Llanharan 24 pts. Narberth 19

Denied the opportunity of a mid-week game, the Narberth coaching team made the most of this friendly game against last season's Division One East high-flyers Llanharan.

On a sunny afternoon, on Saturday, the game was competitive throughout and played an a ground in excellent condition.

The first try, scored by Llanharan wing Paul Adams, came after seven minutes from a lineout on the Narberth 22-metre line. Llanharan moved the ball from the lineout to the fly-half, who moved left across the field, passing to wing Adams, who was able to score near the bottom left corner, finding a huge gap in the Narberth defence.

Fullback Tom Cross converted to give Llanharan a seven points lead.

Llanharan seemed to have the better of the early exchanges, with fullback Cross prominent with his sound tactical kicking.

For Narberth, fly-half Craig Jones looked in fine form, with his darting runs and line kicking bringing the Otters back into the game.

At around 20 minutes, Llanharan had opportunities to increase their lead, firstly intercepting a Narberth move, but being held up on the line.

Five minutes later, when Narberth infringed near their own line, Tom Cross failed with the resulting penalty.

Then, after 29 minutes, Narberth equalised. When flanker Wayne Williams picked up the ball from the end of a lineout, he surged forward to within 10 metres of the line, before passing to centre Steve Martin, who scored wide out. Craig Jones was successful with the difficult conversion.

At this time, prominent in the middle of the field with his forward surges was number eight Lewis Wood.

Two changes in the Otters pack were made before half-time when Patrick Viol replaced Wayne Williams and Chris Scarfe came on for the injured Chris James.

Several changes also occurred at half-time to the Otters XV. Aled Davies replaced Craig Jones, Lee Glanville replaced Richard Davies, Andrew Davies replaced Adrian Killa, Alex Jennings replaced Jason Jennings, Gareth Batemen replaced Siimon Griffiths and Sean Lloyd replaced Justin Hughes.

Following ther break, Llanharan were again first to score after 15 minutes with an interception try by Lloyd Thomas, which Tom Cross converted to put them 14-7 ahead.

Narberth responded and after further pressure, with the ball being moved right and then left, passing through many hands, with Steve Martin being stopped on the line, the ball was recycled again for Chris Scarfe to finally score. Aled Davies added the conversion to bring the scores level at 14-14.

Several Narberth moves were stopped near the line by a strong Llanharan defence.

After 74 minutes, the game changed when a Narberth player was yellow-carded, with Tom Cross banging over the resultant penalty to make the score 17-14.

Three minutes later, wing Paul Adams broke clear of the Narberth defence, picking up the ball at a breakdown to score his second try. Cross again converted to take Llanharan into a 24-14 lead.

Five minutes into extra-time, Narberth were able to reduce the arrears with an unconverted try by Lee Glanville, after which the referee blew for full-time.

Afterwards, head coach Jon Dodd commented that the game had been really worthwhile. The game was just what had been needed and a great deal had been achieved against good quality opposition. He was quietly optimistic for the season ahead and is looking for a top half of the table finish.

Narberth fielded: Roger Davies, Nick Jones, Tom Bonnell, Steve Martin, Richard Davies, Lee Glanville, Tom Taylor, Craig Jones, Aled Davies, Adrian Killa, Andrew Jones, Justin Hughes (capt), Sean Lloyd, Rob Evans, Tom Slater, Dan Smith, Jonny Howard, Alex Jenkins, Jason Jennings, Chris Scarfe, Chris Lewis, Gareth Bateman, Simon Griffiths, Pat Viol, Lewis Wood, Wayne Williams.