PEMBROKE RFC travelled to unbeaten, top of the table Pontyberem, with a very young squad missing a few old heads, with the weather dry, cold and windy, writes Darrell Willington.

The first half saw the visitors put up a lot of resistance to a continual onslaught from a very determined home side, wanting to keep their unbeaten run alive.

Pont were patient, using their big, mobile pack to gain territory and possession that their canny backs used very well to score early and regularly throughout the half.

In response the visitors built some very promising attacks, with their forwards and backs combining very well too, but a number of unforced errors robbed them of opportunities to cross the try line. The home side deservedly lead at half time, with the visitors pointless.

The second half was a repeat performance from the home side, who scored an equal number of points to their first half total, as the result of more very good combined handling from their forwards and backs.

Despite receiving three yellow cards during the half, the home side’s bench made a huge impact on the scoreline, as they added fresh legs ands more pace to their very regular attacking moves

Pembroke, whilst on the back for long periods, did put together a number of determined thrusts, one of which resulted in a well taken converted try midway through the half, but too many handling errors put paid to other promising attacks.

Pontyberem deservedly won the match, which proved a huge learning experience for the young Pembroke squad, who gave a very good account of themselves against a very accomplished outfit.

The U17s squad was in action last Wednesday evening against a very strong Tenby outfit at Heywood Lane.

The scoreline, 52-0 to the hosts, would say this was a very one sided match, but the Pembroke lads put up a very spirited performance in the first half holding their hosts to 15-0.

However, whilst the visitors showed resilience, determination and never gave up in defence, the Tenby lads put together some very good phases of play, building constant pressure during the second half to build a unassailable total and a well deserved win, in front of a very large crowd.

Upcoming fixtures include: First XV have their last League match away this Saturday at Newcastle Emlyn, the Youth play Narberth at home Friday night KO 7pm and H’West home April 14 KO 7pm and Tenby away April 22 KO 7pm; the U17s play Crymych at home on Friday 17th KO 7pm in the Mike Fry Cup second round. The Panthers have three League matches left details tbc.

April 11 sees the popular return of the Bottomless Brunch at the clubhouse starting around 6pm. The weekly coffee morning raised over £600 for SARCOMA UK last week.