Tenby United 26 pts. Pembroke 19

In a typical first of season game littered with missed tackles, wrong options and messy set plays, Tenby United scraped home in a well-attended Pembrokeshire County Cup encounter at Heywood Lane on Wednesday evening. The close score highlights that neither side dominated play and, with five newcomers in their team, the home side at least came away with a winning start following last year’s poor season.

Kicking-off, Pembroke made their intentions very clear by attempting to get their backs into action, which was countered by some resolute home defence, while Tenby repeated the approach when they gained possession - so a running game was promised.

In the early stages the game was littered with penalties at the breakdown, but Tenby were the first to break the deadlock when, aided by some woeful missed tackles, Tenby centre Mark Heywood powered his was over the line for the initial score of the game, which was converted by Jack Guerreiro and a 7-0 lead.

Pembroke were under pressure following this score as Tenby went on the attack and a harsh yellow card for a crunching tackle by Dom Coleman didn’t help their cause, but they defended well and no score was added while down to 14 players, with halfbacks Toby Smith and Lewys Gibby and wing Barrie John keeping Tenby on their toes with some enterprising play.

Tenby countered with attacks of their own, with Jordon Asparassa, Scott James and Luke Dedman prominent.

With the first half drawing to a close, Pembroke were rewarded with a try down to a searing break by Jack Parkinson, who linked with Cyle Weatherhall, who went over, and with Toby Smith adding the extras, a tight game seemed to be heading for a 7-7 draw at half-time.

However, a huge speculative kick by Johnny Morgan and a wicked (and kind) bounce saw the fullback canter home for a try down to his eager chase, which was converted by Jack Guerreiro and it was oranges and Tenby in the lead by 14-7.

The start of the second half followed the same pattern of the first half, with both sides trying to run the ball and one searing touchline run by Tenby flanker Andrew Cooke was snuffled out with a poor inside pass going to ground and Pembroke mopping up the loose ball.

It was Cooke, however, who was involved minutes later when he was yellow carded. Pembroke were applying pressure camped on the Tenby line, with a previous favourite of the home crowd Sam Smith prominent, when Cookie transgressed, and this was immediately followed by Jack Guerreiro, who played the Pembroke number nine at the breakdown, and the home side were down to 13 players for the following nine minutes.

From the scrum taken for the penalty, big Sam obliged and crashed over, but surprisingly brother Toby fluffed his conversion attempt and Tenby came away from the encounter still leading at 14-12

Undeterred by being two players down, Scott James drifted through some weary Pembroke attempted tackles and linked with newcomer Mike Davis, who slid over for try number three and, with Johnny Morgan successfully taking over the kicking duties for the absent Guerreiro, Tenby went into a 21-12 lead.

Pembroke started to capitalise on their numeric advantage and the home side came under siege from a series of scrums on the Tenby line, which inevitably ended up with burly Sam Smith grabbing his second try. With brother Toby atoning for his initial missed conversion, Pembroke closed the gap to 21-19 and the match entered a very tense last quarter.

Back up to 15 players, defences held firm, being aided by some early season wrong options, one classic being a clear four-man overlap being ignored by Tenby when the ball carrier decided to try to beat the last line of defence.

Anotrher break through eventually came, though, when from a quick tap and go, home captain Luke Hansford crashed over for an unconverted try, extending the lead to 26-19.

A last ditch effort by Pembroke to rescue the game was halted by a superb tackle by wing Dan Colley as the referee brought proceedings to a close and Tenby progressed to round two of the Pembrokeshire County Cup

Tenby United: Johnny Morgan, Dan Colley, Jack Guerreiro, Mark Heywood, Jordan Asparassa, Scott James, Matthew Morgan, Rob Clark, Joe Poole, Ethan Morgan, Luke Dedman, Mike Davis, Andrew Cooke, Luke Hansford (capt), Barry Parsons. Reps - Dan Allen, Wes Bonser, Rob Luly, Wyndham Williams, Alex Thomas, Dan Thomas, Conner Ennis.

Pembroke: Luke Hartland, Barrie John, Jack Parkinson, Pello Williams, James Skeels, Toby Smith, Lewys Gibby, Lloyd Davies, Seamus Wiseman, Johnny Palmer, Will Edwards, Cyle Weatherhall, Dom Coleman, Jordan Gwilliam (capt), Sam Smith. Reps - Jamie Brayford, Max Hayward, Scott Powell, Harry Owen, Billy Wood, Tom Kinnear, Darren Gilbert.