Narberth’s spell at the top of the table ends

Carmarthen Quins 29 pts. Narberth 10

Narberth's brief spell at the top of the Division One West table ended on Saturday with defeat at the Park in the away match against Carmarthen Quins. The Otters had most of the possession in the first half, but the failure to take scoring opportunities, the loss of the ball near the Quins line and indiscipline cost the visitors dearly. When the opposition has a place kicker of the stature of Mark Jones, you cannot afford to give away penalties and the Otters were punished each time a penalty was conceded. The Otters pack did well against the Quins in the set pieces and the Quins only got within sniffing distance of the Narberth 22 on four occasions in the first half. Each time the Quins scored, dishing out a harsh lesson that at this level every half chance must be grasped eagerly with both hands. A short-range penalty after 10 minutes by Mark Jones gave the Quins the lead and two minutes later an opportunist drop-goal by Jones increased the lead. Prop Justin Hughes was injured after 16 minutes and replaced by Scott Payne, but the Otters still more than held their own in the scrums and lineout. Another penalty by Jones after 35 minutes increased the lead to nine points, but the visitors were still very much in the game. That changed during injury time when Quins' captain and flanker Alan Mason went over for a blindside try from a scrum near the line and Mark Jones added the conversion points. Unfortunately, the Otters had failed to find touch from a defensive clearance kick. This had given the Quins the opportunity to counter attack and to win a lineout near the Narberth line. The lineout led to the scrum and the scrum led to the try so that the visitors trailed by 16 points at the interval. The battle of attrition up front continued in the second half, but the Otters came back into the game when the Quins were reduced to 14 men after hooker Chris Francis had been yellow carded. Narberth had been awarded a penalty within kicking distance near the posts, but opted for a scrum. The gamble paid off with some slick hands by the Narberth backs, which ended in centre Richard Davies going around the Quins defence to touch down in the left corner. Outside-half Steve Williams converted from the touch line to reduce the deficit and five minutes later he kicked a short range penalty to narrow the gap to six points. A penalty by Mark Jones after 27 minutes meant that the Otters had to score twice to get on top, but any dreams of victory were shattered when the Quins were rewarded a penalty try after 39 minutes which was converted by Jones. In injury time, Mark Jones increased his personal tally with another well-taken drop-goal and the large contingent of Otters supporters were left with thoughts of what might have been if chances had been taken. Team manager Robert Lewis was in pragmatic mood after the match when he said: "We knew that it would be difficult to get a result up here against the Quins and so it proved. They deserved to win as they were a bit more streetwise and we gave away too many penalties in the first half. As a result we put ourselves under a bit of pressure. "The injury time try scored by the Quins towards the end of the first half proved crucial to the result. "The boys played with a lot of heart but we need to improve in certain positions. It was a hard game and we were not quite good enough on the day, but in many ways the Quins were flattered by the scoreline. "We were good in the scrums and lineout for most of the game and only lost one lineout. However, the Quins were a bit quicker to the breakdown than Narberth, and we were shaded in the rucks and mauls. "Our rhythm was disrupted early on with the injury to prop Justin Hughes and we missed our fullback and captain Sion Brace who was injured. "Nevertheless, it was a good performance and at the start of the season playing the teams that we have played we would have taken three wins out of five. "We are aware that we need to improve a bit, but the squad is good and there is terrific hwyl amongst the boys. "Nathan Williams and Dan Smith had big games in the front row, Darren Morgan was prominent in the lineout and centre Neil Davies had another very strong game. It was also good to see Nick Jones have a more settled game at fullback and the team management have nominated Nick as man-of-the -match." Narberth fielded: Nick Jones, Steve Martin, Richard Davies, Neil Davies, Matthew Davies, Steve Williams, Chris MacDonald (Andrew Davies), Nathan Williams, Dan Smith (Gareth Jones), Justin Hughes (captain)(Scott Payne), Chris James, Jamie Bohata (Emori Katalau), Lloyd Phillips (Jack Mason) and Lewis Wood. Tomorrow (Saturday), Narberth are home to Merthyr who are in joint third place in the table along with Narberth, Whitland and Bonymaen.