Crymych 20 - Tenby United 19: Starting the season with a double header - first league game doubling up as the first round of the Pembrokeshire and District Cup - was a somewhat unique way of starting the season for local estate agent fbm sponsored Tenby United, but trotting out onto Parc Lloyd Thomas, with a much changed side from last season, they knew that this was going to be a severe test against a side that finished last season in 6th place in the table, winning 8 of their last 10 games and amassing 340 points.

Tenby surprised the home side with their adventurous play right from the off with the kick off being gathered cleanly and a huge clearance kick by Lloyd Thomas taking play deep into the Crymych half. Stealing the throw in, which was to become the source of a great deal of lineout ball for Tenby as the half progressed, Ben Pugh, skipper Luke Dedman and prop Rob Luly were prominent in the first real assault on the Crymych line with the early momentum failing to produce any score as the ball was lost.

Undeterred, Tenby maintained the pressure with Aaron James, Roy Osborn, Pat Roberts, Luke Dedman, Matt Done and Rob Luly all making inroads through the stretched home defence ending with Dedman going over for the first try of the afternoon which was converted by Lloyd Thomas giving Tenby a deserved 0-7 lead. This early lead was very nearly increased as Tenby tested the home defence to the full ending with them being penalised by referee Richard Brace but the penalty attempt by Thomas ricochet off the upright. Making amends for this miss, Thomas was given another opportunity to increase the lead when the home side were again penalised, this time slotting his kick between the uprights and a 0-10 lead.

The restart was taken by Pat Roberts and with support from Ash Murdoch, Huw Evans, Matt Done, Charlie Patching and Jack Broadhurst at the breakdown ended with a swift service provided for scrum half Ben Pugh enabling Lloyd Thomas to boom out another huge clearance kick taking play well into the Crymych half. Loosing yet another throw in on their ball, and seeing Tenby making inroads toward the try line, Crymych again infringed and Thomas added to his tally striking the ball cleanly for a 0-13 lead. The pressure was maintained by Tenby only for Crymych to respond at a quickly taken penalty, which Tenby switched off for, thinking a shot a goal was going to be attempted, and it took some desperate defending to stop Crymych from crossing the whitewash with the ball carrier actually crossing the line only to be penalised by referee Brace for not releasing the ball and performing several attempts to roll/crawl over the line.

The next threat was provided by a combination of Lloyd Thomas, Aaron James and Jordan Asparassa neatly combining with some speedy bursts and skilful handling which tested the Crymych defence to the full. As play progressed Crymych managed to win their first lineout of the game in the 35th minute as up until then their ball had been either been stolen or disrupted by Luke Dedman, Charlie Patching, Roy Osborn or Jason Ronowitz, which they used to threaten a score, but the solid Tenby defence held firm - but conceded a penalty which sailed past the upright and Tenby breathed a sigh of relief. A penalty was successful however when following great work by Roy Osborn, Jack Parkinson and livewire Aaron James, Crymych were again pinged at the breakdown by referee Brace and Thomas ended the half increasing the score to 0-16.

The home side had obviously had a stern talking too by the coach at the break as they upped the pressure on the Tenby side with their new found aggression, being helped by Tenby falling off some critical tackles, with their pressure being rewarded with Alun Jenkins going over for their first score of the afternoon, and with replacement Jake Jenkins being successful with the conversion, the gap was closed to 7-16.

With an infringement at the restart Crymych were awarded a scrum back on the halfway line (in which Tenby had substituted Charlie Patching with Tom Barrass) and it gave them the platform to launch into attack mode once more and it took a Rob Luly crunching tackle to stop anything threatening from developing. But Tenby were under the cosh as the home side probed the short side for an opening and a second score. Infringing at the breakdown, Crymych were penalised but Lloyd Thomas missed touch with the penalty presenting Crymych with the ideal attacking platform which they capitalised on the full with a move that went nearly the length of the field with when number eight Osian Davies crossed wide out for a 12-16 lead, as the conversion attempt bounced harmlessly off the upright Sensing that they had somewhat fallen off the pace and needed to refocus, Tenby moved Tom Barrass up to hooker and brought on Mike Davis in the second row, along with Jack Broadhurst slotting in at prop (replacing the hard working Huw Evans) and finally Harry Owen fitting into the vacant back row slot. With the bench nearly emptied Tenby at last got their act together with Aaron James and Pat Roberts combining well to stretch the home defence who were penalised at the breakdown for creeping up off side. With Lloyd Thomas going for the touchline followed by Roy Osborn taking a clean ball at the ensuing lineout, they set up a rolling maul which saw all the forward replacements active, ending with another blast on the whistle from referee Brace and Thomas obliged with the penalty awarded taking the lead out to 12-19.

A senseless late tackle presented Crymych with the opportunity to immediately respond to this Tenby score but surprisingly Crymych went for the touchline and following a sustained period of pressure Adam Forster crossed for an unconverted try, closing the lead to a nail biting 17-19, with a good 20 minutes still left to play,

Both sides put some enterprising attacks together but Tenby seemed to have lost their composure, focus and urgency, so evident in the first half, and had resorted to individuals trying to breakdown the solid home defence rather than using better placed supporting team mates to carry on the attack. The raft of changes made by both sides as the half had progressed favoured the home side with both the lineout and scrum now providing attacking platforms and source of good ball, whereas in the first half they had been under severe pressure from Tenby.

Finishing on a high, and cheered on by their very vocal supporters, Crymych got the reward they justly deserved from their spirited fight back with Jake Jenkins slotting a penalty given by referee Brace who had been rather lenient on Tenby, regarding any yellow cards and considering the number of penalties that had been conceded in the second half pushing Crymych into the lead for the first time in the match at 20-19.

The restart was all that remained of the match with Crymych taking the ball and running it into touch - trotting off the pitch with a league win and four points, along with a home tie against Aberystwyth in the next round of the Pembrokeshire and District Cup, while despite all their efforts, Tenby came away only with a losing league point.

As far as first league game of the season this was an encouraging start by a Tenby side being reconstructed following the departure of a raft of experienced players and coaches during the close season, but from a 16-0 lead at half time to a 19-20 defeat at the whistle will have not pleased Gareth Thomas and his young coaching team, even taking into account that last season when Tenby played up at Crymych in the league, they slopped off Parc Lloyd Thomas after being thrashed 52-10.

Coach Gareth Thomas was obviously disappointed with end result and also added “we did not play the hill well enough in the second half in what turned out to be a classic game of two halves”.

Tenby United: Aaron James, Ash Murdoch, Jack Parkinson, Pat Roberts, Jordan Asparassa (Jack Tucker), Lloyd Thomas (Dan Wainwright) , Ben Pugh, Huw Evans (Jack Broadhurst), Matt Done (Tom Barrass) Rob Luly, Luke Dedman, Charlie Patching (Tom Barrass - Mike Davies), Jack Broadhurst (Harry Owen,), Roy Osborn, Jason Ronowitz

Crymych: Tomos Phillips, Tomos Lewis, Carwyn Phillips , Tomi Jones, Alun Jenkins, Harri Williams, Adam Forster, Steffan Harries, Morgan James, Ryan Rees, Rhys Davies (capt). Mathew Freebury, Aled Harries, Sion Collella, Osian Davies .

Reps: Math Iorwedd Scott, Ifan Phillips, Nick Bevan, Laurence Headham, Jake Jenkins