Narberth shrugged off a second half fightback by Cardigan with a late rally to come out on top and book a place in the next round of the Pembrokeshire Cup. Play was held up for 10 minutes after 12 minutes of the second half when Otters hooker Kevin Davies was injured. The popular Narberth hooker received treatment from the first responder at Narberth Fire Station manned by Narberth firefighters prior to being taken to hospital by ambulance. It was an unfortunate accident when Kevin Davies was injured in a tackle, but fortunately the fire- fighters were able to respond quickly, being stationed just across the road from the Lewis Lloyd ground. The visitors, who play in the Division Four West of the National League, opened the scoring with a penalty by fullback Kevin Evans after five minutes. Five minutes later, the Otters had a chance to level the scores, but winger Rob Irving was off target with a penalty attempt. Evans also missed out with his second penalty chance after 15 minutes, but the kicker was unlucky as the ball struck the right upright. Within minutes, the Otters scored the first of their six tries when number eight Lewis Wood burst through from a lineout to cross near the right corner for an unconverted try after playing a hand in the original move which brought play to that end of the field. Fullback Sion Brace scored the second try for the Otters after a brilliant break by Lewis Wood. The Narberth support play was excellent as flanker Anthony Griffiths took the ball on and then Brace finished off the move in style with his exhilarating running. The try went unconverted, as did the third Narberth try scored by centre Phil Thomas after another move inevitably involving Lewis Wood with winger Mark Davies in support to set up the finish by Thomas. The first half scoring was brought to an end just before the final whistle when flanker Mathew Davies ran from inside the Narberth half when he received a pass from outside-half Wes Pooley, to cross the line for another unconverted try. At the interval, the Otters led by 17 points and might have put the game out of reach of the visitors if the four tries had been converted. At the start of the second half, the visitors bounced back strongly and reduced the deficit to just three points. After six minutes, lock forward John Hickings finished off a good Cardigan move from a lineout to cross for a try converted by fullback Kevin Evans. Shortly afterwards, the unfortunate incident to Kevin Davies occurred and his Narberth teammates were clearly unsettled by the injury. The visitors scored again when centre Alun Williams intercepted a pass by Wes Pooley when Narberth were attempting to attack from the Cardigan 10- metre line. Williams opened up a gap, which the Otters covering defence found impossible to close and his try was also converted by Kevin Evans to bring the visitors within touching distance of pulling off a surprise victory. The Otters gritted their teeth and fought back in the closing stages of the match. Once again Lewis Wood played the key role when he picked up the ball from the base of the scrum in front of the posts and went over for a try, which Mike Georgiou was unable to convert. With the last move of the match, the Otters scored the final try when Phil Thomas also picked up his second try to finish off another exciting move by the Narberth backs to touch down in the right corner. Centre Mike Georgiou had the last word with a fine conversion kick from the touchline. When a Division One team plays a team three divisions lower in the National League, it is always a Catch 22 situation. However, full credit must be given to the Cardigan team who played with passion and enthusiasm throughout the match. There were some good performances by players in their pack, such as number eight Colin Davies, and some exciting running by their backs, who counter-attacked at every opportunity, showing good hands and good skill generally. In the end, it was a good win for the Otters, who were put to the test by the competitive play of the Cardigan team. Commenting after the match, Narberth senior coach Jonathan Dodd said: "It was a good game and we played some good rugby. We did not put any control on the game unfortunately in terms of territory and some of our decision-making was poor. "The backs and the back row forwards managed to get us out of difficult positions with the quality of their play. "The game was played at a good tempo, but we were guilty of letting Cardigan back into the game by taking our foot off the pedal. "However, we were happy that we scored six quality tries with good play by the back row and backs in particular with some incisive running. "Clearly there are things to work on. If we had allowed a Division One side back into the game as we did tonight, we would not be able to stem the tide in the last 10 minutes. "Obviously play was a bit disjointed with the unfortunate accident to Kevin Davies. "Cardigan showed that they were a good side and in many ways it was a typical Pembrokeshire Cup game". Commenting generally, Dodd continued by saying: "We are starting to get stronger as a squad and it was nice to see players back in the squad for tonight's game, such as Anthony Griffiths, Sion Brace, Josh Freeman and Jamie Bohatau. There is also good news about the recovery of players such as Rob James and fullback Mathew Davies. "We have so many games to play towards the end of the season with rearranged matches, that it is essential to have a full squad in action. "For instance we are home on Saturday to Llanharan and on Tuesday we have another testing home fixture against Llangennech in a rearranged league fixture. "For the end of the season run-in we must have a full squad to spread the heavy work load for the players." Narberth fielded Sion Brace, Rob Irving (Josh Freemand) , Phil Thomas, Mike Georgiou, Mark Davies, Wes Pooley, Andrew Davies (Steve Martin), Sisese Navunitali, Kevin Davies (Fifiitipuku Falatau), Alan Phillips, Jason Jennings, Emori Katalau (captain), Anthony Griffiths, Matthew Davies and Lewis Wood.