Penclawdd 14 pts. Tenby United 3

Andrew Price, FBM Holidays, Molson Coors and GD Harries sponsored Tenby United were edged off the top spot in Division Three West on Saturday after a hard fought battle against not only a very experienced and determined Penclawdd, but against conditions that many teams and officials would have deemed unplayable.

With storm force winds reported as gusting up to 100 mph and horizontal driving rain in their faces, the Seasiders started well, with the forwards showing determination and looking to get the upper hand early on in what was only ever going to be a forward orientated battle, with the conditions defying any attempt from either side to try and spread the ball to their backlines.

After securing good position and working tirelessly through phase after phase in the opening minutes, the Tenby eight were dealt a crushing blow as the referee awarded the Cocklemen a penalty on the five-minute mark, which was struck from the halfway line and with a little assistance from the wind dropped over the crossbar to give the home side the early lead.

The Seasiders' forwards were not going to let the early score knock their confidence as they packed down for the first scrum of the game. They turned the home pack and took the possession, allowing Lloyd Thomas to clear the ball from the outside-half position.

With both sides now finding it extremely difficult to string more than three passes together in what felt like a tornado, it was becoming a real battle up front from two dogged sets of forwards, with the United chipping away at the yards with some good tight pick and drive play and were starting to threaten the Cocklemen's try line, which was a real achievement.

Despite the Seasiders' efforts in getting deep into Penclawdd territory following some very hard work from the pack led by skipper Chris James, they soon found themselves a further three points down after a penalty was awarded against them and well-kicked by the home side's fly-half.

This was the tail of the entire half in fact. Tenby United would battle to secure possession and work through the phases to get within striking range, only for an offence to undo it all and put the Cocklemen further in front.

The sides broke for the halftime oranges and 10 minutes shelter from the relentless wind and rain with the score being nine-nil in Penclawdd's favour.

The second half was a carbon copy of the first, but the other way round, with Penclawdd's forwards dominating possession and playing into the now even stronger gales that the Gower was throwing at them.

The United managed three points early on in the second half after a well thought out and struck dropped goal from outside-half Lloyd Thomas.

It was stern defence and pride from every single Tenby player that kept the Cocklemen from crossing the whitewash for most of the half in a game where both teams did well to last the 80 minutes.

The only try of the match came after 72 minutes, after the now injury-hit Seasiders had lost both Johnny Palmer and his replacement Rob Clark. This meant that, following a controversial ruling from the match official in preventing them bringing on a replacement for the injured Clerk, the United were forced to play the last 13 minutes of the game with only 14 players on the pitch.

The extra man and the home advantage stretched the Seasiders' defence too far and the Penclawdd prop crashed over in the corner, much to the delight of his team-mates and the home crowd of supporters,

The try went unconverted and the final score was Penclawdd 14 points Tenby United three.

The United players would like to thank all of the supporters who travelled up and braving the conditions to cheer them on.

Despite being knocked off the top spot by just a single point in the league after a game that didn't really reflect the abilities of either side, the Seasiders will be working even harder to make sure that they keep the season on track and will take plenty of positives out of the game.

The United travel to Whitland tomorrow (Saturday) to take on the Division One West side in the Pembrokeshire KO Cup, with kick-off being at the slightly earlier than usual time of 2 pm due to the Wales v South Africa international at Cardiff later in the day.

Tenby fielded: Aled Bowen, Damo Miller, Jack Guerreiro, Dai Meyrick, Dan Colley, Lloyd Thomas, Jonathan Rogers, Sam Smith, Luke Hansford (Luke Dedman), Pat Roberts, Chris James (c), Roy Osborn, John Palmer (Rob Clark), Gareth Jones, Geoff Martin.