Mumbles 10 pts.

Tenby United 38

With the game switched to Swansea University Athletic Ground, Tenby took on a Mumbles side they had not crossed swords with since season 2002/3 when they were both in Division Four West, finishing that particular season one place below Mumbles in seventh position after coming away with a 11-11 draw at Heywood Lane and a close 10-0 away defeat.

With one late team change, a couple of positional changes and a revised bench from the side that disappointedly lost at home to Fishguard and Goodwick in their opening league match last week, the coaching team had a simple message to deliver to the team during training this week, for this envisaged tough encounter -take your chances and make less mistakes. That message was obviously taken on board by the players, particularly in the second half, when they destroyed a shocked home crowd with a superb display of running rugby.

Kicking off into the breeze, Mumbles went straight into attack mode as they stole the pat down by Luke Dedman and drove Tenby backwards. Tenby were fortunate to reclaim the ball and Matthew Morgan cleared with a booming touch-finder.

This gave Tenby the platform from which to attack and stealing the ball at the lineout, half-backs Crockford and Smith combined well to release Jack Guerreiro, who in turn linked with tricky winger Jordon Asparassa, who was halted by some desperate home defenders who, in their keenness to stop the move, had drifted offside and Toby Smith stroked the penalty over the bar to give Tenby a deserved early 3-0 lead.

Asparassa was soon in action again, his zigzag run having the home side in deep trouble, and as he found Toby Smith and Luke Dedman in support, Mumbles were being tasked to stop a second early score. Their defence was all over the place and centre Jack Guerreiro capitalised on the confusion when he scooped up a loose ball and scythed through the home defence for a try converted by Toby Smith and a 10-0 lead with just 10 minutes played.

In an attempt to get into the game, the big Mumbles forwards reverted to a pick and go passage of rugby, throwing in the odd one out charge by an onrushing forward, but the majority of these attempts were so predictable that the well organised Tenby defence held firm and frustrated any attempt to cross the whitewash.

In one such move, Luke Hansford superbly stole the ball at the breakdown, only for it to be dropped by a supporting Tenby player and Mumbles seized on this rare mistake to send number eight Lewis Buckley crashing over the line for an unconverted try, narrowing the lead to 10-5.

This score seemed to stir the home side into action and a tremendous 22 to 22 break by influential number nine Andrew Evans again threatened the line, their attack being neatly assisted by scrum-half Will Crockford whose hurried Barnes Wallace bouncing pass from the scrum was expertly picked up by Toby Smith, who just managed to hoof the ball clear.

The half-back pair atoned for their lapse by combining well to release Jordan Asparassa, who was only stopped from going in for a try by a crunching tackle by Andrew Evans.

With half-time approaching, Tenby threatened to increase their lead, but referee Tony Pratt from Haverfordwest rather harshly deemed a pass from one Morgan to the other Morgan as forward, with the way to the try-line clear.

Despite the odd flurry of attacking play by the home side, the Tenby defence held firm and the half came to a close with the United holding a well-deserved 10-5 lead.

The half-time talk was obviously still fresh in the minds of Tenby as straight away they went into attack mode, with first hooker Joe Poole being halted by his opposite number as he came onto a neat pop pass from Crockford, soon followed by a clever run from deep by Matthew Morgan which was thwarted by a somewhat stretched home defence.

The game was developing into more of a contest where it was ‘when are Tenby going to score’ and not ‘will they score’….and the score did come, with the two Lukes, Toby Smith and the Morgans’ combining to stretch the home defence to the righthand corner, where they recycled the ball and some slick handling by the threes ended with Jordon Asparassa cantering over in the lefthand corner for an excellent team try.

With Smith adding the conversion, Tenby were now well in control at 17-5.

Immediately from the restart, it was the turn of Scott James to threaten the tiring home defence as he spotted a gap and surged upfield, linking with his supporting backs, who continued the move and when involved in the move for the second time, James popped the ball to Barry Parsons, who surged past the last line of home defence for the best try of the match - so far.

Smith again added the extras to take the score to 24-5, but Tenby were not done yet. Within minutes of that score, Johnny Morgan, Jack Guerreiro and Scott James tore the home defence to shreds and released second row Mike Davis who, with a sharp turn of pace, left the remains of the Mumbles defence grasping at thin air as he galloped over under the sticks for the fourth try and a bonus point, which was again converted by Smith.

With the score at 31-5 and only 15 minutes of the second half gone, there were some smiling Tenby supporters watching what was developing and trying to recall when they last experienced that feeling.

Mumbles needed to score as their disgruntled supporters had turned up expecting last week’s away victory at Haverfordwest to be followed by win number two and not a drubbing that they were on the wrong end of… and replacement Tom Powell obliged when he just made it to the corner, despite a valiant attempt to prevent the score by Andrew Cooke, closing the score to 31-10.

In fairness, the home side probably had their best passage of play following on from this score, but Tenby’s well-organised defence held firm, beefed up by some fresh legs in the form of replacements Dan Colley and Wyndham Williams, who was making his 182nd appearance in a red and black jersey.

Thirty minutes into the half, Tenby surged into attack, exploiting a ball stolen at the breakdown and with quick hands, the threes released winger Asparassa for his second try and with the reliable Smith adding the extras, a healthy 38-10 score had been reached.

With the game well won, Tenby emptied their bench, with amongst the new arrivals to the encounter being veteran Mostyn Richards, who was last down as a regular on the team sheet in season 2011-12, having started out his distinguished career with Tenby, at first team level, in season 1994/5 against Dunvant. Also coming off the bench was Liam Berridge, who at the other end of games played, was making only his second appearance at first team level.

Several sorties put together by a buoyant and confident Tenby side tested the Mumbles defence which somehow held firm, despite a growing number of missed tackles, and as the final enterprising effort, with Toby Smith, Wyndham Williams, Richards, Jack Guerreiro and Dan Colley prominent, was brought to an end, referee Pratt blew for time.

The Tenby boys were obviously delighted with their league win, which has been a long time coming, along with the way they played as a team and as individuals with nobody coming off the field thinking they could have done better - they gave it their all for the full 80 minutes.

Tenby United take on old rivals Pontarddulais at Heywood Lane tomorrow (Saturday) and with the Bont having thrashed bottom-of-the-table Haverfordwest 52-11 in their opening league encounter, the confidence gained by the Seasiders from their Mumbles victory will really be put to the test.

Tenby fielded: Johnny Morgan, Matthew Morgan (Dan Colley), Jack Guerreiro, Scott James, Jordon Asparassa, Toby Smith, Will Crockford, Dan McDermott (Liam Berridge), Joe Poole (Dan Allen), Ethan Morgan, Luke Dedman (Wyndham Williams), Mike Davis, Andrew Cooke, Barry Parsons, Luke Hansford (capt) (Mostyn Richards)

Monkey off their backs

Tenby United and Llangwm are rugby clubs that, despite playing each other on regular occasions during the old Pembrokeshire league days, don’t have much in common these days, but on Saturday they shared a somewhat unique and welcomed event. In beating St. David’s 19-7 away, Llangwm gained their first league victory in 530 days… while just bettering that feat, Tenby came away with a victory at Mumbles, which was their first league win in 560 days… bet the beer tasted very very sweet on Saturday at both Llangwm and Tenby clubhouses, with the monkey now well and truly off their backs.