Despite putting in a gutsy performance, Narberth Under 13s lost out to a powerful Haverfordwest side in the second round of the Pembrokeshire Cup played at the Lewis Lloyd ground last Thursday evening.
Haverfordwest, who are favourites to win the cup, struck early when, soon after the kick-off, their right wing evaded some weak tackling and sped down the touchline before turning to score under the posts.
This jolted the home side out of their slow start and they now carried the game into the visitors' 22. Following a period of pressure, Haverfordwest cleared their line with a long kick downfield that was gathered by one of their pacy backs who crossed under the posts to bring the lead to 14 points.
The Narberth youngsters fought back well and began to match the bigger Haverfordwest pack in the forward exchanges. The game now went from end-to-end, with both sides threatening to score, but being held out by strong defence work.
It was Narberth, though, who through powerful number eight Rian Whatmore, breached the defence to cross for a well-deserved try shortly before the interval.
The visitors came out strongly for the second half, pinning Narberth in their own half of the field for a long period, and it was only some exceptional tackling that prevented the try-line being breached early on.
The pressure finally told when the ball was moved quickly from a ruck to their centre who broke through to score the third try.
Although Narberth kept battling with faultless commitment and threatened their opponents' line on a couple of occasions, they could not match the strength in depth of a well-organised Haverfordwest side who ran out deserved winners of a very entertaining game.
The Narberth team was: Paul Brown, Luke Davies, Daniel Adams, Ben Davies, Gareth Jones, Adam Lewis, Tom Parsells, Rian Whatmore, Nick Jones, Sam MacNaghton, Rhodri James, Rory Bennett, Gavin James, John Boswell, Jamie Lewis, Gethin Salter, Daniel Higginson, Sam Webster-Smith, Sammy Hampson and William Roberts.