Narberth Development XV 5 pts. Llandeilo 30

This Friday night fixture was arranged at short notice. A young and inexperienced Narberth XV comprised of Athletic and Youth players faced the current leaders of Division Four West who are unbeaten after seven league games. The only reverse that they have suffered this season is against Tonmawr, who are currently second in Division One West.

This season, Barry Williams, of Llandovery, Neath, Ospreys and British Lions, having retired from the top echelons of rugby, is learning his coaching skills with Llandeilo RFC and on the performance shown at the Lewis Lloyd Ground has made a successful start in moulding his local club into a squad who are now familiar with his strategy and demonstrating reasonable fitness.

Llandeilo were on the attack from the first kick-off and after five minutes, second row Rob Davies crossed in the corner to score an unconverted try.

Continued Llandeilo pressure resulted in a Narberth infringement and a missed penalty by centre Lee Davies.

The next 24 minutes was constant Llandeilo pressure from their pack and threequarters, with the Narberth youngsters bravely defending, but eventually winger Emyr Jones crossed for a deserved try. Centre Lee Davies missed the conversion. He clearly was having difficulty in his accuracy, again missing a penalty after a further Narberth infringement.

After further pressure from Llandeilo and another Narberth infringement, Lee Davies successfully kicked the penalty, enabling Llandeilo to lead 13 points to nil at half-time.

After strong words from Development coach Kenny Davies, Narberth started the second half with renewed vigour, being rewarded with a penalty for a Llandeilo infringement at a ruck.

Unfortunately, fly-half Tom Richards failed with his ambitious 45-metre kick, the ball falling just short of the posts.

There followed 20 minutes of more Llandeilo pressure and with uncontested scrums throughout the game and several lineouts going the wrong way, Narberth conceded a try. This was unfortunate, since centre Neil Davies had made a significant surging break out of the Narberth half, taking several Llandeilo players to bring him down.

But lack of support from the young Otters resulted in the opposition gaining possession at the ruck and after their kick and race, a deft pick up resulted in number eight Aled Thomason scoring in the corner.

After 20 minutes, Llandeilo brought on veteran prop Gareth Peters, now in his 23rd season. Other Llandeilo subs were Eifion Williams, Kevin Walters and another Eifion Williams.

Further tries were scored by fullback Arwel Davies, converted by Lee Davies, and an unconverted one by Aled Thomason.

The Narberth XV came back strongly, but Tom Richards failed with his drop-goal attempt.

Further pressure and some determined efforts by the Narberth pack saw the ball moved out to centre Gethin Salter, who scored in the bottom corner with a consolation unconverted try in the last moment of the game.

Llandeilo fully deserved their win with a strong team performance, applying some of the skills passed on by coach Barry Williams.

For Narberth, centre Neil Davies showed his class and experience and his determination in playing on when suffering a leg injury. Unfortunately, the game proved to be a difficult one for his colleagues. Narberth number eight Jamie Bohata was prominent in his continued comeback and the youngsters have to be praised for their brave defensive efforts in an almost continuous battle inside the Narberth half.

Narberth fielded: Jonathon Curtis, Leighton Evans, Neil Davies (capt.), Gethin Salter, Tim Plumb, Tom Richards, Rhys Davies, Jamie Bohata, Thabani Sangwani, Rion Whatmore, Rhydian Williams, Chris Jenkins, Aled Harris, Chris Spillers, Replacements - Arwel Williams, Toby Sutton.