Felinfoel 27 pts. Narberth 17

Narberth's unbeaten league run ended somewhat unexpectedly at the Recreation Ground Felinfoel when the Otters were no match for the Division One West newcomers on the night.

The Otters could not have made a better start as centre Steve Martin touched down for a try, converted by outside-half Aled Davies, from the first move of the match.

The ball was moved quickly out to Martin who spotted a gap and the young centre tore the Felinfoel defence to shreds as he cut through to score a try under the posts, converted by Davies, after just 35 seconds.

Foel equalised after seven minutes with a try by prop Nicky Harries. It came from a move at a lineout near the Narberth 22 and, with the support of his colleagues in the pack, Harries crossed the line for a try, converted by fullback Andrew Burder.

After 11 minutes, Aled Davies was off target with a penalty kick and the Otters suffered more misfortune after 19 minutes when centre Richard Davies was injured and took no further part in the match.

A short range penalty by Aled Davies three minutes later restored the lead for the visitors, but it did not last long, as winger Jason Howells scored the first of his three tries. He broke clear from the 40-metre line in a typical attack by Felinfoel and outpaced the covering defence to score near the posts and the try was converted by Andrew Burder.

In the first minute of injury time, Howells stretched the lead when the Otters were found wanting as Felinfoel took a quick tapped penalty from just inside the halfway line. The ball was moved quickly out to Howells, who ran clear to touch down in the corner for an unconverted try.

After four minutes of the second half, Foel increased the lead with a short range penalty kick by Andrew Burder. Even when Felinfoel were reduced to 14 players after prop Daniel Jacobs was yellow-carded, the visitors were unable to take advantage of the disparity in numbers.

In fact, Felinfoel scored again as Jason Howells completed an excellent hat-trick of tries when he made use of an overlap on the right in another run from the halfway line to score near the posts. Burder's conversion attempt struck the upright.

Shortly before the final whistle, the Otters did score a try through winger Nick Jones, which was converted by Aled Davies, but by this stage any hopes of a Narberth victory had long since vanished.

Commenting after the match, Narberth's backs coach Clive James said: "The result and performance were both very disappointing. Felinfoel had more hunger and desire. Although we had a good lineout in attack and defence, Felinfoel won the close exchanges and contact area and they also counter-attacked by winning a lot of turnover ball.

"In addition, Felinfoel had strong backs who were quick off the mark and capitalised on our mistakes, even if they did not create that many tries themselves.

"We created a number of good opportunities without finishing them off and every time the ball went loose, Felinfoel came away with it and utilised the ball very quickly.

"There were some good individual performances. Centre Steve Martin was excellent and was the team management's choice as man-of-the-match and there were other good performances by scrum-half Adrian Killa, lock Alex Jenkins and number eight Jamie Bohata.

"It was a big blow losing centre Richard Davies through injury midway through the first half.

"Normally Narberth thrive on continuity, together with second and third phase possession, but this evening this aspect of our play just did not develop.

"We've got to go back to the drawing board for the next match which will be home to Carmarthen Quins."

Tomorrow (Saturday), Narberth are home to Carmarthen Quins who have not lost to date this season and are runaway leaders of Division One West.

Narberth fielded: Matthew Davies, Nick Jones, Steve Martin, Richard Davies (Craig Barnett), Jonathan Morgan (Tom Bonnell), Aled Davies, Adrian Killa, Tom Slater (Ryan Perrott), Dan Smith, Justin Hughes captain, David Ebsworth (Jason Jennings), Alex Jenkins, Gareth Bateman, Thabani Sangwani (Richard Sharpe-Williams) and Jamie Bohata.