A match that was at one point in doubt due to the heavy overnight and early morning rain, but was eventually played in glorious conditions, saw Tenby Tourers sponsored Tenby United fighting back from a sizeable deficit to narrowly miss out on snatching not only a win but a four-try bonus point.

Showing several changes due to injury and unavailability of key players, the side that trotted out was belatedly changed from the team shown in the match programme due to scrum-half Jonny Morgan being held up at work. He was replaced at scrum-half, with Ashley Sutton slotting in from fullback, Jevon Barnes moving from wing to replace him and surprisingly flanker Andrew Cooke taking his place on the wing and Nicky Guymer taking his place at flank and, on the basis that he would eventually put in an appearance, Jonny Morgan was named on the bench.

As a tribute to Ann Evans, who had sadly passed away earlier in the week, the teams respectfully stood for a minute’s silence for the wife of club stalwart Lloyd Evans and mum of Paddy, Carl, Mike and Chris.

The sides spent the first period of the game playing kick tennis, interrupted by the odd attack of passing, but as defences held firm, it was the kick that dominated while passing movements were limited, with Jack Guerreiro giving an atrocious pass to an unmarked Jordan Asparassa, while Penclawdd totally wasted a three-man overlap, with the centre deciding he was going to break through.

The first real scoring opportunity fell to Tenby, with Ashley Sutton lining up a shot at goal from about the halfway line, but his effort was well short.

This was followed by a promising move involving Asparassa and Sutton, which petered out with a knock-on, but, maintaining the new-found momentum, and somewhat against the run of play, Tenby took the lead when a superb break by Sutton was finished off by Mike Davis, who was on his shoulder, to take the scoring pass for a 5-0 lead.

Concentration lapsed from the restart as Tenby were penalised for holding on at the breakdown and skipper Gunnel took full advantage with a quickly taken penalty and strolled over unopposed under the sticks for a try converted by Dan Guanerie, to snatch the lead at 7-5.

Lewis Davies was next in the action with a superb low catch setting up an attacking move which stuttered as Jevon Barnes decided to kick possession away twice brining the threat to an unacceptable and early halt.

The momentum had now switched to the visitors and they had Tenby on the back foot as they threatened to extend their lead, and a penalty given away because of the pressure being applied, was successfully taken by Dan Guanerie, extending the lead to 10-5.

Tenby tried to claw their way back into the game, with Jordan Asparassa managing to charge down a clearing kick, but an infringement brought any benefit from that to an abrupt halt.

Tenby were fortunate not to go further behind as Guanerie pulled his next penalty wide of the target, but Penclawdd did get on the scoreboard again as the half drew to a close when a huge kick by number 10 Billy Thomas took a cruel bounce away from a covering Jordan Asparassa and went into touch. This fortunate piece of luck (or bad luck) was compounded as Penclawdd stole the following lineout and skipper Gunnel capitalised on the situation by outflanking the Tenby defence to cross under the sticks and, with Guanerie adding the extras, the visitors were well placed at 17-5 at the break.

Oranges were taken with coaches James and Morgan telling the players that they needed to up their game as the majority of the first half had relied on kicking as their only potential attacking option, an approach that never really tested or stretched the visitors, while in defence, there had been far too many missed tackles by the home side.

Right from the off, Tenby managed to create an attacking option; unfortunately it was for Penclawdd as fullback Barnes dithered while fielding the restart to be rescued by some neat handling and footwork by Jack Guerreiro and Jordan Asparassa.

Tenby’s cause was not helped when hooker Joe Poole smashed a Penclawdd player to the floor with a tackle that was probably just on the wrong side of late and, egged on by the visiting supporters who were close to the incident, he was sent by referee Hardy to spend 10 minutes on the naughty step.

Following this transgression, a harsh penalty for handling the ball in the ruck presented Dan Guanerie with the opportunity to extend the lead to 20-5, and he duly obliged.

Although down to 14 players, Tenby upped the pace and started to stretch the visitors’ defence and one piece of Jordan Asparassa magic had the crowd cheering as he beat the initial tackle with a swerve and sheer pace, chipped over the second would-be tackler and skilfully regathered, to just be halted by a third Penclawdd defender.

The returning Joe Poole was not on the field for long as an injury saw him carried off and, with the coaches ringing the changes, and a late arriving Jonny Morgan being amongst the replacements, Tenby started to threaten the lead held by Penclawdd, aided by the fact that persistent infringing at the breakdown was eventually penalised by referee Hardy, with two visiting players yellow-carded in quick succession.

Taking advantage of the extra space created by facing 13 players, Tenby started putting their usual attacking game into action and it came as no surprise to see Jonny Morgan zig-zag through a stretched defence to put Jevon Barnes over wide out, closing the gap to 20-10 and game on.

The forwards then got into the act and, following a series of pick and go’s, Jonny Morgan eventually glided through the remnants of the visitors’ defence for a good team try.

Sutton added the extras and it was now a 20-17 game, but the clock had ticked on and, despite some last-ditch efforts, the United were unable to put any worthwhile attacking moves together and wasted the few chances that did come their way as their skills fell short under the pressure applied by the Penclawdd defence.

With referee Hardy bringing the game to an end soon after, it meant the United had to be content with a losing bonus point - although that in itself was something that had seemed unachievable for long periods of the game.

Life in Division One West is not going to be easy and wins at home, with the odd try or losing bonus point away from home, will be the bare minimum if the status is to be maintained, and this was not a case of coming away with a bonus point, more of failing to come away with five points.

The late disruption to the team, caused by the non and late appearance of Jonny Morgan, could be used as some excuse for the loss, as not only did Tenby miss his creative and organisational skills, but it also deprived them of their key play-maker in broken play, while Ashley Sutton was forced to slot into the unaccustomed scrum-half position.

However, as with the previous game away at Kidwelly, Tenby were still troubled at the lineout and an unhealthy number of missed tackles were repeated, giving rise for concern, all of which will make tomorrow’s visit to Gowerton one to come away from with a victory.

Tenby United would like to thank Tenby Tyres for their ball sponsorship, along with Heywood’s Butchers for their continued man-of-the-match award, as well as the Under 9s from the Swifts for their ball boy support which was very much appreciated

Tenby: Jevon Barnes, Andrew Cooke, Jack Guerreiro, Moritz Neumann, Jordan Asparassa, Tom Lewis (Daniel Wainwright), Ashley Sutton, Rob Clarke, Joe Poole (Jonny Morgan), Lewis Davies, Luke Dedman, Mike Davis (Jack Clancy), Nicky Guymer, Roy Osborn, Luke Hansford (Barry Parsons). Reps: Ethan Morgan.