Llanelli

Wanderers 19 pts. Tenby United 15

With Saturday’s game against Llanelli Wanderers switched to Coleg Sir Gar and played on a large pitch in superb condition, everything seemed set for Tenby Tourers Tenby United to progress beyond round one of the WRU Plate competition.

And that progress looked even more likely when, with a gusty wind in their favour, they got to half-time leading 15-5, with tries from Barry Parsons, Mike Davis and a conversion and a penalty from young Daniel Wainwright.

But things didn’t quite materialise as hoped in the second half, as the home side rattled up 14 points, while, although creating numerous chances, the United drew a blank and trooped off the field thinking more of what could/should have been.

Starting the game with the strong wind in their favour, Tenby went straight on the attack, with Luke Dedman and Moritz Neumann both prominent, but momentum soon ground to a halt as flanker Andrew Cooke was penalised for holding on at the subsequent breakdown.

Llanelli Wanderers showed what a threat they could be, with livewire scrum-half Callum Morris, involved in anything that threatened the Tenby line, scooping up a bouncing ball and setting off at pace, only to spoil his good work by throwing out an atrocious pass to his supporting team-mate.

With less than 10 minutes on the clock, Tenby took the lead, slightly against the run of play, with a loose ball being seized on by Jonny Morgan and slick inter-passing with Craig Barnett ending with Barry Parsons striding over the line for an unconverted try and an early 5-0 lead.

The home side responded with one or two forays into the Tenby half, but booming clearance kicks by both Jonny and Matthew Morgan sent them way back into their own half.

Next it was Yannic Parker in the action, but he unluckily knocked-on fielding a towering kick by Jonathon George. But not to be denied, Tenby stuck to their attack at every opportunity approach, with Jevon Barnes and Craig Barnett combining to put second row Mike Davis over and with fly-half Daniel Wainwright slotting the conversion, Tenby surged into a 12-0 lead.

Probably trying to be too attack-minded in the wrong area of the field, a huge pass from Wainwright was intercepted by wing Jonathan Jenkins, who strode over unopposed to narrow the lead to 12-5, as surprisingly Jonathon George pulled his conversion attempt wide of the posts.

The restart had plenty of hang time and Tenby were all over the home side as they tried to control the situation, but offended and referee Mills pinged them.

The Tenby back of row of skipper Luke Hansford, Barry Parsons and Andrew Cooke combined well from the quick tap-and-go at the penalty, forcing the home side to put in a high tackle, from which Daniel Wainwright added the extra three points and, with the half closing, put Tenby 15-5 to the good - and hopefully a sufficient lead, with the home side to have advantage of the gusty wind in the second half.

Maintaining what must be becoming a nightmare for the coaching staff, Tenby made a right mess of the restart and were on the backfoot from the off, but try as they might, Llanelli Wanderers, using their big forwards and carrying out a series of pick’n’go’s could not penetrate a solid visiting defence, in what was rapidly becoming a repeat of the previous week’s game against Aberystwyth.

The home side were now clearly in command and Tenby had to dig deep to prevent any more scoring opportunities, but persisting with their combination of big forwards trying to muscle their way through one man out from the breakdown charges, and then swinging the ball wide for the backs to try the same thing, it came as no surprise when bulky number eight Daniel Griffiths, aided by one or two flimsy, bordering on missed, tackles by Tenby, crossed the whitewash for a try. This was converted by Jonathon George, closing the lead to 15-12, much to the delight of the very vocal local supporters.

Tenby staged a rally, with Jonny Morgan, Moritz Neumann, Rob Luly and Daniel Wainwright all involved, but the well-organised home defence held firm and frustrated any attempt to release any supporting Tenby players.

In fact, the home side suddenly created an opportunity in loose play and it took a superb covering tackle by Mike Davis to clatter the speedy home side winger into touch close to the corner flag.

More in desperation, Tenby were trying to create moves from deep in their own half and from one such move, Cookie was only just short of being able to get his hand on the ball as it rolled around in the in-goal area from a move that ended with a chip over the home defence by replacement Ashley Sutton after he had combined well with impressive new centre Craig Barnett.

With the home side using the wind very sensibly, a Tenby lineout deep in their half presented them with their next scoring opportunity, as at the throw-in Barry Parsons lost control of the ball and offered an attacking platform which they gratefully took. Their attempt was brought to a halt by a scrambling Tenby defence, but seizing the loose ball, Cookie tried to run through the home side’s defence and when collared, tried the dreaded out-the-backdoor pass, which the Wanderers gathered, eventually ending with hooker Tom Samuel being released for what turned out to be the winning try, which was added to by the conversion from Jonathon George, nudging the home side in front for the first time in the match at 19-15.

With the clock against them and a try needed, with a penalty and three points insufficient to snatch the lead, Tenby upped the pace and went into attack mode, forcing the home side to infringe and get a player yellow-carded for a blatant infringement in the ‘red zone’ from a tap-and-go at penalty time.

From the resulting penalty, Ashley Sutton kicked the ball to the corner, targeting a lineout catch and drive to create another try-scoring opportunity, and with Tenby forward momentum gaining pace, the home side again deliberately infringed. One assumes that because referee Mills had just yellow-carded a home player, he deemed a severe talking to would be suitable this time - a diabolical decision. This was compounded even further when, from the following lineout catch and drive, Tenby were deemed to have infringed and, with the ball hoofed into touch from the penalty, referee Mills blew for time.

Ignoring how the game ended, this was a case of an indifferent display by players all wearing the red and black, but no way resembling and playing as a team, more a case of 15 individuals. This indifference was not helped by a series of unacceptable errors and wrong decisions by players who should know better. The game was there for the winning - we failed to grasp the opportunity.

Tenby United return to league action tomorrow (Saturday) at Heywood Lane, with high-flying and unbeaten Felinfoel RFC being the visitors, although like Tenby, they did suffer a close defeat, theirs against Dunvant, in the WRU Plate competition.

Tenby fielded: Jonny Morgan, Jevon Barnes, Craig Barnett, Moritz Neumann, Yannic Parker, Daniel Wainwright (Ashley Sutton), Matthew Morgan, Rob Luly, Kyle Hamer, Lewis Davies, Mike Davis, Luke Dedman, Luke Hansford (Jack Clancy), Barry Parsons, Andrew Cooke. Replacements - Gethin Thomas, Ethan Morgan, Charlie Patching.