Narberth 16 pts. Blackwood 8
With only one point separating the teams, an injury time try by centre Neil Davies converted by outside- half Scott Penney made sure that Narberth won their first home league match of the season.
In the first five minutes, the Otters had a chance to get points on the board, but two long-range penalty attempts by winger Rob Irving proved to be over-ambitious, as did a third a few minutes later.
Irving made a better fist of a further attempt after 19 minutes, with a kick having the legs but not quite the accuracy.
The Otters had the bulk of possession in the first half and created an overlap a number of times, but frustratingly for players and spectators the final pass went to ground.
Both teams attempted to play some open rugby, with the Otters playing the more expansive game, but conditions were a little wet underfoot and the ball slightly greasy, which did not make handling easy.
Scott Penney, the Narberth outside-half, gave his team the lead with a short distance penalty attempt after 30 minutes.
His opposite number, Jeremy Lloyd, only had one shot at goal in the first half, but his penalty five minutes before the interval was off target.
The visitors scored after six minutes of the second half. A clearance kick was charged down to bring play inside the Narberth 22 near the clubhouse.
Blackwood were awarded a penalty, Lloyd kicked for touch and the visitors won the ball in the lineout, with number eight Jamie Sims being driven over for an unconverted try.
Narberth came back quickly with a penalty from Scott Penney to regain the lead, but the lead was shortlived as a penalty by Jeremy Lloyd put the visitors in front.
A further penalty from Scott Penney regained the lead for the Otters and Narberth held their slender one point advantage going into injury time.
Although it would have been a travesty for Narberth to lose this match, having had so much possession throughout, there was always the possibility that the visitors would score from a breakaway or from a penalty inside the Narberth half.
Fortunately for the Narberth supporters, the home team made the running in the closing stages and after a period of persistent pressure, Narberth clinched the game in injury time.
Flanker Jamie Bohata did well to win the ball in the lineout, which resulted in centre Neil Davies forcing his way over for a try and, much to the delight of the Narberth faithful, Scott Penney was on target with his conversion attempt.
Speaking after the match, Narberth team manager Robert Lewis said: "We were very grateful to end up with a win in this hard fought game. Blackwood defended very well and made it extremely hard for us to cross their line.
"We had the bulk of possession and it was a shame that we could not use the ball a little better. "We had a number of overlaps and if the final pass had gone to hand we would have scored a number of tries.
"Although we did not take our chances, we created a number of scoring opportunities.
"We still have a number of players out through injury and one thing we have this season is plenty of competition for places, which is healthy for the club.
"We hope to improve as we go along, but we know we face a tough match next Saturday at Newbridge."
Senior coach Jonathan Dodd commented: "We had 70 per cent of the possession, but often adopted the wrong option, especially in the first half. It was a first taste of wet weather for the players this season and it was a game of stop-start to some extent.
"In the second half we played with more continuity going through the phases and we started breaking their line and making inroads.
"Because the ball was wet, unforced errors were prevalent on the day.
"Our scrummaging was solid and we won ample lineout possession. In addition, we had a plan and we worked to that plan as we had a plan B whenever wrong oppositions were taken.
"The back row functioned well as a unit and kept us in the game as well as forcing Blackwood to make a number of errors.
"Blackwood had a good defence and it was a very difficult to score tries, but our performance was a big improvement and a step up from the way we played at Caerphilly the previous week.
"Whenever you watch the young Narberth squad in action you get the feeling that there is a lot more to come from this team.
"All of the players put in 100 per cent effort, the intensity was there and we did well with the percentage of turnovers, which we obtained.
"Blackwood only broke through our line once when we had a bad five minutes in the second half following the charge down of a kick which ultimately led to their try.
"We played some very attractive rugby and it gives us something to work on for our match at Newbridge on Saturday."
The front row of Barry Davies, Simon Delaney and skipper Alan Phillips gave Narberth a solid edge in the scrums; number eight Lewis Wood and man-of- the-match Andrew Dennis both had exceptional games. Behind the scrum, Adrian Killa did all the right things. There was good tackling by centre Steve Martin and fullback Sion Brace, while wingers Rob Irving and Gavin Jones were in the game throughout.
Substitute Mathew Davies came on for the last 20 minutes of the second half and showed a fine turn of speed and created a number of attacking moves, not only with his pace, but with his rugby vision, and his performance could cause the selectors some headaches in selecting the team to play Newbridge.
Ralph Jones, of Jones Brothers Builders, was the Folly Farm Balcony Suite match sponsor and the Otters Holt match sponsors were two well known supporters, Lout and Bates.
The match ball sponsors were Bargain Box, of Narberth, Neil Salter, of Robeston Wathen, and the Narberth Youth mums.
Narberth fielded: Sion Brace, Gavin Jones (Mathew Davies), Steve Martin, Neil Davies, Rob Irving, Scott Penney, Adrian Killa, Barry Davies, Simon Delaney (Jean Pierre Pretorius), Alan Phillips, Naude Pretorius (David Beynon), Jason Jennings, Jamie Bohata, Andrew Dennis and Lewis Wood.
Athletic on top
Haverfordwest 5 pts. Narberth Athletic 24
After an uncertain start, Narberth Athletic eventually came out on top against a gutsy Haverfordwest side.
The opening exchanges saw Narberth create a number of scoring opportunities, only for the final pass to go to ground in the slippery conditions.
Turning around after both teams had failed to scored in the first half, the Athletic team settled into their playing patterns up the slope and showed far more composure to round off with two tries for fullback Mark Davies and one apiece for centre Tim Plumb and winger Dan Shooter.
Shane Higgon only managed to improve on two of the four tries to take Narberth out to a 24-point lead.
Haverfordwest did secure a late consolation interception try for the final scoreline to read Haverfordwest 5 Narberth Athletic 24.