It’s that time of year again, players can see the end of pre season in sight. The fixtures are out and it’s about get real. It’s an exciting time at Tenby United and we managed to prize coach Andrew Barlow away from the training field for ten minutes to look ahead to the new season. When we say ten minutes we mean ten minutes, at 9.59 you could see his brain beginning to think of the next training session! Once again it’s great to have an insight into what’s going on at one of our county’s most exciting clubs.  


Thanks for taking the time to chat to us mate, following on from last seasons success how are you and the coaches feeling ahead of the new campaign ?

As coaches we are really looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead in Division 1.

Last year was a fantastic year but it is important that we build upon that foundation and maintain our high expectations for this talented squad.

After a well deserved break the players have come back fit and refreshed and we are excited to see how they go during a tough pre season schedule.

With the season nearly upon us how has pre season gone?

Pre season is going extremely well. We have blocked our schedule into different phases and the boys have excelled in each aspect. The first few weeks focused on fitness and the boys worked exceptionally hard.

During the last few seasons we have been the fittest team in the league and it was no coincidence that we finished games the strongest. We hope that this will be the case again this year.

We have just finished our skills foundation block where we have got all our new and old players understanding our calls/plays.

During our training early in the week we were able to see for the first time all our work to date come together and the boys looked amazing. The way they whizzed the ball around the field effortlessly and at pace was a joy to watch.

We now enter our competitive phase where we will play 4 very difficult games. During this window we will look to add new layers  into our game as well as fine tune our systems and structures.

After a great season last year, you’ve obviously built a great squad but are there any new additions to the squad this year?  

There are a number of new additions to the squad this year. We have managed to pick up a few players moving into the county as well as see a lot of home grown players return to the team.

We are excited to see these boys play 1st and 2nd team rugby this year for the club and do our supporters proud.


It’s been well documented the debate around it however what are your thoughts on the new league structure?

It is great to see Pembrokeshire clubs throughout all National and West leagues this year and on behalf of Tenby United RFC we wish them well.

Division 4 West in particular will be an amazing league for Pembrokeshire rugby this year. Whilst it is well documented that we were unable to get into that league this year we really look forward to entering the league next season.

In the interim though we have  in collaboration with all the other teams in that league a competitive fixture list for our 2nd XV that will let us provide rugby for the 80+ players we have within the senior group.




And finally, what are your goals for the season?

Our goals for the season are much the same as previous seasons. Firstly in the league we would like to be able to secure a top half finish. To do this we will need to ensure that Haywood Lane remains a fortress and a difficult place for the opposition to come to.

Tenby United RFC also has a proud tradition in the Pembrokeshire Cup. Having won the Cup last year I feel anything other than a repeat would not be in line with our high expectations of this team.
We know this will be a challenge with some extremely talented and tough teams in Pembrokeshire but it is a challenge I know the players will relish.