Tenby United 23 pts. Newcastle Emlyn 18

Tenby United notched up another hard-earned win last Saturday as they beat title hopefuls Newcastle Emlyn in a gritty and entertaining Heywood Lane battle.

The GD Harries, FBM Holidays, Molson Coors and Kiln Park sponsored United showed that when they have all their players at their disposal, they are more than a match for any team in the division, and it was their superior fitness levels and solid and well-organised defence that was to give them the edge when it counted again, just as they did the previous week in their win away at Whitland.

With the full-strength Emlyn sitting in second position in the league, having only lost twice so far this season, the title of underdogs went to the home side going into the game and for the first half they wouldn't just have to face a powerful and well-drilled side, but had the steadily increasing wind and rain in their faces too.

For the majority of the first half, the visitors launched wave on wave of attacks into the Tenby half through their heavy forwards and slick back line, but the United soaked up the pressure and looked good with ball in hand too.

Emlyn led 18-5 at the interval thanks to two penalties from fullback Shaun Leonard and two well-worked tries from wingers Dan Davies and Llyr Jones, who both crossed the Tenby line, with Leonard converting one of them.

It wasn't all Emlyn, however, as Tenby's excellent first half try came after the hard-working pack had secured good quality ball for scrum-half Jonathan Rogers to break away down the touchline, making defending fullback Leonard fall for no less than three dummies before he crossed the line for the unconverted try.

Despite the half-time deficit of 13 points, the Seasiders were by no means out of the game and had begun to move the heavy Teifisiders pack around the expansive Heywood Lane pitch from early on in the second half and, as their fitness started to flag, so did their discipline and they were punished by the boot of Rogers on 44 minutes when they were penalised for an infringement at the lineout, which gave the Seasiders' in-form kicker an easy three points.

The Tenby forwards took advantage of having the higher fitness levels and were begininning to dominate their opponents at the scrum, and with the pack on the front foot and supplying quality ball, it wasn't long before the home side struck through young winger Jordan Asparassa.

Asparassa's try came when strong running centre Toby Smith broke two tackles before drawing the final defender in and sending the speedster into the corner for the unconverted score.

With the Seasiders soaking up everything that the Emlyn side could throw at them through their strong, well-organised and fully committed defence, they ferociously knocked the visitors back in the tackle time and time again.

Being unable to break the Tenby defensive line, frustration showed for Emlyn again on the hour as a red card was shown to replacement lock Bleddyn Davies for alleged illegal use of the boot at a ruck after only being on the field for one minute.

Tenby United capitalised on having the extra man and fly-half Sutton used the wind to pin the ball in the visitors' half through some clever and accurate use of the boot.

As the game entered the final 10 minutes, it was the Seasiders who were looking the better value, despite the scoreboard still reading 18-13 in Emlyn's favour.

This was soon to change as the United strung together some fine phases of play, before strong-running number eight Rob Weston crashed over for a well-worked try, which man-of-the-match Rogers converted from the touchline, giving the home side the lead for the first time in the game.

Tenby United held on to their hard-earned lead and Rogers further broke the visitors' hearts and promotion hopes in the 77th minute when he landed another superb penalty from 40 metres out.

The final whistle blew to the celebrations of the faithful home supporters who had turned out in their masses, braving the elements to cheer on the Seasiders, despite the internationals on the television, and Tenby United rewarded them with the hard-fought, but wel- deserved victory of 23 points to 18.

Tenby United make the journey north to Crymych tomorrow (Saturday) for what is sure to be another hard game in Division One West, so please go along to support the boys as they look to make it three wins in a row.

Tenby fielded: Damo Miller, Jordan Asparassa, Toby Smith, Jack Guerreiro, Mark Heywood, Ashley Sutton, Jonathan Rogers, Rob Weston, Luke Hansford, Jason Ronowitz, Wyndham Wiliams (Andrew Cooke), Luke Dedman, Johnny Palmer, Gareth Jones (capt), Rob Luly (Rob Clark).