YSTRADGYNLAIS 3 pts
NARBERTH 17
High-riding Narberth maintained their 100 per cent record in division two of the National League with a hard earned victory away at Ystradgynlais on Saturday.
The victory sees the Otters tied at the top of the section with Llangennech, both with four wins out of four.
The clash with Ystradgynlais was far from a classic, however, with too many mistakes creeping into the game and preventing Narberth's usual free-flowing style of open rugby.
All too often promising attacks broke down due to slipshod handling, which meant that clear-cut openings were few and far between.
As a result, much of the play was focussed on the battle up front, and fortunately in this department Narberth were well served by their formidable pack, who held the upper hand for most of the time.
They were particularly impressive in the loose where dynamic back row trio of Alan Reynolds, Gareth Bennett and John Bowen were always in the thick of the action.
In fact, afterwards, the management nominated Bowen as Narberth's man of the match for his outstanding performance.
The Otters were also solid in the scrums and did not give an inch to the Ystradgynlais eight, but perhaps surprisingly Emori Katalau and skipper Jason Jennings did not have things all their own way in the linesout - normally a major source of possession for Narberth.
The home side contested well throughout and often disrupted the supply of clean ball, which contributed to Narberth's lack of cutting edge behind.
It was Narberth who got the scoreboard ticking over, however, when number eight Gareth Bennett crossed for a try in the first half following a good run and kick ahead by centre Will Morgan.
Simon Daniel's conversion atttempt failed, but after he and Ystrad fullback Paul Davies had swapped penalties, the difference remained at five points at the half-time break.
After the interval, Ystradgynlais stepped up their efforts, but they went unrewarded as outside-half David Love failed with a penalty attempt and was also off target with a drop goal.
In contrast, Daniel was in good form with the boot and turned the screw with three further penalties for the Otters to wrap up the points.
The victory was Narberth's second of the week. The previous Tuesday they had defeated Carmarthen Athletic 27-16 in an entertaining clash at the Lewis Lloyd ground.
Narberth's points came from tries by prop Puku Falea and centre Will Morgan, while outside-half Simon Daniel landed five penalties and also banged over a conversion.
The Athletic replied with tries from fullback Kelvin Rees and scrum-half Geraint Jones, with former Otters player Scott Penney adding two penalties.
Tomorrow (Saturday), Narberth are home to Maesteg, kicking-off at 2.30 pm.