When the students of UWIC paid a visit to the Lewis Lloyd ground earlier in the season they returned east with a 20 points to 17 victory over Narberth under their belts.

It was a case of deja vu for the Otters on Saturday when they visited the students' home turf, going down by the same narrow margin.

It was a rare defeat for National League division two topping Narberth, although their cause was not helped by the red carding of hooker Simon Delaney on the half-hour which reduced them to 14 men for the duration.

Having rattled up 10 tries in their previous league match, and with 18 wins from 21 games, the Otters were in buoyant mood at the outset, but the UWIC defence was up to the challenge, reducing the first half to a duel between both outside-halves.

Two successful strikes by Narberth's Simon Daniel to one by his UWIC opposite Rhys Edwards had given the visitors a three-point advantage on the half-hour, but then Delaney was given his marching orders for allegedly stamping on UWIC centre Ian Blackburn.

Although Edwards failed to punish the indiscretion, pulling his penalty wide, the stand-off made amends with another three-pointer minutes later, which put the teams back on terms.

The stalemate seemed likely to remain at least until the break as the Otters rallied well to negate UWIC's numerical advantage, but quick thinking student centre Gareth Chapman had other ideas.

The threequarter was on hand to gather possession as the ball popped loose when a Narberth attack broke down on the halfway line, and after jinking past fullback Wayne Jones, hared over to touch down beneath the posts.

Edwards made light work of the conversion to put the homesters 13-6 in front at the change around.

After the break, Narberth came close to reducing the arrears, but Simon Daniel was halted close to the line.

The students countered immediately and it was only the industry of powerhouse Elgan Vittles which saved the day, the centre halting the UWIC advance on his own 22.

Narberth continued to rise above the fact that they were a player down, making the game a real contest, with Daniel landing two penalties to bring the visitors to within a point.

Narberth sneaked into the lead when scrum-half Chris Macdonald, heavily bandaged following a head injury earlier on, forced his way over for an unconverted try from a close range lineout.

With Vittle and co-centre Andrew Bowen proving constant thorns in the UWIC side in midfield, Narberth came close to increasing their advantage when Vittle and wing Andrew Jones combined to breach the homesters' defence, but the students did well to smother the threat near the left corner.

Edwards failed with a penalty for UWIC, before wing Nicky Jones exploited a slight overlap to regain the lead for the students with a try out on the left, which Edwards converted.

Having a rare off-day with the boot, Daniel failed with a penalty which would have salvaged a point for the Otters in the closing stages.

Narberth fielded: Wayne Jones, John Whitticombe, Elgan Vittles, Andrew Bowen, Andrew Jones, Simon Daniel, Chris Macdonald, Fifitapuku Faletau, Simon Delaney, Rob Jones, Jamie Bohata, Emori Katalau, Meurig Daniel, Gareth Bennett, Simon Davies (capt).