Dunvant 11 pts. Narberth 16

After absorbing Dunvant pressure during the first half, the Otters got into the game in the second half and with the use of a strong bench did just enough to pick up a win against a team who played far better than their league position indicates. The large Narberth contingent amongst the spectators at Broadacre may have expected an easy game against the bottom of the table team, but it was not to be. The Dunvant pack played well, particularly during the first half, and it was only sound defence by the Otters which prevented the home team getting on top. Dunvant outside-half James Horner had a bit of a hit and a miss afternoon with his place kicking and if he had been as accurate as his opposite number Aled Davies, the end result may well have been a different story. After four minutes, Horner had an opportunity to put his team in front with a penalty, but was off target. He made amends a couple of minutes later with a short distance penalty to put his team in front and at the same time the Otters were reduced to 14 players when lock Alex Jenkins spent 10 minutes in the sin bin. The Otters equalised when Aled Davies made no mistake with a penalty from 30 metres to level the scores. Shortly afterwards, Horner was off target once again with a penalty attempt. After 26 minutes, Aled Davies put the Otters in front for the first time in the match with a penalty from 28 metres and fortunately for the visitors Horner missed yet another penalty kick. As a result, Narberth had a slender lead of three points at the interval. Immediately upon the restart, the lead was increased with a short range penalty by Aled Davies, but Dunvant bounced back and showed that they were still in the game when skipper and flanker Rory Gallagher finished off a move up the left flank with an unconverted try. During the last 20 minutes, Narberth made a couple of changes, with prop Ryan Perroy making his debut when he replaced Tom Slater and a little later club skipper Sion Brace came on at fullback, with Matthew Davies moving across to the wing in place of winger Tom Bonnell. Both substitutions made a difference and Sion Brace was also instrumental in setting up Narberth's only try of the match. He came up into the line swiftly and created enough space for centre Steve Martin to cut through the Dunvant defenders with a jinking run which ended with a try by Martin converted by Aled Davies. Dunvant needed two scores to win the match and in a late rally during injury time they did cross the line through the use of an overlap on the left, but the try was disallowed because of a forward pass. With the last kick of the match, Dunvant did have some consolation and managed to pick up a bonus point when James Horner slotted over a penalty in the 11th minute of injury time. Commenting after the match, Narberth forwards' coach, Sean Gale, said: "Dunvant is not an easy place to visit to pick up league points and a lot of visiting teams will slip up there this season. "They played reasonably well up front, but our forwards toughed it out and stopped them from converting pressure into points in the first 20 minutes of this match. We then went on to have a very good win. "Unfortunately, we put a few passes down, which might be expected with the weather being as it was, but we kept a good field position to come away with the points. "We defended a lot better and we took our chances. Outside-half Aled Davies was on target with his line kicking and place kicking, flanker Gareth Bateman had a very physical game and the front row was outstanding during the last 25 minutes. "We need to keep up this type of performance, as there are no easy games in this division. "Prop Ryan Perroy had an impressive debut when he came on as a second half substitute. We had strong bench today. We have got a good squad in place and we are keen to use all of the players in the squad. "In the last 20 minutes, the substitutes came on, but the boys who came into the side at the start of the match also did really well. "We need to use all of the players in the squad as it is going to be a very long season. "We have a lot of youngsters in the side, including the likes of lock Alex Jenkins, utility back Matthew Davies, prop Tom Slater and centre Steve Martin, and these players are maturing each week." Open side flanker Andrew Dennis was nominated as Narberth's man of the match. Narberth fielded: Matthew Davies, Tom Bonnell (Sion Brace), Steve Martin, Richard Davies, Andrew Jones, Aled Davies, Adrian Killa, Tom Slater (Ryan Perroy), Dan Smith, Justin Hughes (captain), Chris James, Alex Jenkins, Gareth Bateman, Andrew Dennis and Jamie Bohata.