Tenby Swifts U10s rugby team headed up to Fishguard on Sunday. Tenby got off the mark early with captain Logan Hall bursting up the centre and crossing the line for the Swifts and his first try.

The tries continued to come thick and fast due to the Swifts’ great team play. Tyler James, Rhys Barnes and Will Day demonstrated neat passing and their commitment in tackles was outstanding.

Jack Henson won himself man of the match for his bravery and steadfast tackles. Madoc Evans was quick to every ruck winning the ball for the team.

There were athletic tries from Evan Christen, George McDonald, Jayden Cray and Will Hilling. A strong drive from the pack guided Bennet Diment across the line for another.

Then once you have Ollie Tucker on a charge for a try there is no stopping him; this he proved three teams.

The support in play and quick hands of Ethan Lewis and Rhys Barnes enabled players to break through and score. Will Diment assisted some great team play with his safe hands.

Every player contributed to a good score of 13-3, well done lads.

Captain - Logan Hall; Man of the match - Jack Henson

Try scorers: Logan Hall 2, Evan Christen 4, Ollie Tucker 3, Willing Hilling 1, Jayden Cray 1, Bennet Diment 1, George McDonald 1.

Tenby Swifts Under 7s

On Sunday, Tenby Under 7s travelled to a freezing cold Fishguard to play their first match of 2019. The children certainly weren’t lacking energy after the Christmas period and were all eager to play. Due to the large squad that Fishguard had, Tenby were asked to complete four periods of play, which they did not shy away from.

Tenby started off well, scoring within the first minute, all players smiling from ear to ear. Play did not slow at all, with both teams eager to cross their respective try lines. Tenby’s defence was equally as good as their running skills, tagging (and sometimes tackling!) everything in sight.

Tenby came out the winners on the day, scoring 17 tries to Fishguard’s 12.

Man of the match went to Bobby Waters for his great running and scoring his first try for the team. Well done Bobby!

Team: Caitlyn Lewis, Rupert James, Bradley Rossiter, Ethan Brace, Jude Christen, Leo Werner, Jevan Guymer, Dylan Drewett, Rhys Broadhurst, Bobby Waters, Craig Roberts.

Tries: Ethan (5), Jude (4), Craig (2), Jevan (2), Leo (2), Bobby W, Rupert.

Tenby RFC Under 9s

On Sunday after the Christmas / New Year break Tenby RFC Under 9s travelled to Fishguard for their first game of 2019, captained by Charlie Ronowitz.

Tenby started well with a quick try from Sam, but unfortunately this was followed by two Fishguard tries. Aidan then flew through the Fishguard defence to score a great try.

Fishguard then scored again, followed by a skillful try from Sonny. Another try from Fishguard. Another quick try from Sonny. Then two more tries from Fishguard, ending the score 6-4, All Tenby boys played awesome against a tough Fishguard side.

Tries: Sam, Aidan, Sonny x2

Team: Ace, Sam, Aidan, Ollie, Cian, Oscar, Sonny, Evan, Charlie (captain).

Under 11s

Sunday Tenby Under 11s heading away to Fishguard for their opening game of 2019.

Tenby applied the pressure from the first whistle, but after several phases, a penalty for hands on the floor saw Fishguard regain possession and take the opportunity quickly to score the first try of the game.

Tenby then gained vital possession and some strong surges forward by Owen and Sophie saw Fishguard’s defence pushed up into their own 22, and after some quick hands along the backline, Rowan crossed to equal the score at 5-5.

The next try would come to the Seasiders, after another powerful run by Sophie provided Alfie with the opportunity to slice his way through the defence to score.

Alfie W converted to push Tenby further into the lead at 5-12.

Lovely quick passing and offloads by the Tenby backs were to be rewarded just before half-time with a second try for Alfie, which was again converted by Alfie W, to make it 5-19 to Tenby.

Fishguard came out firing in the second half, but some big tackles by Tenby kept the attacking wave from crossing for a try and when Lewis was able to steal the ball back on the floor, Alfie was able to inject his pace and score his third, which he also converted.

Fishguard quickly turned the tables and regained possession and a strong run down the wing saw them cross for their second.

Then a determined run by Jayden and some quick feet by Jack saw him cross for Tenby, with Alfie W converting to make the score 12-33.

From a lineout, the Tenby backs moved the ball and a well-timed pass from Rhys saw Sophie crash over for a well-deserved try, making it 12-38 to the Seasiders.

Just before the full-time whistle, Jayden pushed forward one last time, linking with Sophie, who showed the same strength she had all game to push play onto Fishguard’s line and a last minute pass to Louie put him over to score.

The final score was 12-43 to Tenby, with Sophie grabbing the ‘man of the match’ award.

Tenby Under 12s

Thirteen boys made the trip to Bury Port on Sunday for the first match of the year. After a substantial break from training and matches, it was going to be a good test to see how well the squad had retained their skills and their fitness. With Bury Port as the opposition, the challenge would be a tough one too!

The match started competitively with all the players determined to make their mark on the game and Eddie nearly made it through the defence to get the dream start, but was tackled just before the line. With that the tables were turned and despite some strong tackling by Tom Y. and Sonny, Bury Port started to put the pressure on, forcing Tom W. to make a fantastic counter-ruck on the try-line and prevent the home side scoring an early try. Unfortunately Tenby were unable to sustain this pressure for long: with a number of extremely tall and powerful players, Bury Port were dangerous in attack as they simply ran through (and at times over!) some of our smaller lads! Subsequently, they soon took the upper hand and scored three tries in quick succession, converting two of them.

Tenby were admirable in their fighting spirit however and at no point did they lose their composure, which was paid off with a great piece of team play feeding the ball along the line to winger Keaton, who put in an impressive jinxing sprint to cross the line and score. With a very difficult position to kick from, the conversion was missed but nonetheless, Tenby were back in business! Eddie quickly closed the gap further with a great run and try of his own, which Fin very ably converted, bringing the score line to 19-12. With just a few minutes to go until the half time whistle and all the play in the Bury Port half, it looked on for another try for the Black and Reds, but instead it was an exceptionally tall player (as tall as the coaches and she was female: what on earth do they feed them up here to make them so tall?) carrying the ball, Bury Port broke through to drive over for their fourth (uncoverted) try, making it 24-12 at the half time break.

In the second half, Eddie swapped roles from full-back with Ieuan at scrum-half and the bigger squad players (Rhydian, Sonny; Rhys, Iwan; Tom W. and Cody) showed their strength in some good scrums and driving forward as once more the backs were admirable in their tackling prowess and fearlessness in tackling some players an awful lot bigger than them. Eddie and Tom Y. showed some great linking play and Keaton made some some great tackles, but it was unfortunately Bury Port who were the first to score (twice in fact, with one conversion) again in this half. Eddie bagged his second try with an awesome series of steps to jinx through a number of the defensive players, Fin converting it with ease. 36-19 the score. Bury Port responded with a further converted try before Eddie got his hatrick. Fin was unlucky not to bag a try of his own with a strong run down the sideline, but he was pushed out of touch just shy of the line. Paddy, Rhys E and Ieuan also kept working hard until the end and Tenby finished the match strongly with Eddie scoring his fourth try (Tenby’s fifth) just before the final whistle, bringing the final score to 43-31.

The game was more competitively matched than the score line suggested, the occasional hesitancy in the ruck and with decision-making with the ball in hand by a minority of the players being the main culprit for spoiling the flow of play when in possession. However, with plenty of opportunity to remedy these issues in training, the rest of the season ahead looks promising. The coaches man of the match goes to Tom Young for his fantastic tackling and work-rate.

The squad were Eddie; Keaton; Sonny; Tom Y.; Tom W.; Rhydian; Rhys S.; Fin; Rhys E.; Iwan; Paddy; Ieaun and Cody.

Under 13s

Following the Christmas break, Tenby Swifts under 13s have been straight back into action in 2019 with two games in recent weeks against Whit-Laugharne and Newcastle Emlyn, both games being played at home at fortress Clicketts.

First up was Whit-Laugharne and the Tenby Swifts boys were slow into action (after eating too many mince pies and chocolates over the festive break) with the away side scoring two early tries to race into a 10-0 lead. After a few stern words from the coaches, the home side sprung into life and three well worked tries, from Will P, Dylan and Max J, were scored to leave the Swifts up 17-10 at half-time.

As the second half started, the away side again pressurised the home defence and their strong running centre scored two tries to regain the lead. As the game wore on the home team’s fitness began to tell and some excellent team play saw three unanswered tries by Fletcher, Will A and Max J. The referee blew the whistle to bring an end to the game with the Swifts coming out on top by 34 points to 22.

The following weekend another slow start against Newcastle Emlyn saw the Swifts concede two early tries to fall 12-0 behind, but similar to the previous week, once the home side won some ball they were very clinical scoring three well worked tries from Will A and Dylan with two.

The away side proved a tough side to break down with a very competitive forwards battle taking place, but an improved performance by the home eight at the tackle area from the previous week saw good clean ball for the backs to use and some well worked moves saw two super tries scored by lively scrum-half Dylan. To be fair to the away side, they battled hard to the end and a late consolation try was scored. But the final word was with the home side as another fine handling move saw Max J canter over for a converted try.

The game ended with the Tenby Swifts boys winning by a margin of 38 points to 19.

With two excellent wins under their belts, the coaches were more than pleased with the start to the new year.

The team photo of the squad after the Newcastle Emlyn game were Swifts players Will P, Dylan, Max J, Jake, Duane-Lee, Freddie, Cairan, Cameron, Josh, Kyle, Fletcher, Alex, Iorri R, Max H, Ethan, Miller, Will A, Tristan, Iori B and team mascot Iolo.