After their scintillating start to the season, Narberth's National League division one campaign has unfortunately started to falter a little.

On Saturday, they slipped to their third defeat in four matches when they suffered another reversal against one of their long-time bogey sides, Tondu.

Having led the league table early on in the season, the defeat has now seen the Otters slip down to fourth position, six points behind current pace-setters Pontypool, who incidentally Narberth play tomorrow.

That promises to be another exciting clash, but Narberth will have to improve on last weekend's form if they are going to get anything out of the game against the leaders.

The Otters certainly appeared to be a little out of sorts on Saturday and perhaps an indication of what was to follow came early on when their prolific points machine, outside-half Simon Daniel, failed with a penalty attempt.

It would have been some reward for Narberth's early pressure, but having seen the Otters waste their chances, Tondu took heart and gradually began to settle down and win more and more possession.

And unlike the visitors, they took advantage of their opportunities when a neat move among the backs saw outside-half Mark Jones cut through for an excellent try and add the extras for good measure.

Rocked by this, Narberth rallied and soon got themselves back into it when winger Nick Jones hared over for a superb try in the corner. This time Daniel had his sights well set and was on target with the touchline conversion.

He also banged over a penalty shortly before the break - albeit with the aid of the woodwork - to get Narberth's noses in front for the first time as the referee's whistle sounded for half-time.

Their lead was short-lived, however. After the turn around Tondu regained the initiative when winger Darryl Thomas squeezed over in the corner, and Mark Jones landed another fine conversion from out wide.

It was end to end stuff at this stage and back came Narberth with their second try of the match. From a scrum inside the Tondu 22, scrum-half Chris MacDonald fed half-back partner Daniel and he spotted a gap to dart through and eventually force his way over.

The fly-half added the extra points with another successful conversion and Narberth must have been quietly confident that they were heading for victory.

But Tondu obviously had other ideas, turning the match completely on its head with three tries in the space of 10 minutes which effectively put it beyond Narberth's reach.

Winger Darryl Thomas set the ball rolling with his second of the afternoon following another incisive move, hooker Adrian Phillips grabbed another after a forward drive from a lineout in the left corner, and flanker Mark Lewis claimed a similar touchdown soon after.

Outside-half Mark Jones converted one of the three and went on to drive the final nail in Narberth's coffin as he himself crossed for another try before the end when he intercepted in the Otters' 22 and raced 80 metres to touchdown between the sticks. Not surprisingly, he also added the conversion.

To be fair to Narberth, they never gave up trying and their efforts were rewarded with a consolation try by winger Jones - his second of the afternoon - which he converted himself, but it was too little too late, and the Otters were left to return home licking their wounds.

They will be hoping to get their promotion push back on track tomorrow, but they will have a tough task on their hands at Pontypool Park.

Skipper Simon Davies was named Narberth's man-of-the-match against Tondu for another committed display up front.