The long-running Pembrokeshire Cup semi-final saga came to a conclusion on Easter Saturday, with Tenby Tourers sponsored Tenby United travelling up to Aberystwyth with a team comprising of everybody who was available, only to lose a dour game 11-9 and forfeit their hold on the trophy.

To give you a flavour of the strength of the side and the challenge the coaches had in actually getting a side to travel (with no disrespect to the players involved), it comprised of a player who had put in two appearances off the bench this season, one who last started a game of rugby in October 2016 and finally a player who had not started since April 2016. Add this to the walking wounded and you will have some idea of what a challenge the team faced.

Aberystwyth fielded the kick-off and immediately incurred the wrath of referee Richard Thomas, of Carmarthen, who awarded a penalty against them, only to be greeted with a series of adverse comments, which ended with them being marched back 10 metres for questioning the decision and presenting Tom (Turbo) Lewis with the opportunity of putting Tenby into a 3-0 lead at a very early stage in the match.

A knock-on at the restart resulted in the first scrum of the game and, despite the concerns expressed prior to the game, the Tenby eight held the formidable home pack, who were again penalised for an infringement and the pressure was cleared, with Turbo driving them back with a booming kick.

Despite the untried combinations within their ranks, Tenby were standing up to the attacks being put together by Aber and frustrating any hope they had of troubling the scoreboard operators.

At lineout time, the pairing of Luke Dedman and Mike Davies, assisted by accurate throwing in by Joe Poole and correct timing by their lifters, were providing good quick ball and the scrum was holding firm, despite the pressure being applied by the home eight..

Scrum-half Ifan Thomas was a constant threat as the match progressed, taking quick tap-and-goes at every opportunity, as referee Thomas dished out quite a few infringements against Tenby as well as Aber.

The state of the pitch was having an adverse effect on any move put together by both sets of backs, with slow ball transfer being added to the lack of real speed they were able to conjure up on the heavy pitch.

Varying the tactic of trying to outflank the opposition, Tenby, via the boot of Turbo, started to put in some towering up-and-unders, applying the pressure on the home side by chasing and tackling the catcher, and from one such move, Jack Guerreiro nailed the home fullback, forcing him to drop the ball. The resulting scrum ended with another penalty against Aber and not for the first time they questioned the decision, ending with Tenby gaining another 10 metres, but the shot at goal from Turbo drifted wide of the posts.

The drop-out was sadly knocked-on by Yannic Parker, providing the platform for Aber to attack the Tenby line, but a dropped ball offered fly-half Turbo the opportunity to clear, which he gratefully took.

From the resulting lineout, Mike Davis cleanly took the ball and Tenby got a rolling maul going, which Aber struggled to cope with and a quick service when the ball emerged from scrum-half Matthew Morgan to Turbo presented a dropped goal attempt, which unfortunately drifted wide of the sticks.

This attempt was being made as Tenby had already been awarded a penalty, so the three points were added to the score as Turbo successfully slotted his kick, and Tenby stretched the lead to 6-0

Aber were obviously being frustrated as every attempt they put together to get on the scoreboard was being thwarted by the solid defending put in by Tenby, but they were provided with an opportunity to narrow the lead when from a scrum deep in the United half, inexperienced number eight Mike Davis, playing his first game ever in that position, picked up the ball from the base of the scrum and was immediately clattered by the home back row and forced to infringe by holding onto the ball. So instead of feeding the ball to scrum-half Morgan to clear the danger, Tenby presented Aber with a penalty, f which number 10 Stefan Rees took, narrowing the score to 6-3, with referee Thomas blowing for half-time shortly after.

Aber obviously had the riot act read to them during the break as they started the second half with aggression and speed of ball transfer not seen in the first 40 minutes.

Despite some courageous defence by Tenby, aided by some booming clearances by Jonny Morgan and Turbo, a score seemed inevitable and, having stretched the Seasiders’ defence by attacking the left-hand corner, Aber switched play to the opposite side of the field and, aided by some woeful and/or missed tackles by a tiring Tenby defence, Ben Lloyd-Thomas slid over in the corner, putting his side 8-6 in the lead.

Rather than give up at this point, having valiantly stemmed the majority of attacking moves by the home side, Tenby dug deep, with Jimmy Davies scrambling across from the wing to superbly take a kick through by Aber inches from the turf.

From their next attacking opportunity, Turbo had his attempted drop goal charged down as Tenby took the game by the scruff of the neck, digging deep in an attempt to regain the lead.

Bringing some fresh legs into the game, although Andrew Cooke was classed as one of the walking wounded and Harry Bolton would rather have been spending time with his family at Easter, hard-working flanker Charlie Patching and prop Ethan Morgan took a well-earned rest as unopposed scrums were now introduced.

Capitalising on the changes made to accommodate the new players, Aber forced Tenby to infringe and Rees added the extra points, stretching the lead to 11-6.

With a game still there for the taking, Tenby probably put together some of their best rugby of the game so far, with Turbo, Luke Dedman, Mauritz Neumann, Joe Poole, Yannic Parker, Cookie and Mike Davis all involved in several attacking moves, forcing Aber to eventually infringe with a desperate high tackle, with Turbo successfully slotting the three points, to reduce the deficit to 11-9 and a one score game.

Knowing that any score by the visitors would give them back the lead, Aber went on the defensive and, sensing this, Tenby continued to string together a series of attacking ploys, with this time Luke Dedman, Cookie, Harry Bolton, Jack Guerreiro, Jonny Morgan and Joe Poole all prominently involved, creating an ideal opportunity for Turbo to have another drop goal attempt. Although this time he had space and time to set himself up for the attempt, he sadly pulled it wide.

With time running out and Aber content to boot everything up field, Tenby put their last few sorties together, this time involving Yannic, Mauritz Neumann and Cookie, but an infringement was spotted by the referee and Rees booted the ball deep into their own goal area to bring the game to a close.

As with last week, Tenby struggled to get a side together and, with the rules of the cup competition not allowing any permit players, that limited severely the options open to the coaches and they dug deep to identify players who a) were available (taking into account the fact that it was Easter Saturday) and b) were prepared to travel to Aberystwyth... and a huge thank you must be extended to those who stuck their hands up.

At the end of the day, it was a brave effort and Aberystwyth progress to the final for the second year running, but must be concerned with their performance, as it was a case of a poor side just scraping a victory over a side that was marginally poorer on the day.

Taking into account the players available, the heavy pitch and a long haul north up to Aberystwyth, it was a gutsy performance, with several players putting in a huge shift for the shirt, led by skipper Luke Hansford, who was ably supported by fellow forwards, Joe Poole, Mike Davis, Luke Dedman and Charlie Patching, as well as replacements Cookie and Harry Bolton - with backs Mauritz Neumann and the recalled Turbo also showing up well - but as a team they all put the required effort in and delivered all that could be expected on the day.

It’s back to the bread and butter stuff Saturday with their last home match of the season and facing a huge ‘must win’ game against fellow strugglers Tycroes, a side Tenby snatched a last minute win against earlier in the season and one that lost on Saturday at home to Llanelli Wanderers. They currently sit at the foot of the Division One West table on 19 points, having played 15 games, while Tenby are just above them by three places, having 34 points and played 17 games. A home victory could ease, but not remove, any relegation fears, which should make for a very interesting week at training for both players and coaches, while your support would be very much appreciated up at Heywood Lane to shout the team on.

Tenby fielded: Jonny Morgan, Yannic Parker, Jack Guerreiro, Mauritz Neumann, Jimmy Davies, Tom Lewis, Matthew Morgan, Ethan Morgan (Harry Bolton), Joe Poole, Rob Clark, Luke Dedman, Huw Evans, Charlie Patching (Andrew Cooke), Mike Davies, Luke Hansford. Replacement not used - Lyndon Jones.