Carmarthen Ath. 31 pts. Narberth 10

Power play by the Red and Blacks' pack gave Carmarthen Athletic the edge and prevented the Otters from playing their normal open game with any penetration.

The large crowd of Narberth supporters present at the Athletic ground in Johnston soon came to terms with the fact that the Otters would be up against it as the Red and Blacks controlled the first half.

The Otters suffered an early setback when number eight Timoki Kaumahotoya was yellow-carded.

During the time he was off the park, the Red and Blacks captured 10 points.

Skipper and flanker Lee Bassett opened the scoring for Carmarthen Athletic when he finished off a move initiated by Mark Jones to cross for a try, which Mark Jones converted.

Although Narberth centre Nick Jones struck back with a penalty, within minutes, Mark Jones slotted over his first penalty of the match.

After 29 minutes, Nick Jones missed out on a penalty opportunity from 35 metres and then after 35 minutes, the Red and Blacks crossed for the second try of the match.

Following a series of attacks, a flowing handling movement by Carmarthen Athletic gave Viv Jenkins, the left wing, some space and he raced over for an unconverted try.

Shortly before the interval, the lead was increased when Mark Jones was on target with another penalty attempt.

At the start of the second half, the Otters began with more purpose. Although Nick Jones missed out on another penalty attempt, the visitors were rewarded after eight minutes when winger Tom Bonnell finished off a Narberth attack set up by a break from scrum-half Adrian Killa, which enabled Bonnell to cross in the right corner. This time, Nick Jones kicked accurately and the conversion from the touchline sailed between the posts.

The Otters' revival was short-lived as a penalty by Mark Jones after 10 minutes increased the lead following a stoppage when Narberth lock Jason Jennings was injured. Jennings had hospital treatment for a gash on his face after coming into contact with a boot.

The Otters continued to have the odd attacking opportunity, but a mixture of solid defence by the Red and Blacks and some indifferent handling by the Narberth backs prevented any move from resulting in a try.

Nick Jones did have another long distance penalty attempt, but the kick went wide and two successive tries by Viv Jenkins, to complete a fine hat-trick, gave the Red and Blacks a deserved win.

In the first of the brace of tries scored by Jenkins, the winger finished off a move by the pack as he touched down for a pushover try and, minutes later, he ran from out of the Narberth half following a Carmarthen Athletic counter-attack and evaded the Narberth defenders to cross for an unconverted try.

Although Narberth were missing a number of key players, it appeared that the squad is not quite strong enough to cover the absence of four or five key players at the same time. If one or two are missing, the problem is not so apparent, but when more are injured or otherwise unavailable, it becomes more of a problem.

These days for rugby at Division One level, teams who want to finish in the top half of the table need cover for all positions and the replacements must be strong enough to compete on a regular basis for a place in the side.

Naturally, very disappointed with the outcome of the match, Narberth coach Sean Gale said: "It was hugely disappointing as we made far too many errors. They played the territorial game very well and, although our set-piece was OK, we were bullied out of the contact area and there were far too many turnovers.

"Combined with a number of knock-ons, there was no way we could expect to win the game.

"At 18-10, we were back in the game at the start of the second half, but unfortunately we forced the passes too often, got turned over and they scored more points.

"In summary, Carmarthen Athletic took their chances and we were bullied out of the game.

"We must go back to scratch and get back to the form that we know that we are capable of showing.

"In addition, we have to understand that a lot of crucial players are out with injury, including fly-half Craig Jones, flanker Andrew Dennis, lock Chris James and full-back Sion Brace.

"It is not all doom and gloom, but we all have to question ourselves and take the responsibility of getting back.

"I'm sure that we can do it with the talent we have in the squad.

"When some of the players come back from injury, we can get our confidence back and play the all-important gain line rugby.

"When we are attacking, we are attacking quite well, but we seemed to be missing out on those vital last passes."

Narberth fielded: Matthew Davies, Tom Bonnell, Nick Jones, Richard Davies (capt.), Jonathan Morgan, Toby Smith, Adrian Killa, Sean Lloyd, Dan Smith, Justin Hughes, Jason Jennings, Alex Jenkins, Gareth Bateman and Timoki Kaumahotoya.

Replacements - Rhys Davies, Neil Davies, William Russell, Sam Smith and Tom Slater.