Hendy 27 pts

Tenby United 18

Travelling east to play unbeaten league leaders Hendy was a reverse to the last time the two teams met up, as in season 2010/11 it was Tenby United who were league leaders when they met in their successful promotion run from Division Four West up to Division Three West, coming away with a comfortable 59-20 at Maes Gwilli, but on the final run-in to the title in April, crept in with a tight 23-15 victory at Heywood Lane.

Following a two-week break due to a blank Saturday in the league programme and a bye in the first round of the WRU Plate, Tenby had a raft of changes from their last match against Llanybydder, all brought about by player unavailability, which was further impacted by the late withdrawal of Toby Smith through illness. Johnny Morgan took his place at 10, with Scott James filling in at fullback and Jack Guerreiro coming off the bench to slot in at centre and to fill his place. The previously unavailable at team selection time, Luke Dedman, was also drafted in.

Hendy were bolstered by three Carmarthen Quins players being added to their match day squad.

With the forecasted rain just about getting underway as Hendy kicked off, in this early season top-of-the-table clash, it was the home side who were under pressure initially as a quick tap and go from the first of many penalties to be awarded by a young looking referee, Lloyd Hughes, saw scrum-half Matthew Morgan slice through their defence and from a second penalty, for not retreating the necessary 10 metres, brother Johnny put Tenby three points up, which was just the start the black and scarlets needed.

However, the lead was short-lived as at the first scrum of the afternoon, Tenby were shoved off their own put-in by Hendy, who earned a penalty for their efforts, which Josh Batcup slotted to level the scores at 3-3.

In the next passage of play, Johnny Morgan was mysteriously yellow-carded and from the resulting penalty, Batcup took Hendy into a 6-3 lead.

Stung by this double whammy, Tenby pressurised the home defence into giving away another penalty as good work by Scott James and Luke Hansford forced an infringement, but Scott was off target with his attempt.

Following on from this, though, the whistle of referee Hughes sounded again for another penalty and this time his kick was successful to level the scores at 6-6.

Hendy went straight on the attack from the restart and a penalty for holding by the tackler was compounded by a bit of backchat by a retreating Tenby player and from 10 metres nearer the posts, Batcup gave his side a 9-6 lead with his third successful kick.

There then followed a mad couple of minutes when skipper Hansford was penalised for holding one of the home players back. The resulting penalty took play deep into the Tenby half and from what must have been deemed by referee Hughes as blatantly offside, by flanker Andrew Cooke, resulted in a second yellow card.

From the lineout that followed the penalty, Hendy surged over the line with a well-executed drive, with hooker and captain Chris Bowen claiming the touchdown. Batcup was successful with his conversion and the home side were now 16-6 up.

Hendy continued to dominate and Tenby were fortunate not to go further in arrears when from an attack that tested their defence to the full, yet another penalty was awarded when a tackled home player tried to roll the necessary five metres to the try line when a pop pass to his supporting unmarked colleague before the tackle would have been a certain seven-pointer.

Despite still being under the cosh at scrum time, number eight Barry Parsons worked wonders picking up the ball at a retreating scrum and split the home defence with a surging run and popped the ball to Scott James, who cleverly worked Jordan Asparassa clear for the winger to outrun the scrambling home defence and cross the line. With Johnny Morgan adding the extras, Hendy now only led 16-13.

The dying minutes of the half were all Tenby, aided by referee Hughes dishing out his third yellow card of the day to home centre Ceiran James, and exploiting the advantage of the extra man, a slick Tenby threequarter movement was only spoiled when the final scoring pass was knocked-on, which brought an exciting half to a close as the rain turned from slightly annoying to bordering torrential.

As they finished the first half, it was all Tenby at the start of what turned out to be a very, very wet second half, again aided by referee Hughes, who yellow carded a second Hendy player as he illegally prevented the black and scarlets from exploiting another burst from the base of the scrum by Parsons.

Ignoring the opportunity of a shot at goal, Tenby took the scrum option against a pack weakened by the sending-off and quick ball from the scrum ended with Scott James crossing the whitewash, giving the lead back to Tenby at 18-16.

Despite having the player advantage, Tenby failed to capitalise on several well-worked opportunities and it took a crunching tackle by Mark Heywood to prevent the home side from retaking the lead.

Continuing his regular use of the yellow card, it was captain Luke Hansford who was sent to the well used naughty step by referee Hughes and Hendy nearly made Tenby pay for this when Batcup made a searing break and, just as it seemed all he had to do was flop over the line as he was tackled to score, he inexplicably tried the miracle pass to his unmarked winger and the ball sailed over the deadball line.

With the final quarter looming, Tenby brought some fresh legs on the park, with Dan Colley replacing hard-working Mark Heywood and making his 119th appearance Justin Richards for the tiring Alex Thomas.

Tenby were being put under immense pressure by the home side as they tried to retake the lead, not helped by Richards giving away two quick penalties which presented Hendy with the opportunity to gain valuable yards from clearing kicks.

An attempt to run the ball from behind the goal-line, when a kick up field was needed, saw Matthew Morgan tackled and from the resulting maul, Richards committed the cardinal sin of playing the Hendy player at the base of the breakdown before the ball emerged and his brief involvement ended with an invitation by referee Hughes to be the next player to warm the well used naughty step.

Hendy regained the lead at 19-18 with the resulting penalty by Batcup.

Exploiting their man advantage at the next scrum, Hendy really tested the battling Tenby side and, switching play from one side to the other with a series of pick and goes from the breakdowns by their big forwards, created the opportunity for lively scrum-half Ifan Beynon Thomas to snipe over for a crucial try and a 24-18 lead.

With time running out, Tenby sadly ended the game with another back-chatting player offering Batcup an easier shot at goal from the awarded penalty, and he slotted his fifth successful kick to extend the lead to 27-18 and rob Tenby of coming away with at least a losing bonus point.

The score could have been worse as, in the final move of the game, a long kick by Batcup was fielded by Jordon Asparassa over the try-line and instead of touching the ball down, he picked it up and attempted to run. Having just crossed the line, he was tackled by a chasing Hendy player and his panic pass, to a supporting Tenby player, fortunately brushed referee Hughes just before it was scooped up by a Hendy player who dived over the line - try luckily (for Tenby) disallowed.

This was a game Tenby could and should have won, despite non-existent lineout ball and a malfunctioning scrum, but technical offences and sloppy ball handling at critical times prevented them from building up a lead that would have kept them in front, despite the efforts of the home side.

But it was not to be, and although still very early in the season, this defeat saw Tenby slide from second to fourth it what is a very tight league. With referee Hughes being assessed by Nigel Whitehouse, the game was littered with penalties (too many to count) and yellow cards (six) and ironically it was not a game that you expected to be dominated by such actions, but it was, and the coaching staff will no doubt discuss this with the players at training this week, in preparation for tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) home against Tycroes, reminding them that a high penalty count against for indiscipline makes winning more difficult and back-chat does not get a referee to change his decision - it gets compounded by an additional 10 metres!

Tenby: Scott James, Moritz Neumann, Jack Guerreiro, Mark Heywood (Dan Colley), Jordon Asparassa, Matthew Morgan, Johnny Morgan, Rob Clark, Joe Poole, Lyndon Jones, Alex Thomas, Mike Davis (Mostyn Richards), Andrew Cooke, Barry Parsons, Luke Hansford (capt). Replacements - Dan McDermott, Dan Allen, Luke Dedman.

The Magnificent Seven!

As mentioned in the match write-up, it was back in 2011 when Tenby United last crossed swords with Hendy, and playing in those not so far off days were Jimmy Davies, Nicky Guymer, Wyndham Williams, Dai Meyrick Gareth Edwards, Harry Bolton and Will Crockford, who between them have racked up exactly 1,000 games for the black and scarlets at first team level. This ‘magnificent seven’ spent the weekend in Barcelona celebrating Dai Meyrick’s forthcoming wedding on a traditional stag weekend and asked for the score to be texted across so they could raise a glass in the general direction of Hendy to celebrate the result... whatever it was.