Narberth 45 pts. Newport Saracens 12

Narberth are through to the fourth round of the SWALEC Welsh Cup following their comfortable win over Newport Saracens in a game which was a little patchy, but nevertheless produced seven tries.

Cup matches are always something of a lottery and little was known about the visitors from the east, apart from the fact that they are now in Division One East of the Welsh National League.

The Sarries drew first blood when fullback Simon Skinner slotted over a penalty from 30 metres.

The Otters were playing against the wind in the first half, but still attacked at every opportunity and after seven minutes were in front following a try by centre Richard Davies.

Outside-half Aled Davies kicked the ball towards the right touchline. The wind held up the ball and winger Nick Jones pouched it and started off on a run. He then had an exchange of passes with centre Richard Davies before Davies cut inside to touch down near the posts for a try converted by Aled Davies.

A few minutes later, the Narberth lead was reduced to one point when Skinner kicked a penalty from the halfway line.

Gradually the Narberth pack was getting the upper hand in the scrums, which caused a little frustration amongst the visitors, resulting in a yellow card for Saracens' prop Tom Piper.

More forward pressure resulted in a penalty try being awarded to the Otters, converted by Aled Davies, but Sarries came back again by punishing Narberth for an infringement and Skinner kicked his third penalty of the match.

After 28 minutes, Otters' left wing Jonathan Morgan was the indirect recipient of a long pass by Aled Davies and Morgan showed his skill by beating off the defenders to go over in the corner for an unconverted try.

The visitors kept coming back and a fourth penalty for Simon Skinner reduced the deficit to seven points at half-time. It could have been less, but an ambitious penalty kick by Skinner from well inside his own half went wide of the posts.

After the break, fullback Matthew Davies was in action quickly. He chipped the ball towards the left corner from the Saracens 22 and followed up. When the Narberth team regained possession of the ball, Davies spotted a gap and darted over for an unconverted try in the left corner.

Left wing Jonathan Morgan collected his second try of the game with another excellent finish following quick hands by the Narberth backs and Aled Davies added points for the conversion.

Try number six came after 71 minutes when replacement centre Steve Martin finished off another cracking threequarter movement with a try converted by Aled Davies, and Matthew Davies brought the try scoring to an end when he came into the line at speed and burst through for a try converted by Aled Davies.

Narberth director of rugby Jonathan Dodd was delighted with the result. Speaking after the match he said: "It was our first experience of playing a team from the east for a couple of years. We are very pleased with the victory as we did not know what to expect.

"The boys played some good rugby despite the conditions and we took our chances quite well. With the display today, we continued the style of rugby which we played in our last league match at Llangennech.

"There were some very good individual performances. Flanker Andrew Dennis played well again, fullback Matthew Davies continued his good form since returning to the team from injury, the forwards were dominant in the scrums and skipper Justin Hughes is our choice as Narberth's man-of-the-match.

"We took our options well, but full credit to Newport Saracens who kept coming at us and played rugby, particularly when we were conceding penalties playing against the strongish wind in the first half.

"It was an entertaining game and, although both sides attempted to play open rugby, we prevented them from crossing our line."

Narberth do not have a Division One West league match tomorrow (Saturday) because of the rugby international at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff between Wales and New Zealand.

The squad will get some match practice, however, as Narberth travel to play a friendly fixture against the students of UWIC at Cardiff. The match has a 12 noon kick-off, so that players and spectators can have time to watch the international at the Millennium Stadium.

Narberth fielded: Matthew Davies, Nick Jones, Richard Davies, Neil Davies (Steve Martin), Jonathan Morgan, Aled Davies, Andrew Davies (Adrian Killa), Ryan Perrott, Dan Smith (Aled Harries), Justin Hughes, capt. (Tom Slater), David Ebsworth, Alex Jenkins, Richard Sharpe-Williams, Andrew Dennis and Gareth Bateman (Luke Kendall).