Bonymaen 32 pts. Narberth 27

 

Six points separated the teams at the start of first half injury time, but two converted tries by Bonymaen in the space of three minutes turned the game on its head and the Otters were unable to get on top despite scoring three tries when they attempted to overcome the deficit in the second half.

Following the mass exodus of players and committee before the start of the season, the new officials at Bonymaen started with a new broom and decided to develop a youthful side.

The current squad of players have all come through the junior and youth system at Bonymaen and the policy is beginning to work with the victory over Narberth being the fourth league win in succession for this side where no player is over the age of 23.

With the wind at their backs in the first half, Maen led by 20 points at the interval following a brace of tries by livewire flanker Nick Clancy and another by lock Jordan Poole supplemented by three conversions and two penalty kicks by outside-half Ian Brooks.

The Otters only scored once in the first half when winger Nick Jones broke clear of the 40-metre line to cross for a try converted by Aled Davies.

Chastened by the team talk from the Narberth coaches in the interval, the players responded by raising their game in the second half to run in three tries from centre Steve Martin, winger Tom Bonnell and outside-half Aled Davies who weaved his way through the Bonymaen defence in injury time to cross for a try which he converted himself.

Davies also converted a penalty kick, but Bony sealed their win with an unconverted try from winger Robbie Ford.

Commenting after the match, Narberth team manager Robert Lewis, said: "We were a little disappointed by our performance in a match where both teams scored four tries in what was an entertaining game for neutral spectators.

"By conceding two tries in injury time at the end of the first half we gave ourselves too much to do. Bonymaen wanted the result more and deserved to win.

"Our tackling was below par and it seemed that three games in the space of eight days took its toll as Bonymaen looked fresher. We did not get going until the second half.

"There were some good individual performances. Centre Steve Martin gave a 100 per cent despite carrying a leg injury in the second half, outside-half Aled Davies had a good all-round game, lock Chris James has added an extra dimension to the pack since returning from injury, young hooker Aled Harries is developing with each game and skipper Justin Hughes did a lot of hard-work and led by example.

"We have a tough home game against Tonmawr on Saturday and we must be ready for that challenge."

For an excellent all-round display, Narberth outside-half Aled Davies was chosen as man-of-the-match by the team management team.

Tomorrow (Saturday), Narberth play their last league match in a re-arranged game at home against second placed Tonmawr.

Narberth fielded: Matthew Davies, Tom Bonnell, Steve Martin, Richard Davies, Nick Jones (Jonathan Morgan), Aled Davies, Andrew Davies (Adrian Killa), Tom Slater, Aled Harries (Dan Smith), Justin Hughes (captain), Chris James, Jason Jennings, Gareth Bateman, Rion Whatmore and Jamie Bohata.