Carmarthen Athletic 15 - Tenby United 30: Taking a break from their usual demanding Saturday Division One West league programme, FBM sponsored Tenby United travelled the short distance to Division Two outfit Carmarthen Athletic to play in the first round of the WRU Plate competition, taking the opportunity to field a team of regulars mixed with some fringe players yet to get a starting slot.

Despite the changes, the coaching team were hoping that the selected side would start the game as they finished the previous week’s defeat against Gowerton, and virtually from the off it was evident that their target was to be achieved in some style.

With the game starting in superb conditions for running rugby, Tenby were soon on the defensive as the home side gave them a taste of what was to come for most of the afternoon, with their bulky forwards setting up a series of one player out bosh tactics, with the United defence, as it has done for most of the season, comfortably defending their line.

Stealing possession, Tenby switched play to the other end of the field, with Ashley Murdoch, Jack Parkinson and Jason Ronowitz prominent, forcing Carmarthen to concede an early penalty, which Lloyd Thomas duly converted into a 0-3 lead.

Maintaining the pressure, next it was wing Jordan Asparassa who tested the home defence as he hounded fullback Sion Brook following up a high up-and-under put in by Lloyd Thomas, but the home side handled the threat and from their next bout of one out bosh rugby, drew level as Tenby strayed offside at the breakdown and Karl Williams levelled the scores at 3-3 with the penalty awarded by referee Evans.`

Responding to this score, Tenby went straight on the attack from the restart and a superb outside break on the blindside of the breakdown by flanker Jason Ronowitz found Ashley Murdoch on his inside and the winger crossed for the first try of the afternoon. With Thomas successful with the conversion, Tenby regained the lead at 3-10.

As the half progressed, it was evident that Carmarthen had a simple game plan - secure the ball and feed it to an onrushing forward who would simply attempt to crash through the defence and at the eventual breakdown the exercise would be repeated. Against some sides this tactic might yield benefit, but Tenby handled wave after wave of bulky forwards running on to the ball and when they secured possession, showed the home side what else could and should be done with early ball from the breakdown, with half-backs Ben Pugh and Lloyd Thomas linking with fellow backs Jack Parkinson and Aaron James to release forwards Huw Evans and skipper Luke Dedman into space and threaten the home defence out wide.

This tactic proved successful within minutes when the home side were stretched to defend Aaron James and Pat Roberts who skilfully combined to put Jason Ronowitz clear out wide to outpace the home defence for try number two, and a 3-15 lead.

Continuing to apply the pressure and momentum, a resurgent Tenby side attempted to maintain the go-forward, but lively scrum-half Ben Pugh was collared as he tried to release his supporting backs. Nevertheless, he tigerishly regained possession and eventually fed half-back partner Thomas who put in a huge up-and-under which Ashley Murdoch, Mike Davis and Harry Owen eagerly chased and forced fullback Sion Brook to drop the ball. Prop Huw Evans was on hand to secure the loose ball and cross the whitewash, extending the lead to 3-20.

Running the ball at nearly every opportunity, Tenby at times got a little carried away with the freedom being offered by the stretched home defence and, ignoring better placed supporting players, cost them in terms of increasing their lead.

When it was the home side’s turn to attack, the speed of the Tenby defensive line caused the players attempting to take a pass to drop the ball as they nervously eyed the onrushing defender or reverted to hurriedly hoofing the ball into touch. Being rushed into kicking for touch became a source of Tenby ball as several attempted kicks outside the home 22 went straight into touch, providing the United with a scrummaging base to attack from.

The home side were getting a tad frustrated with the lack of any points, as despite getting a reasonable amount of possession, they were continually being stopped from developing any real scoring opportunities by a solid Tenby defence and this frustration flared up into an exchange of handbags, which surprisingly saw referee Evans single out Tom Barrass and send him to the naughty step, totally ignoring the part played by the home side in the incident.

Being down to 14 men for the remainder of the half spurred Tenby on to pressurising Carmarthen into dropping the ball, and centre Pat Roberts scooped up possession and fed it out to fellow centre Jack Peterson who crossed wide out, extending the lead to 3-25 at the break.

Starting the second half as they finished the first, Carmarthen were obviously convinced that their continual one-out crash ball tactic would bring some success, but, despite still being down to 14 men, Tenby adequately handled the situation, forcing the home side to accept their uphill battle by changing tactics and attempting to chip the ball over the onrushing defence. A combination of misjudged kicks and a well-organised defence more than adequately handled the opening salvo. however,

Securing the ball at the breakdown, Tenby again showed the home side how quick ball should be used, with Ben Pugh, Aaron James, Matt Done, Pat Roberts, Harry Owen, Ashley Murdoch and Tom Barrass all involved in a sweeping move that ended with wing Ashley Murdoch going over for his second try of the afternoon, pushing the score out to a comfortable 3-30.

Spurred on by their vocal set of regular supporters, the so far unbeaten home side tried to react by putting together some threequarter based attacks, but a resilient Tenby defence held firm and, when they did create an opening, it took a superb cover tackle by wing Jordan Asparassa to bring the threat to an abrupt end.

The Tenby coaching group obviously thought it was time to bring on some replacements, with Jack Davies coming on for the hard-working Ethan Morgan at prop and although Tom Barrass returned to the field, they were soon back down to 14, with wing Asparassa being yellow-carded for a high tackle.

Continuing the replacement theme, Yannic Parker replaced an impressive Pat Roberts and the equally as impressive Matt Done was replaced at hooker with Dan Allen.

The Tenby ranks were soon to be depleted to 13 as replacement Yannic Parker was rather harshly treated by referee Evans for what he deemed to be a high tackle and, despite only being on the field for a few minutes, he was sent to join Jordan Asparassa on the naughty step.

This presented Carmarthen with the opportunity to get on the scoreboard and their big forward bosh rugby eventually paid dividends with skipper and prop James Newnain crashing over for their first try of the afternoon and with Williams converting, the scores were closed to 10-30.

With only 13 men, Tenby were more than stretched trying to prevent Carmarthen from adding to their score and had to dig deep in terms of defence and game management to keep the home side at bay and, despite the difference in numbers, the scrum held firm and possession was still gained at lineout time.

As expected, however, the difference in numbers did present additional efforts in defence from the remaining players and, despite preventing the home side from scoring when the side was depleted, the efforts took their toll and they were eventually exposed as Carmarthen scored try number two through Harry Law, narrowing the score to 15-30.

That turned out to be that last scoring opportunity of the afternoon as the game drew to a close with some changes in the pack to accommodate an injured skipper, with Luke Dedman retiring to the sidelines, Huw Evans switching from prop to second row to replace him and Ethan Morgan coming back on the field in the front row. In the backs, winger Jordan Asparassa was replaced by Jack Tucker and the re-jigged side comfortably handled any Carmarthen threat to add to their score.

Tenby trooped of the field more than happy with their first win of the season and their overall performance, against a side sitting unbeaten and in second place in a very competitive Division Two.

Coach Gareth Thomas was also well pleased with the overall performance and the boost that would give him, his hard working coaching team as well as the players for the rest of the season. He was also pleased to see both the phases of attacking play and the exit strategies worked on at training during the week paying dividends.

With both Mike Davis and Lloyd Thomas trotting out for their 51st First XV appearance in the red and black, and unexpectedly being presented with their played 50 games club badge post game by head of rugby, Will Crockford and coach Gareth Thomas (who has played one more game at First XV level than his son Lloyd), helped to set the tone for an enjoyable after-match celebration at the superb clubhouse at Carmarthen Athletic.

The atmosphere was added to, as over on the second pitch, the Tenby Development XV had their first run out of the season, coming away with a resounding 50 -19 victory - which amongst other things should make selection this week for the away fixture against Llanelli Wanderers an interesting exercise

Tenby: Aaron James, Ashley Murdoch Pat Roberts (Yannic Parker), Jack Parkinson, Jordan Asparassa (Jack Tucker), Lloyd Thomas, Ben Pugh, Huw Evans, Matt Done (Dan Allen), Ethan Morgan (Jack Davies), Luke Dedman, Tom Barrass, Mike Davis (Charlie Patching), Jason Ronowitz, Harry Owen.