The club en masse travelled to Cardiff last Sunday for the WRU’S National Finals Day, when the Bowl, Plate and Cup Finals are played one after the other on the hallowed Principality Stadium turf; a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for clubs around Wales to play at the home of Welsh Rugby, in front of their own passionate supporters, who also get an opportunity of a great day out in the city.

Pembroke had only six days to prepare, following their winning a WRU independent hearing, but took five coaches of eager, expectant, tense players and supporters to the capital, for the biggest and proudest day in the club’s long and illustrious history, for a match against Porthcawl RFC (the ‘Seaweeds’).

On arrival in Cardiff, the squad left the coach and followed the well-trodden path of international players into the palatial home changing rooms, where, after a walk around the pitch, they were met by a motivational and emotional pre-match talk from Jonathan Thomas, presently working as a coach at Bristol, prior to taking to the pitch for their warm-up programme, under the keen eyes of their coaches Geraint Lewis and Kyle Davies. The supporters gave them a huge roar as they left the field to complete final preparations before returning for the kick-off.

The club’s Under 8s minis age group formed a guard of honour, alongside counterparts from the Porthcawl club, to greet the players from both sides onto the pitch. Their coaches, Darren Gilbert, Lewis Davies and Nick Shelmerdine, spoke of their charges’ pride in being able to be part of the day. Young Dawson Davies was the mascot; he waited nervously in the tunnel, before proudly walking out with skipper Scott Powell and both teams, waving to his parents in the crowd, before joining his brother Jameson in their reserved seats.

The tension was palpable and as the players took their positions for the kick-off, the 2,000-plus supporters for both sides, started as they intended to carry on, by chanting and providing tangible inspiration to their players.

Referee Dylan Jones, to a crescendo of noise from both sets of supporters, started the first half, which saw Pembroke start well. Porthcawl, however, retorted and started at a furious pace, showing that they had dangerous, pacey, skilful backs from the outset. Soon after, Porthcawl gained possession in the loose on the halfway line, pacey centre Jon Phillips broke through on fresh legs deep into the Pembroke 22, only to be hauled down under the posts by desperate defence, but he fed his number eight in support and he in turn fed flanker Ben Asprea to dive in for the first score, converted by fly-half Josh White.

Pembroke’s line speed in defence seemed a little lethargic in the opening minutes and literally five minutes later, Porthcawl’s forwards stole the ball from Pembroke, moved it quickly wide from the breakdown, centre Phillips made a break and threw out a long pass to winger Jordan Fox, who went into the corner unopposed, for a converted try, to cement their excellent start.

Pembroke then seemed to settle and rid themselves of their nervy, slightly, flat-footed start and began to string together some phases of play. Straight away, Pembroke responded and mounted a good attack; after 14 minutes a cross-kick from number 10 Toby Smith wide right was inadvertently dropped by a despondent flanker Rhodri Walters, who was over the line and when a score seemed inevitable.

Both packs were working hard and Pembroke seemed to be getting a small advantage in the set-piece battle; then after 17 minutes, the Pembroke forwards gained territory through a number of phases, quick ball was fed to Toby Smith, who threw a long wide pass to winger Barry Alderman John, who jinked inside his defender and fed flanker Dom Coleman on the loop to crash in wide right for a well-deserved unconverted try, to tremendous cheers from the supporters.

Then at the end of the first quarter, winger Alderman John was yellow carded for making an illegal tip tackle and Porthcawl’s number 10 White coolly stepped up and knocked it over from 40 metres wide out right to make it 15-5.

The Porthcawl loose forwards then broke free after 23 minutes, took their team to the Pembroke 22, where good handling set winger Jordan Fox in for his second try, which was not converted.

Pembroke’s forwards pressed, but could not penetrate solid Porthcawl defence on two different occasions.

On 32 minutes, flying winger Fox scored his third try. After a poor kick out of defence from Pembroke, centre Rees threw a great dummy at pace and fed Fox to dive in unopposed, the try again being converted by White to make the score 20-5.

Pembroke then struck back to the delight of a delirious, noisy crowd; their forwards gained territory through phase play, Sam Smith and centre Colley made good ground, before Toby Smith gave a sweet reverse pass to brother Sam, who drove through two defenders to crash over near the posts; the try was converted by centre Dalling.

Minutes later, flanker Walters took a ball at the back of a lineout, from the ensuing ruck, Toby Smith fed Dan Colley and he glided his way past a few defenders to force his way over for a marvellous individual try from 25 metres. Sadly Dalling missed an inviting conversion.

As a result, Pembroke had forced their way deservedly back into the contest at 27-17, as the half-time whistle was sounded to a crescendo of applause and cheers from their delighted supporters.

Pugnacious Jamie Brayford was brought on for injured, young Lloyd Davies to start the second half at loose-head.

Porthcawl made a dramatic start to the second half, when flanker Asprea broke from defence and sprinted 70 metres, only to be denied a try by a superb cover tackle from winger Elliott Evans near the posts, after which the danger was cleared.

Literally in the next minute, Evans made another try-saving tackle on Porthcawl’s left wing, after a superb movement into the corner. The Seaweeds maintained the pressure and minutes later, from a ruck in front of the posts, set up outside-half White, who coolly dropped a goal, which seemed to put Pembroke out of the contest.

Pembroke’s coaches then made a raft of substitutions to add fresh legs in what was a pulsating, energy-sapping game; Porthcawl took similar action and produced a short period of real pressure up to the end of the third quarter.

Minutes later, Porthcawl were awarded a penalty deep in the Pembroke half and chose to kick to the corner, but were repelled by obdurate defence. However, they kept pressing and Pembroke centre Fraser James saved his side by minoring the ball over his try line, after a neat chip kick from White for his centre, looked to have been perfectly executed.

Pembroke, who had been under the cosh and seemingly out of the contest going into the last quarter, then made more changes. Skipper Powell, who had been replaced, became the cheer-leader for his passionate fans and he ensured that they made a lot of noise to try to inspire his players.

Pembroke’s number 10 Toby Smith then kicked a penalty deep into Porthcawl’s territory, from the lineout driving maul, scrum-half Tom Lewis fed Sam Smith on the charge and he drove through a couple of defenders to score a try near the posts, which was converted by fullback Hartland, to loud cheers and chanting from his ecstatic supporters.

This score seemed to galvanise the Pembroke lads, whilst the Porthcawl pack seemed to tire.

The Pembroke pack now worked evermore feverishly, creating good ball, gaining territory and there seemed to be a tangible shift in fortunes in their favour.

After 63 minutes, winger Elliott Evans was put clear wide out on the left, his aggressive run pulled in two defenders and he gave a sublime one-handed offload, whilst in mid-air, to Tom Lewis in support and he dived over to complete a marvellous team effort, to delirious, noisy scenes on the Pembroke supporters terraces; Toby Smith then stepped up and hit a truly remarkable conversion from the left touchline, to take Pembroke into the lead for the first time in the game at 31-30.

The whole face of the game had changed and the deflated Porthcawl players seemed a little shell-shocked.

Porthcawl, however, were not to be upstaged and they mounted further attacks led by their aggressive substitute flanker Thomas and pacey backs.

After 67 minutes, Pembroke’s Fraser James and Tom Lewis made another try-saving set of tackles and cleared their line. The pace was still frenetic and the tension palpable, as final substitutions were made by both sides.

Pembroke were awarded a string of penalties late on and chose to kick deep into their opponents’ 22, but they could not capitalise on their positions, although on 72 minutes, prop Owain Johns went agonisingly close, when he burst through some weak tackles from a ruck.

Porthcawl replied immediately and broke out of their half, thanks to a strong run from flanker Thomas, but his support failed to breach a determined Pembroke defence.

With five minutes to go, the whole atmosphere was now extremely tense with so little time to go and both sets of fans noisily getting behind their teams. With only a few minutes to go, Porthcawl’s forwards forced their way to the Pembroke 22 and provided ball for Jordan Skidmore in space near the posts, but he missed an attempted dropped goal, to huge audible sighs from team-mates and his supporters, but roars of joy from the opposition supporters.

However, in a cruel twist of fate, with only a minute left, the game was halted for a calf injury to Porthcawl’s number 10 White. After a long wait, to deafening cheers and chants from the fans, White resumed play in pain and Toby Smith dropped out deep into the Porthcawl half. Porthcawl backs gathered the ball and mounted an attack and got near to the Pembroke 22 line, where dramatically the linesman adjudged Pembroke’s Toby Smith to have made a high tackle on centre Rees as he fell to the ground. Everyone on the Pembroke side seemed to think this a very harsh call, Smith asked him to go to the TMO, but amazingly, the referee, having used the TMO previously and at such a critical point in the game, did not check on the validity of the call and simply awarded the penalty 25 metres out, in front of the posts.

Despite his injury, White calmly landed the kick and the referee blew the final whistle, to give Porthcawl an unexpected win.

The Pembroke players were totally exasperated and crest-fallen, after having demonstrated resilience and resolve to keep their opponents at bay for just over 10 minutes. The successful penalty kick brought a grassroots spectacle to an immediate close and the Porthcawl players were greeted by tumultuous roars of ecstasy from their fans and lots of plastic glasses being thrown into the air, whilst it broke the hearts of the whole Pembroke squad and their fans, who in a matter of minutes had gone from ecstasy to agony watching an epic encounter.

After the presentation of medals on the pitch, the players shook hands and Pembroke gallantly and respectfully congratulated Porthcawl, whilst club officials from both clubs also exchanged pleasantries on the touchline. The referee congratulated both sides on a marvellously exciting and tense game, played in tremendous spirit, whilst the S4C commentators apparently were singing the praises and waxing lyrical about the match and both teams for producing the best contested final seen in this competition for many years. One was heard to say that it had been better entertainment than the two professional matches in the stadium the day before!

The teams retired to a WRU hosted post-match reception, where the captains exchanged club favours, spoke of the tremendous efforts made by their respective players and supporters, the respect gained for the Pembroke team for their fightback and the club chairmen also thanked their squads, coaches and supporters for making it such a wonderful experience.

Porthcawl’s Jordan Fox was named man of the match by the WRU, the Pembroke coaches reflected on a 5-4 try count in their favour and were full of praise for all of their players, whilst a number of notable neutrals picked out the performances of Tom Lewis, Elliott Evans, Rhodri Walters, Sam Smith, Dan Colley, Toby Smith, Barry Alderman John and the Pembroke pack for their contributions to a classic and truly memorable match.

After the trip home, which had taken in a short pit stop, the squad, coaches and team management were greeted by a ‘tunnel of honour’ made up of all the travelling supporters, who clapped and cheered them into some well-earned liquid refreshment and a sumptuous buffet.

Speeches were made by skipper Powell and head coach Geraint Lewis to thank the fans for their superb and inspiring vocal support throughout the game, the team manager, Nick Shiels, for his huge contribution and the club for laying on much-needed sustenance.

A large number of home-based members, who had watched the match in the club, also sang the praises of the squad and their achievement in making the whole club, their families, the town and county so very proud.

Pembroke squad: Luke Hartland, Barry Alderman John, Elliott Evans, Shaun Dalling, Dan Colley, Toby Smith, Tom Lewis, Lloyd Davies, Seamus Wiseman, Jonny Palmer, Will Edwards, Scott Powell, Sam Smith, Dom Coleman, Rhodri Walters,. Subs: Billy Woods, Alex Thomas, Jamie Brayford, Owain Johns, Cyle Weatherall, Alex Wilkes, Simon Stanford, Fraser James.

The team entertained Aberaeron last Wednesday, the report on this game will appear next week, as will the report on the Llangwm home game, which kicks-off at 7 pm tonight (Friday).

The remaining fixtures for the season are as follows; Tuesday, May 8, Quins away in the Pembs KO Cup semi-final, kick-off 7 pm, Cardigan away, Saturday, May 12, Haverfordwest away on either May 15 or 16 (yet tbc), and the final league match at home to Milford, Saturday, May 19.

The Pembs KO Cup Final is due to be played at St. Davids, on Wednesday, May 23, kick-off 7 pm.