Tenby United 29 pts.

Gorseinon 20

Tenby United bounced straight back to winning ways, giving 100 per cent effort from start to finish in their last home game of the season, with an excellent victory over a strong Gorseinon side on Saturday in front of a large crowd of supporters at their Heywood Lane ground.

It was a combination of skill coupled with the confidence to play expansive rugby, a gritty period of defence and a poor show of discipline from their opponents that saw the FBM Holidays, Andrew Price and Molson Cooors sponsored United earn the important win.

The Seasiders won the game thanks to a bonus point earning four tries, three conversions and a penalty, compared to Gorseinon's three tries, one conversion and one penalty.

Eager to reward the large band of home support, the Seasiders were determined to entertain and in doing so, sometimes made it a little more difficult for themselves than it needed to be, right from the off running phases from deep within their own 22 and making the visitors have to chase the game and defend frantically in the heat of the April sunshine.

This didn't take long to pay-off as talented outside-half Lloyd Thomas danced his way over for the home side's first try after just four minutes, leaving six or seven visiting defenders bewildered as he weaved his way past them on, and in doing so was tripped up blatantly by a Gorseinon player as he crossed the line.

It was an offence that referee Chris Lewis, of Crynant, deemed worthy of a penalty try and so awarded the score to the United between the uprights.

Despite the penalty try being awarded, it will always be claimed by Thomas after a superb solo effort in crossing the whitewash in the beginning.

Thomas added the conversion, giving the Seasiders the early lead.

Tenby continued to dominate the game by running pretty much everything when their solid pack won quality ball for scrum-half Will Crockford to give to the backline to do with as they pleased and they made inroads into Gorseinon territory every time.

It was through this that Tenby's second try came, courtesy of winger Aled Bowen, who must have thought for a minute that he was still skiing the slalom in Canada when he, too, weaved in and out of visiting defenders after running a fine angle and taking the ball on the Gorseinon 22.

Bowen left defenders all over the turf as he effortlessly went in for the try which Thomas converted on 16 minutes.

The home side didn't have it all their own way in the first half, though, and seemed to ease off around the half-hour mark, which was a big mistake against a very well-drilled and talented Gorseinon outfit, who turned the tables to run at the Seasiders, and caused them big trouble during a very long and solid 10-minute attack on the United try line.

Despite a massive defensive effort from the Seasiders, led by skipper Richard Rossiter, keeping Gorseinon at bay no matter what they threw at them, with huge tackles coming in from Rossiter, hooker Gareth Jones, number eight Pat Roberts, along with Roy Osborn and Jason Ronowitz up front and Thomas, Greg Caine and Dan Colley behind, the visitors managed to cross the Tenby line during the last play of the half through winger Damien Rowe.

Rowe's try went unconverted, bringing the first half to an end with the home side in the lead 14 points to five.

The Seasiders were forced into defence mode from the restart with a now confident Gorseinon 15 really trying to take third place from the Seasiders, and onlookers thought they might have done so following two further tries in a 10-minute spell, one through prop Ben Cross, which was converted by Tim O'Kelly, and an unconverted second try from winger Rowe, giving their side the lead on the hour mark.

Rossiter rallied his troops, however, and made it clear to the Seasiders that their guests had had their 20 minutes of fun and it was now time to dig deep and regain control of the game and he led as he has throughout his playing career from the front.

The United struck back almost immediately with another fine try from Lloyd Thomas, but this time it was more of a team effort, with slick hands from forwards and backs getting them within striking distance.

Thomas finished the movement off with a trademark dummy after receiving a pass from Roberts five yards out. The score went without the conversion.

Gorseinon's O'Kelly edged his side back to within one point of the home side on 63 minutes, but it would prove to be the visitors' last score of the afternoon as the now dominant Tenby pack were controlling possession and making it hard for the visitors to get any foothold in the last 15 minutes of the game.

Frustration led to indiscipline for Gorseinon and they conceded another penalty try on 65 minutes when Crockford was denied a certain touchdown through a dangerously high tackle. The man in the middle was in no doubt as to the severity of the challenge and the fact that Crockford was over the line when he was almost beheaded as he raised his arm under the uprights for the second time. Thomas landed the extras, putting the game further away from the visitors.

More poor discipline cost Gorseinon dearly as a yellow card offence saw them having to play the remaining eight minutes with 14 men.

Thomas slotted the resulting penalty and put the home side 29 points to 20 in the lead.

The Seasiders finished their last home fixture with a performance that the young squad could be proud of, running out winners 29-20 against a solid outfit.

As it was the last time this season the United's 1st XV will run out on Heywood Lane, they would all like to thank Mo Crockford for supplying both home and away sides with half-time oranges for another full campaign. The boys are extremely grateful for Mo's continued support and refreshment.

Tenby United end their league season tomorrow (Saturday) with a trip to Pontarddulais to play the rearranged fixture from December 29.

This will surely be a very entertaining game and the win is vital if the Seasiders are to cement themselves into finishing in a very respectable third place in a very tight and hard division. Please come along to Pontarddulais and support the boys who will kick-off at 2.30 pm.

Saturday's match sponsor was Mr. D. Busby, of Wales Environmental, and TURFC are forever grateful to Dave and to all the other businesses and organisations that have supported the club throughout the season.

Without the generosity and support of local businesses through sponsorship and donations, it would be impossible to run rugby sides at every age level from U7s right through to 1st team. Thanks to all who supported us during the 2012-13 season.

Tenby United fielded: Dan Colley, Greg Lees Griffiths (Kial Keane), Greg Caine, Jack Guerreiro (Simon Stanford), Aled Bowen, Lloyd Thomas, Will Crockford, Pat Roberts, Jason Ronowitz, Richard Rossiter (ccapt), Roy Osborn, Luke Dedman, Johnny Palmer (Lee Tucker), Gareth Jones (Wyndham Williams), Rob Clark, Sam Davies.