-ons or a dropped ball bringing the game to a halt, it was left to referee Bulpitt to blow for time and the two teams trooped off the field with a 43-10 scoreline. With Tenby players harbouring thoughts of promotion back to Division One, while Haverfordwest knowing its relegation back to Division Three.

Target achieved and the bonus point win mirror-imaged what was gained by Pontarddulais - played 17 with 59 points, Hendy 16/57 and Tycroes 16/56 over the weekend….so played 15 with points at 54, although keeping Tenby in fourth place, is still a handy position to be with 20 games to be played by all with four points for every win along with an extra bonus point for a four-try victory on offer - the real business end of the season or what.

Although the essential bonus point win was achieved, the coaching group will be concerned that for whatever reason the team totally lost its composure having achieved an early three-try situation, spending the next 20 minutes desperately trying to get over the whitewash for the critical fourth try. The team approach went out of the window as nearly every player on the field went into try-line fever… thinking that they were going to be the player to clinch the necessary and crucial fourth try, ignoring better placed supporting team-mates. Once the fourth try had been scored, it was back to normal team mode.

Switching to the actual game, there was an unusually high number of ‘ball lost or turned over’ situations which is an aspect of play that Tenby usually excel at and not only retain possession, but channel the ball back cleanly to the scrum-half - that can be worked on during training this week. As can the lineout, which, as described earlier in the report, was very ragged.

Tenby now have two away league games on the trot, with bottom-but-one club Pontyberem coming up tomorrow (Saturday), followed by seventh-placed Tumble on April 8.

The season, as far as the league is concerned, is rounded off with three games up at Heywood Lane, not forgetting the final of the Pembrokeshire and District Cup, which has provisionally been set for Friday, May 12, at a venue to be decided, against the winners of the remaining semi-final involving Cardigan and Aberystwyth.

Tenby United would like to thank Tenby Physiotherapy and Crossroads Garage at Begelly for their match and ball sponsorship, as well as Heywood’s Butchers for man-of-the-match sponsorship.

Tenby: Ashley Sutton, Mark Heywood, Jonny Morgan, Scott James (Connor Ennis), Greg Lees Griffiths, Toby Smith, Matthew Morgan, Dan McDermott (Rob Luly), Joe Poole (Dan Allen), Ethan Morgan, Luke Dedman (Harry Bolton), Mike Davis, Andrew Cooke (Charlie Patching), Barry Parsons, Luke Hansford.