Tenby Under 7s - On Sunday, Mother’s Day, we welcomed Pontypridd to a very sunny Tenby. Both teams played brilliantly, with great tagging and fantastic tries scored. A great morning of rugby was had. Pictured are coaches Jimmy and Nick with their team of Iori, Aidan, Sonny, Dexter, Ollie P, Ollie T and Harry as team captain presenting the touring team Pontypridd with a Tenby United rugby ball.

Tenby U9s - Last Sunday saw Tenby Under 9s travel away to Carmarthen Quins. For the first time in a long time, the sun was shining and conditions were perfect for a morning of running rugby.

Led out by Carter, who was captain for the day, Tenby were ready to put the passing drills from training into practice. Tenby applied pressure from the first whistle and some big tackles by the Seasiders saw Carmarthen put into touch and possession back to Tenby.

Some great teamwork and fast hands saw Connor quickly go over for Tenby’s first try. The Seasiders kept their momentum going and some lovely running created space and allowed them to push forward and Jack to cross the line for their second try of the day.

After the restart, once again they were able to turn pressure into metres gained, placing them in a good position to allow Dylan to go over for Tenby’s third.

Carmarthen were showing determination to reply with a score of their own, but some big tackles confined them on the halfway line and unable to push forward.

Tenby’s defensive line was impressive and eventually saw them turn over ball. A smart piece of play by Carter saw him take advantage to run the length of the field and, with the whole of the Quins team chasing, dived over the line for Tenby’s fourth unanswered try.

Tenby’s confidence was growing and some impressive footwork to stop himself being tackled into touch saw Lewis sidestep infield and score under the posts.

Score in the first break in play was 5-0 to the Seasiders.

When play resumed, Tenby continued to hold their defensive line. When a dropped pass by the Quins saw Tenby regain the ball, some quick passing out wide saw Lewis cross in the corner within the first few minutes.

Carmarthen showed great spirit, though,, to hit Tenby with some consistent pressure which saw a couple of mistimed passes by Tenby and the Seasiders unable to get out of their own 22.

Finally, the Quins were rewarded when their pressure allowed them to score their first try.

Tenby replied quickly, when from the restart, a lovely pop pass from Rhys saw Harry find a gap and run from the halfway line to score.

Tenby continued to play a running game, attempting to move the ball as much as possible. This was finally rewarded when a gap in Carmarthen’s defence saw Jaiden use his speed to break through and score.

This had the score stand at 8-1 in the next break in play.

At the start of the final period, it was Carmarthen who came out and started to build-up pressure on the Seasiders’ try-line and saw them finally cross for their second try of the morning.

Time running out, Tenby were not going to let the game end on that note and replied with a passage of play which saw the ball again being passed out wide and space created and this allowed Connor to go over for the last try of the game.

Final score was 9-2 to Tenby. A great win going into the build-up for this weekend’s tournament in Narberth.

Tenby U10s - Beautiful sunshine welcomed a touring team from Pontypridd to the town on Sunday to face a 13-strong squad from the Under 10s. Playing 10-a-side, Tenby used three rolling subs throughout the match.

It was a competitive start, with frequent scrums early on and possession changing hands regularly, with lots of big tackles being made by both teams.

It was very clear from the outset that the visitors were very well-drilled and able to pass the ball swiftly, as well as accurately and subsequently made good use of the width of the pitch. They ran really well with the ball in hand, plus they were quick, and strong, in every ruck. The Seasiders certainly had their work cut out for them!

Despite Tenby working hard to make good tackles, Pontypridd were quick at recycling the ball and pass it out wide again, Tenby being caught off guard on a number of occasions with poor marking, allowing Pontypridd to penetrate the defence and score. Unfortunately, the visitors capitalised on every little moment of Tenby’s hesitation and any mistakes and the scoreline was quickly rising to our detriment!

Eddie, Rhydian and Tom Y tackled hard and also worked well together to hold the ball up right on the try-line on one occasion, Derri and Ieuan were quick to pounce on any loose balls, while Cody and Iwan used their bodyweight and showed great determination, running hard straight at the defence to make ground whenever possible.

With Tenby struggling a little to get the ball out wide, there were limited opportunities for Rhys E, Keaton and Finn to use their pace to much effect, but the few chances they had, they did well to make inroads into the Pontypridd half.

Jobe performed his by now characteristic monster tackle: timing his tackle brilliantly to lift one of their biggest players (much taller and heavier than him) up off his feet and causing them to spill the ball. Awesome! Ollie showed both pace on getting to the tackles and then rucking well, while George showed good spatial awareness in the line, passing the ball well in both directions as necessary.

Despite all Tenby’s best efforts, however, they were trailing by eight tries at half-time.

The second half was rather different, thankfully, with Tenby finally having switched on! The defence was so much more organised and the visitors weren’t finding the same gaps to penetrate like they had in the previous half. Tenby were quicker to and stronger in the ruck, so were able to steal possession back on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, they were also still slow to protect the ball and lay it back when they were tackled, so frequently lost possession themselves when they went down to ground with the ball in hand.

Eddie lifted the Seasiders’ spirits with a brilliant run from his own try-line, keeping his cool and showing blistering pace as a number of defenders zeroed in on him as they cut across to try and stop him. Thankfully, they failed and Tenby had their first point on the score sheet!

Pontypridd still kept up their ferocious attack, but Tenby were able to stand strong in defence and absorb the pressure well for a prolonged period. The visitors’ perseverance paid off eventually, however, with a ninth try their reward.

Tenby, to their credit, refused to give up and kept their heads held high, attacking whenever possible. Jobe and Eddie linked well, with Jobe getting tackled just shy of the line. Derri and Ewan showed good hands in collecting passes that went a bit wayward and Finn displayed his speed in a strong run.

With a great period of sustained pressure by Tenby, Pontypridd waere on the backfoot and Cody used his weight and height to good effect and successfully drove hard for the line - Tenby had their second try!

More nice pieces of linked play between Rhydian, Tom and Finn saw Keaton hare off down the wing, but unfortunately he got bundled into touch before he could get to the try-line. Tom was also very unlucky not to get his name on the scoresheet, while Eddie, Iwan, Jobe, Rhydian and Ollie continued to make some cracking tackles to keep the ball in the visitors’ half.

Good team work and great determination from all was rewarded when Cody again pushed through the Pontypridd defence to get his second try of the match.

All in all, a far better second half performance by Tenby, with a final score of 9-3 to Pontypridd.

Squad: Tom Y, Jobe, Ollie B, Cody, Derri, George, Rhys E, Keaton, Eddie, Ieuan, Rhydian, Finn and Iwan.

Under 8s - Tenby Swifts Under 8s welcomed tourists Pontypridd RFC to The Clicketts last weekend.

The Swifts were led by captain Iori Hart.

The game was defended beautifully by both teams and their passing was excellent; however, Tenby performed better on the day, with Madoc Evans orchestrating the attacking lines and leading the way in defence.

Tries came from Evan C (6), Ethan L (4), Will H (4), Rhys B (2), Ollie T (2), Osian E (2), Madoc E (2), Corey S (1) and Tyler J (1).

Man of the match went to Jack Henson, who was picked out by the Pontypridd coach.

Well done to all the players and massive thanks to Pontypridd who made the long journey down.

Under 11s - Last weekend saw Tenby Swifts U11s host a touring team from Pontypridd at the Clicketts.

A hotbed of valleys rugby and with many ex-Welsh internationals beginning their rugby life at ‘Ponty’, this was always going to be a stern test for the young Seasiders, and so it proved with the away team’s size and speed causing the Swifts early problems.

But the home side responded fantastically to the challenge, with forwards and backs alike showing great skill, determination and team work to come out on top in a thoroughly entertaining game by 35 points to 30.

Team was Ciaran, Josh, Dylan, Cameron, Kyle, Duane-Lee, Iori B, Iorri R, Alex, Ollie, Miller and Fletcher.

Many thanks to referee Jack Gooding for doing a fine job in officiating.