Tumble 24 pts.

Tenby United 46

Andrew Price, Molson Coors and FBM Holidays Sponsored Tenby United travelled to Tumble on Saturday full of confidence following their 27-9 win over Llandeilo the week before.

The Seasiders did eventually put a shaky start behind them and ran in a total of seven tries, easily securing the maximum try bonus point before half-time in an extremely entertaining game against a Tumble side who like to play a very similar expansive and free-running style of rugby as them.

It was Tumble who put the first points on the board after just two minutes of play, which set the alarm bells ringing for Tenby as they ran in an easy try after some slack Seasiders tackling allowed Magpies winger Gareth Jones the almost uninterrupted touchdown in the corner, which went unconverted.

The Seasiders didn't panic, though, and hit back almost immediately through outside-half and man-of-the-match Lloyd Thomas, who went in for a try on five minutes, promising the large crowd of supporters an afternoon of quality rugby.

Thomas scored his try as the result of an excellent Tenby attack, which saw winger Dan Colley catch a failed Tumble kick for touch and he took it right back into the heart of the Magpies' defence with a strong run.

With fullback Aled Bowen in support, the ball was moved to hard-running flanker Pat Roberts, who also made good yards before going to ground.

The support of acting skipper Nicky Guymer and second row Luke Dedman meant that Will Crockford had his hands on good quality ruck ball and was able to move it to Thomas who brought Roy Osborn up the middle, who almost made the line himself; he managed to get the ball away to the looping Thomas, who dummied his way through two would-be defenders to touch down for an unconverted try, levelling the scores.

The next score came only four minutes later and it was an all hands backs move that sent Tumble winger Gareth Jones in again for his second try, which fullback Steve Hewitt converted, giving the home side the lead again on nine minutes.

Tenby flanker Timoci Kaumatotya, on permit from Narberth, was the next to cross the whitewash following a dominant Tenby scrummage.

The Seasiders stole the ball against the head on a Tumble put-in thanks to the ever-punishing Robert Clarke putting his opposite number off balance, allowing the rest of the Tenby eight to push the Magpies off the ball.

Number eight Sam Smith picked up from the back and went blind on a trademark run and, drawing the defending flanker in, he unleashed scrum-half Crockford on the burst, who offloaded to Kaumatotya, who crashed over in the corner.

Centre Thomas Lewis slotted the extra two points, levelling the score once more at 12 points apiece.

Tenby's Osborn claimed the restart and got the ball wide to Thomas, who was a danger in attack and defence all day; he broke through a tackle and threw the ball to powerful centre Toby Smith, who broke the gain line with a strong run.

Tumble, however, stopped Tenby recycling quick ball by going offside and using their hands in the ruck, which the referee spotted and penalised them for.

So against the earlier run of play, it was the Seasiders who claimed the next points through a Thomas Lewis penalty on the halfway line, which put Tenby in front for the first time in the game.

The Seasiders had certainly weathered the early attacks from Tumble and were starting to dominate the game as the Magpies seemed to be running out of ideas in attack and having to defend with everything they had to keep the Tenby side from scoring.

They couldn't hold the impressive Seasiders out for long, though, as a Pat Roberts lineout meant that Crockford was sending clean ball out to the threequarters again and the ball went to Thomas, who brought Lewis into the line and he in turn got the ball wide to Toby Smith, who made ground before sending Colley the pass, who was happy to run the try in and Lewis was just as happy to add the extras, giving Tenby a comfortable 22 points to 12 lead after half-an-hour.

It was through excellent team play that Tenby's next try came and the ball seemed to be touched by almost every pair of Seasiders' hands, including a dummy thrown by prop Rob Clarke that Phil Bennett himself would have been proud of.

Roberts crossed for the well-deserved try and for the bonus point. Lewis again added the conversion and Tenby United went into the interval 27-12 up.

Just as in the first half, it was Tumble who registered the first points of the second half, through winger Nicky Allinson, who rounded off an impressive move which went through the entire backline. Hewitt was unable to add the conversion.

Tenby settled back into their game and notched up another fine try by Thomas Lewis after good awareness allowed Kaumatotya to intercept a long Tumble pass and quick hands from the Fijian sent Lewis cantering in for the try under the posts.

Lewis also kicked the conversion and extended the Seasiders' lead to 36 points to 17.

It was Lewis's boot that began to dictate the play as the clock ticked down, pinning the home side deep in their own half with some huge positional kicks.

This meant that Tenby were able to pressurise the Magpies and play all the rugby away from any danger.

This paid off on the hour when winger Stanford caught the ball on the right-hand touchline and managed to jink and dodge his way across the pitch and send Colley in for his second try of the match.

Despite an unsuccessful conversion attempt the Seasiders held a comfortable lead going into the last twenty minutes.

Tenby made some changes and brought on the replacements in a bid to close the game out with fresh legs on the field.

Chris Heesom came onto the wing for Stanford, Rob Fairlie on at hooker for a well-played Guymer, Lyndon Jones came on at prop for Johnny Palmer following an excellent game in the loose, and the final replacement was Shaz Ali, who replaced Colley, who had also left his mark and 10 points on the pitch.

Despite finding themselves having to defend for the majority of the second half, Tumble did manage to pick up a bonus point with their fourth try of the game too.

This came on 72 minutes, courtesy of centre Daniel Mathias, following a blindside move off a lineout. Hewitt added the extra two points.

Tenby United had the last say, though, when Dedman rounded off another all hands move to score a well-earned try after working hard all day in the set-piece and in broken play.

The try went unconverted as the referee blew for full-time, but Tenby United ran out comfortable winners by 48 points to 24.

United squad: Aled Bowen, Simon Stanford (Chris Heesom), Thomas Lewis, Toby Smith, Dan Colley (Shaz Ali), Lloyd Thomas, Will Crockford, Sam Smith, Timoci Kaumatotya, Pat Roberts, Luke Dedman, Roy Osborn, Johnny Palmer (Lyndon Jones), Nicky Guymer, capt. (Rob Fairlie), Rob Clarke.

Tenby United entertain Amman United tomorrow (Saturday) at Heywood Lane in an eagerly-awaited league clash. Please make the effort to come and support the boys in this top-of-the-table game.