TENBY United continued their strong start to the season with a dominant win over Loughor in division 2 west, taking Tenby's tally to two wins and a loss in their first three games.
Tenby United 25 v Loughor 5: Match Report by Mr C. SIder
Tenby United welcomed Loughor RFC to Heywood Lane on Saturday for their division 2 west league fixture on a breezy but sunny autumn afternoon in front of a good crowd enjoying the new terrace and “Cross Bar” facility at the ground.
Referee Nathan Davies from Swansea got the game underway with Tenby kicking off from the Knowling Mead end and thus making use of the breeze in an attempt to keep Loughor pinned in their own half.
Despite the wind advantage for Tenby it was Loughor who started the stronger of the two sides, exerting early pressure on the home team which saw the United concede a number of penalties that allowed the visitors to work their way into the 22 and put pressure on the home defence.
For the next 10 minutes the visitors made continued efforts to cross the white wash but Tenby’s defence held strong with some excellent defence from the likes of skipper Luke Dedman, fellow second row Tom Barrass and number 8 Jack Broadhurst.
After successfully weathering early pressure from the visitors Tenby worked the ball upfield and from some well-earned lineout ball half-backs Matt Morgan and Gwion Jones were able to get the ball out into the hands of their back line where good ground was gained from the strong running of both wingers, Oakley Milton out on the left wing who set up good ball that once again went out through the back line to right winger Jack Gooding whose final inside pass was adjudged to have gone forward by the referee much to the disappointment of the home support on the terrace above.
An early substitution saw Will Swales take to the field in place of number 8 Jack Broadhurst who was suffering with a foot injury sustained during the warm up.
Swales was straight into action as Tenby were awarded a penalty that saw Jones put the ball deep into the opposition’s 22 and from the resulting lineout ball the Tenby pack muscled the ball over the line with back-rower Jake Roberts claiming the all-important touchdown for the opening score of the afternoon, Max Brindley’s conversion attempt affected by the wind just failing to add the extra two points.
It wasn’t long before Tenby once again worked the ball into the Loughor 22 and from another excellent lineout the ball worked its way out to Toby Smith who punched through a gap in the centre and offloaded in the tackle to hard working flanker Dan Colley who touched down behind the sticks for Tenby’s second score of the afternoon, this time Brindley successfully added the extras to give Tenby a 12-0 lead at half time.
All photos supplied by Tom D’Arcy Photography
Second half
From the restart Dan Colley made a clean break storming some 25 metres into opposition territory before offloading to Will Swales who gained further ground before being brought down inside the 22.
Persistent infringements at the breakdown saw Loughor lose one of their flankers to the bin for ten minutes, the resultant penalty set up a lineout on the visitor’s 22 which was rapidly mauled over the line by the Tenby pack with Jake Roberts scoring again, Max Brindley, struggling with the breeze, unable to add the extras on this occasion.
Tenby seemed to lose the momentum following Roberts’ second try and Loughor had the best of the next fifteen or twenty minutes of the second half, the homeside making a string of handling errors, missed kicks to touch and giving away numerous penalties.
This inconsistency allowed Loughor to get a foothold in the game and they started to get their game flowing as they worked the ball through some phases and eventually out to their wing who crossed out wide on the left for their opening try which went unconverted.
Tenby, having weathered this period of pressure from the visitors, regained their dominance in the final quarter through the pack and in particular their dominant scrum, which had pretty much massacred the Lougher eight all afternoon with strong scrummaging from the front row of Ethan Morgan, Dan Allen and Rob Luly.
Tenby were awarded numerous scrum penalties on the Loughor line and with skipper Dedman opting for a scrum each time it seemed obvious to all watching on that it was only a matter of time before the referee awarded a penalty try, but for reasons unknown this wasn’t forthcoming and Loughor somehow managed to scramble the ball away.
Tenby were patient however and from another scrum on the 5 metre line they worked the ball out through the back line with fly half Gwion Jones looping round and dotting down for the all important bonus point try for Tenby which was converted by Brindley and a final score of 24 points to 5.
Tenby United fielded: Max Brindley, Jack Gooding, Cam Broadhurst, Toby Smith, Oakley Milton, Gwion Jones, Matt Morgan, Ethan Morgan, Dan Allen, Rob Luly, Tom Barrass, Luke Dedman (c), Jake Roberts, Dan Colley, Jack Broadhurst. Replacements: Nick Guymer, Rob Clark, Frankie Boyd, Will Swales, Jimmy Davies.
Man of the match: Jake Roberts
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