NARBERTH 25 pts.

SWANSEA 18

An excited crowd saw Narberth RFC produce a grandstand finish to win their friendly fixture against Premier division side, Swansea, at the Lewis Lloyd ground on Saturday.

Both clubs used 25 players during two 40-minute periods. The Otters had to defend for the higher proportion of the game, but their pack stuck to their task, scrummaging well and winning all their put-ins and pressurising Swansea on their own ball. Throughout, the lineouts were evenly contested.

Swansea opened the scoring with a try when, following a kick into the bottom corner, the ball was picked up and driven over by their pack, with the hooker getting the touchdown.

This was followed by an Otters unconverted try by Tom Bonnell. The pack, after three quick recycles, played up the field to the right, where a quick ruck saw a change of direction for fullback Roger Davies to draw his oppositre number and feed Tom Bonnell, who moved inside the fullback to score halfway out, making the score five points each.

An Otters infringement saw Swansea move ahead with a penalty.

This was followed by 10 minutes of pressure near the Swansea line when an infringement at a ruck saw the Otters draw level via the boot of Aled Davies with a penalty kick.

Back came Swansea to severely test the Narberth defence and, after recycling the ball, the Otters were adjudged to have strayed offside, allowing the visitors to bang over another penalty and turn around at half-time 11-8 ahead.

During the opening half, Narberth number eight Lewis Wood was prominent with some strong runs. In the second half, he was replaced by Jim Kaumahotoya.

Narberth immediately attacked strongly and won a scrum near the line. From the scrummage, the ball was moved left, with Roger Davies faking a long pass, before drop-kicking a goal to bring them level.

Again Swansea took the lead midway through the half when, after winning a scrum near the Narberth line, their number eight picked up and drove forward. The Otters held up this initial surge, but the Swansea pack again drove on and this time the number eight was not to be denied, touching down near the posts for a converted try.

Shortly after, following a scrum on the halfway line, Jim Kaumahotoya picked up the ball, drove forward and handed off a back row player, before reaching the Swansea fullback; he then passed on to Steve Martin, who unfortunately dropped the greasy ball to miss what would have been an easy try.

With only 15 minutes remaining, the Otters drew level with a well-executed try. From a scrum on the 20-metre line near the top touchline, they moved the ball right, where, after a strong run by Steve Martin, the ball was recycled and switched to the left, where Martin again and Roger Davies combined to feed wing Tom Bonnell, who attacked strongly to score his second in the top left corner. Aled Davies added the extras with a successful conversion.

The final Otters try came just two minutes from time. With Swansea moving forward on the halfway line, the ball was intercepted by Aled Davies, who raced forward and passed to Steve Martin, who ran in under the posts to the accompaniment of rousing applause and cheers from the excited Otters supporters in the stand. The final two points came via the conversion from Aled Davies.

Commenting after the game, Otters team manager Robert Lewis considered the game a pleasing first outing.

"Swansea came to Narberth having beaten Bridgend the previous Saturday and brought a strong squad," he said. "It was good to see the backs distribute the ball well and to vary play intelligently. Fly-half Aled Davies brought the wings into the play and kicked well tactically. Both close season signings, Aled Davies and Lee Granville, had a sound start. There were good performances all round, with Tom Bonnell scoring two good tries. The forwards were generally good, with second row Chris Scarf playing particularly well.

"Finally, a home win was very pleasing after a poor home record last season. It really was good to beat Swansea in a well-contested 80-minute game"

In the clubhouse afterwards, the Narberth supporters enjoyed celebrating the win and were later joined by Whitland and District Male Choir, who helped the supporters celebrate in song!