Tenby Youth 22 Aberystwyth Youth 27

Under 18s Scarlet Region - Pembrokeshire

Aber Youth travelled to Tenby on Saturday with a squad of players depleted through illnesses. Despite perfect conditions Aber played into strong sunshine which made life difficult early on. After they became acclimatized to this they settled down to play their usual controlled rugby, well led by captain Osian James.

They created chances, one of which man-of-the-match Elis Nicholas seized to score their opening try, converted by Euros Lloyd. Aber again struggled with the restart as the sun made seeing and fielding the kick-off very difficult. Consequently they spent a long period in their own half and Tenby piled on the pressure to score an unconverted try to close the gap to 5-7.

Aber went back on the offensive and were dominant, running strongly and tackling tirelessly. In this respect no one did better than back row forward Steffan George. This firm platform enabled Aber to increase their lead with a try in the corner by Ben Breeze for a half time score of 5-12.

In the second half, Aber lacked discipline early on and as a result, were on the wrong side of a high penalty count. Tenby’s increasing confidence earned them a converted try to draw level at 12-12. Aber quickly replied with a well taken try by Dafydd Hywel. Lloyd again converted from in front of the posts to take Aber back in front 12-19.

Tenby hit back with their third try to take them to 17-19 before Hywel scored his second try which went unconverted. This widened the gap to 17-24. Aber were then temporarily reduced to 14 players after a yellow card offence. The hosts took full advantage of this and scored another unconverted try taking them to 22-24. But Aber’s young side is nothing if not resilient and Lloyd sealed their win with a closing penalty for a final score of 22-27.