Loughor 45 pts.

Tenby United 29

Frustration continued for G. D. Harries & Sons sponsored Tenby United last Saturday when they travelled to fellow basement battlers Loughor for a game they knew they could and should have won.

They even had extra troops on board in the shape of former Seasider Jonathan Rogers, filling the number 10 jersey, and another local boy in talented second row Alex Jenkins, who both came in from Narberth to help the United in their search for a first win of the season.

All seemed to be going to plan for the majority of the first half and the early unconverted Loughor try scored by another Narberth player in Laurence Hedlam, who was back at his home club on permit for the day, didn’t bother the Seasiders and they soon took control of the game in every area.

With Rogers controlling the territory and putting the United within striking range of the Loughor line, it wasn’t long before they did strike with their first score of the day.

Powerful centre pairing of Mark Heywood and Moritz Neumann did the initial damage to the hosts’ defensive line, with Neumann breaking through before offloading to Heywood, who broke three tackles and then got the ball to Rogers, who linked with ssecond rower Luke Dedman to gallop in under the posts for the try, which Rogers easily converted, putting the United two points ahead after nine minutes of play.

The visitors were by now putting sustained pressure on the home team through wave after wave of attacks and each time Rogers used the boot to gain territorial advantage, the chasing backline caused the nervous looking Loughor back three to make mistakes, and it was from one such kick and chase that the Seasiders scored their next try.

Rogers’s kick was fumbled by the Loughor fullback and, before he knew it, the back row of Timoci Kaumaitotoya, Alex Thomas and stand-in skipper Rob Weston were on the ball and scrum-half Dan Thomas whipped it away for Rogers to launch a counter-attack.

Rogers chipped ahead for Greg Lees Griffiths to chase down from the right wing and the pressure was again too much for the home defence as the attempted catch was knocked forward for Lees Griffiths to gather and cross for the Rogers converted try.

Five minutes later, Rogers extended the United’s lead to 17-5 with a well-struck penalty from the halfway line and the growing Tenby United confidence was becoming too much for the Loughor outfit to deal with.

Loughor managed to score a well-worked try of their own on the half-hour mark and it was open-side flanker Tom J. Davies who touched down for the unconverted try after a powerful lineout drive from the home side got him over the line.

It was the Seasiders, however, who had the last word of the first half when sustained pressure from all eight forwards created the perfect platform for Thomas and Rogers to unleash strong running Neumann and, with the giant of a centre taking the ball in the wide channels, he wasn’t going to be stopped on his way in for the try. Rogers added the extras and closed the half with the United 24 points to 10 ahead and looking good value for the much-anticipated first win.

The home side knew that they had to strike early if they were going to claw their way back into the game and that they did within four minutes of the second half.

They used their go to driving lineout to good effect on 44 minutes and prop Peter Francis claimed the score, which fullback Tom R. Davies converted from the touchline.

Things were still going according to the Seasiders’ script, though, as Luke Dedman grabbed his second try of the game when he took the ball on the blindside of a ruck and galloped in at corner. The try went unconverted, but gave the United a much-needed bonus point and a comfortable 29-17 lead.

With 20 minutes left on the clock, all the visitors had to do was control the game as they had done for the last hour and run the clock down, but things didn’t go to plan at all.

The United seemed to go to sleep and allowed Loughor centre Tristan Davies to canter in for a try, virtually unopposed, and Davies added the conversion to narrow the gap and put his side’s tails up as they could see cracks forming in the Seasiders’ defence, especially when the orchestrator of their attacks, Jonathan Rogers, was forced to leave the field with a dead leg.

Disaster struck for Tenby just three minutes later when Loughor lock Tim Butler crossed for a try, which Davies again converted to put his side into the lead.

Both sides seemed to be in disbelief as the Seasiders had totally dominated the majority of the game and Loughor knew that they had been let off and took every chance they got.

With a newfound belief, the home side seemed to get into their stride and a wayward pass from a United back was intercepted by the nippy Laurence Hedlam, who ran in unopposed for the score which, along with the Davies conversion, put the home team out of Tenby’s reach and they put any chance of them gaining a losing bonus point out of sight shortly after, too, when flanker Tom J. Davies crossed for his second try after another driving lineout muscled the visitors’ pack.

Tom R. Davies slotted the conversion to the sound of the referee’s final whistle and what was definitely a game of two halves was brought to a close, much to the delight of the home supporters and much to the horror of the Seasiders’ contingent.

Tenby United have nine league games left to turn their season around and will have to start with a win tomorrow (Saturday) when they welcome Llanelli Wanderers to Heywood Lane for a 2.30 pm kick-off.

Tenby United fielded: Scott James, Greg Lees Griffiths, Moritz Neumann, Mark Heywood, Jack Guerreiro, Jonathan Rogers (Sam Davies), Dan Thomas (Nathan Lowe), Rob Weston (capt.), Alex Thomas, Timoci Kaumaitotoya, Alex Jenkins, Luke Dedman, Rob Luly, Chris Francis (Dan Allen), Lyndon Jones, Ethan Morgan.