Pontarddulais 10 pts. Tenby United 17

A classic top-of-the-table encounter with the home side Pontarddulais sitting on top of Division Two West with 48 points, having lost only two games, facing second-placed Tenby Tourers sponsored Tenby United on 44 points, having lost one more game, turned out to be the beneficial thriller everybody who travelled to Coed Bach Park hoped it would be, rather than the dreaded banana skin it could have been for the Seasiders.

Having comfortably turned over Pontarddulais at Heywood Lane back in mid-September by 20 points to three, a very comparable Tenby side, with only minor tweaks to personnel from the first encounter, travelled east along the M4 confident that they could come away with a double that would maintain their momentum and keep them in the top two.

With a sizeable crowd gathered at the resplendent Pontarddulais ground, the home side kicked off facing the sun and, with a slight cross wind, the kick barely travelled the necessary 10 metres and was assisted by a kind bounce that took it into touch.

At that time, unbeknown to anyone at the ground, kicking, be it out of hand, restarts or more importantly shots at goal with conversions and penalties, was to be the major factor in who walked off the pitch with the league points.

From an infringement, seen only by referee Richard Jones from Neath, Tenby were awarded the first penalty, but the attempt by Ashley Sutton fell short of the target.

Spurred on by this initial burst of pressure, recently returned ‘Big Jim’ was next to threaten as he burst through some weak tackling, only for the ball to be stolen by the home forwards, a situation quickly reversed as scrum-half Kieran Machin carried out a similar steal off home number eight Aled Thomas.

Play seemed to be confined to the middle of the park as both sides managed to repel any attack, but lively flanker Rhys Samuel breached the Tenby defence with a well-judged running line, only to lack the necessary support to really threaten the line.

A brief excursion into the Pontarddulais half ended with Ashley Sutton pushing a penalty wide of the uprights, while the Bont responded with a move initiated by a powerful run from skipper Aled Thomas, ably supported by prop Jamie Thomas and veteran scrum-half Adrian Killa, ending with winger Caleb Collins being put clear, only to see his inside pass intercepted by Jordan Asparassa, who was forced into touch on the halfway line.

Defences on both sides held firm and it seemed a score would never come, but from a speculative kick deep into the Bont half, which fullback Matthew Jones surprisingly let trickle into touch when he had plenty of time to have gathered it, made a wider angle and hoofed it up field, there emerged an opportunity for Tenby.

This misjudgement was compounded further as a crooked throw at the ensuing lineout presented a scrum to the United and, despite being under pressure, and going backwards, Big Jim at number eight managed to scoop the ball up and make some hard yards before skilfully transferring to supporting back row colleague Andrew Cooke, who crashed over for the first score of the afternoon, which was converted by Sutton, putting Tenby into a just about deserved 7-0 lead.

Somewhat surprised and stung by this initial reverse, and spurred on by the home crowd, the Bont applied the pressure at the next scrum and from the penalty they gained, took a quick tap-and-go which, following a series of quick hands, ended with centre Josh Goss crossing the whitewash and closing the score to 7-5.

The half drew to a close with Tenby being reduced to 14 men, centre Scott James impeding play when running back from an offside positio,n nullifying his involvement seconds earlier when he broke through the home defence and threatened to set up another promising attacking situation.

Fielding the restart, Pontarddulais made their intensions for the second half clearly known as influential skipper Aled Thomas caused chaos for the Tenby defence as one of his typical barging runs took him through the initial line of defenders, but the ball was eventually secured by winger Greg Lees Griffiths, who kicked clear.

With Luke Dedman winning the lineout against the throw, scrum-half Kieran Machin caused havoc amongst the Tenby threes as his wild pass dropped into no mans land and home number 10 Aled Stone hoofed the ball up field to secure a lineout metres from the United line.

Maintaining the pressure, Pontarddulais went for the jugular and only desperate defending kept centre James Davies from grounding the ball when over the line.

From the scrum that followed, a classic number eight break by the influential Thomas, linking with scrum-half Killa, released winger Gethin Williams, who crossed wide out. Accepting that Aled Stone was having an off-day with the boot, it was Matthew Jones who was entrusted with the conversion, but he followed the trend set by the other kickers on the day and the score remained at 10-7.

Taking the lead was the incentive the home side needed and skipper Thomas made another cracking break, only to be stopped by a desperate tackle by a chasing Luke Dedman, which under the new ruling was harshly deemed high (but no way dangerous), and the Tenby player was sent to the naughty step for 10 minutes.

Fortunately Scott James had just about completed his period in the sin bin, so the United were only down to 13 players for a short space of time.

Maintaining their momentum, and with the pressure building, the home side were threatening the Tenby line and some brilliant organised defence, aided by some crunching tackles, kept these attacks at bay.

During one of their sorties into the Pontarddulais 22, however, it was Tenby who troubled the scoreboard attendee next when, from a penalty awarded against the home side, for pushing early at a scrum, a tap-and-go ended with second row Mike Davis emerging from a pile of bodies and referee Jones awarding a try, which silenced the home supporters.

Another failed conversion by Sutton resulted, with Tenby hanging on to a narrow 12-10 lead, with the final quarter still to be encountered.

The sides exchanged penalty misses and, in an attempt to bolster a tiring defence, Tenby brought on Jack Guerreiro, Dan McDermott and Matthew Morgan for Jordan Asparassa, Ethan Morgan and Kieran Machin. This seemed to have the desired effect as going straight into the thick of things, Matthew Morgan linked with Ashley Sutton, Scott James and his brother Jonny in a move which was illegally brought to a halt by the stretched home defence. Unfortunately, Sutton’s attempt at goal was again wide of the target.

Another series of ambitious passes between Toby Smith and Matthew Morgan, which went horribly wrong, presented the home side with the opportunity to go for the corner, from the awarded penalty, and Tenby somehow managed to survive a series of charges for the line by the burly Pontarddulais forwards, before a loose ball was scooped up and cleared by a very alert Matthew Morgan.

With the defences of both sides not giving the ball carrier a second of thinking time, the game stuttered into life with a series of stop and starts fuelled by a sequence of knock-ons. This strange pattern was suddenly brought to a halt with Scott James and flanker Nikki Hopkins getting involved in a punch-up, which ended with referee Jones issuing the pair with a red card.

Still intent on getting a score, the home side maintained the pressure on the Tenby defence, but superb tackles by Geoff Martin and Toby Smith brought proceeding to a halt and a counter-attack led by Luke Dedman reminded the home side that with another score against, they could potentially come away from the game with nothing.

That potential nearly became a reality when, from what proved to be the last move of the match, Tenby exposed Pontarddulais on the short side with a series of short, sharp passes, which ended with Jonny Morgan crashing over wide out.

The try was not without controversy, though. Home linesman Rowland Jenkins was furiously waving his flag signifying no try for a foot in touch, but a very brave Richard Jones overruled him as referee and awarded the touchdown, as, although Morgan had momentarily crossed the touchline, he was back in play when the ball was slipped to him for the try.

With a conversion that would have taken Tenby nine points clear and resulted in the home side coming off the field with nothing to show for their efforts, the home crowd fell silent as the kick was taken by Ashley Sutton.

A relieved Pontarddulais were able to troop off with a losing bonus point, however, as the conversion attempt struck an upright and bounced clear, leaving Tenby with a deserved 17-10 victory.

This victory keeps Tenby firmly in second place in the table, with Pontarddulais maintaining top spot courtesy of their losing bonus point and thoughts of promotion (for the top two teams at the end of the season) must be blossoming, as Pontarddulais on 49 points and Tenby on 48 are slowly leaving third placed Hendy trailing on 42, with the rest of the table behind fourth-placed Tycroes, who are on a distant 33 points.

Despite the victory, the coaching team will need to give some serious thought to the place-kicking dilemma as newcomer Ashley Sutton had a day to forget and it was fortunate that the home side’s regular kicker was injured and they could not take advantage of the numerous penalties conceded, which on another day could have brought defeat.

With Llanybydder visiting Heywood Lane tomorrow (Saturday), and benefiting from a week’s lay-off, they will be keen to avenge their 31-21 home defeat back in late September.

Tenby fielded: Jonny Morgan, Greg Lees Griffiths, Toby Smith, Scott James, Jordan Asparassa (Jack Guerreiro), Ashley Sutton, Kieran Machin (Matthew Morgan), Geoff Martin, Joe Poole, Ethan Morgan (Dan McDermott), Luke Dedman, Mike Davis, Andrew Cooke, Kaumaitotoya Timoci, Luke Hansford. Reps - Dan Allen, Harry Bolton,