Tenby United 15 pts. Llanelli

Wanderers 31

Once again their was a frustrating outcome to last Saturday’s Division One West game at Heywood Lane.

Like the previous week at Loughor, the GD Harries & Sons sponsored Tenby United had played the better rugby for the most part and also led until the hour mark, but again they failed to close out the game as they gave away their lead and lost out in the final 20 minutes.

Following a minute’s silence before kick-off in memory of Tenby United stalwart and honorary life member, Mr. Bryant Hawker, who sadly passed away a few weeks ago, the United were confident that they were capable of beating the mid-table Llanelli Wanderers outfit and that their continued improvements would at last come to fruition.

The Seasiders started well and with back row forwards Timoci ‘Big Jim’ Kaumaitotoya, Alex Thomas and stand-in skipper Rob Weston working hard, as always, they forced a penalty at a ruck within two minutes of kick-off. Outside-half Scott James stepped up to land the tricky touchline kick to give the home side an early lead.

Stringing some impressive phases together, the United looked to have a slight edge over their guests from Stradey Park and held on to their narrow lead until the 12th minute when two missed tackles meant that Wanderers’ centre Rhydian Morgan was able to cross for an unconverted try to put his side in front by five points to three.

The United continued to play their open brand of rugby and looked dangerous when moving the ball wide, allowing powerful centre partners Mark Heywood and Moritz Neumann to run at the Wanderers’ defence.

The visitors held strong, though, and thwarted each of the advances on their line.

The majority of the first half turned out to be a tight affair, with both teams cancelling each other out through stern defensive effort, until the 36th minute when Llanelli blindside flanker Steff Taffetsauffer (nephew of former United back rower from the Heineken League days, Andrew Taffetsauffer) grounded the ball to score a try from a push-over scrum. Outside-half Johnny George landed the conversion to give the visitors a lead of 12 points to three, which they held on to for the remainder of the half.

Just before the break, number eight and stand-in skipper Weston sustained a neck injury and couldn’t return to the field after the half-time oranges, which meant that club captain Luke Hansford was able to make a welcome return to the pitch for the first time since October 17 when he sustained a serious shoulder injury. The injury had required surgery and he had been forced to watch from the sidelines ever since as he recovered and went through his rehabilitation.

The return of their leader certainly spurred the Seasiders on and within three minutes of the second half kicking-off, right wing Jack Guerreiro was crossing in the corner for a terrific try.

Guerreiro’s try came when a superb break from outside-half James opened up the visitors’ defensive line and he had the presence of mind and vision to slip the ball out of a tackle to substitute scrum-half Aaron James, who was on for Luke Conbeer after he sustained a cut to his eye. The scrum-half spotted that the Wanderers’ winger was not in position and lofted a crossfield kick for the flying Portuguese winger to contest, Guerreiro winning the aerial battle to catch the ball as he crossed the try line for the score, which went unconverted from the touchline.

Six minutes later, the Seasiders took the lead with another excellent try which thoroughly entertained the spectators as second row Luke Dedman broke free and went on a barnstorming run upfield from the halfway line to the 22-metre line, where he linked with Scott James. James got the ball away to the strong-running Heywood and the visiting defenders could do nothing to stop the centre other than cling on to him as he took three of them over their try-line on his back as he touched down under the posts. Scott James landed the simple conversion and the scoreboard read 15-12 in the United’s favour.

With just 10 minutes remaining and the Seasiders in the lead, surely it was going to be their day and they would close the game out, but frustratingly their string of bad luck continued as they had the lead cruelly taken away from them in the latter stages, just as it had been the week before.

Wanderers’ winger Rhys Phillips squeezed in at the corner for a controversial try which had come from what was thought to be a blatant forward pass, but the referee didn’t agree with the United supporters and the try was given and, with the Johnny George conversion, the lead was also given to the visitors.

Despite fighting to the end, the United weren’t able to breach the Llanelli defence and the Wanderers’ lead grew even more with two tries in the final four minutes of the game, with the first coming from Rhys Morgan and the second from his centre partner Richard De Filippo, with Johnny George converting the latter and ending the game, with the final scoreline not really reflecting the tight contest that it had been.

Tenby United fielded: Dan Colley, Jordan Asparassa, Moritz Neumann, Mark Heywood, Jack Guerreiro, Scott James, Luke Conbeer (Aaron James), Rob Weston, capt. (Luke Hansford), Alex Thomas, Timoci Kaumaitotoya), Marcus Read, Luke Dedman, Rob Luly, Wes Bonser, Ethan Morgan (Dan Allen), Nathan Lowe, Jay Williams.