Tondu 17

Narberth 22

Although the Otters were in control for most of the match, Tondu were a difficult side to beat, had their moments in attack and came close to snatching a win at the death.

Narberth fly-half Ianto Griffiths gave the visitors an early lead after two minutes with a short range penalty.

The lead was extended four minutes later when wing Rhys Davies finished off a typical Otters handling movement with a dazzling try in the left corner.

Unfortunately, the gusty cross-field wind hampered the conversion attempt so that the try went unconverted.

Although the Otters appeared to be on top, Tondu caught the visitors napping and wiped out the lead with a three tries burst in the space of five minutes.

All of the tries were scored from close range as Tondu gained the upper hand to build up a 17-8 lead out of the blue.

The first try came from a line-out near the left corner following a penalty kicked into touch and prop Gavin Eagle got the touch down for an unconverted try.

Then flanker Matthew Morgan scored a try converted by scrum-half Gareth Powell. The third try was scored by prop Shane Bowen, but the conversion attempt hit the posts.

Narberth supporters were still bemused with what had happened when the Otters regained the lead through a second try scored by wing Rhys Davies.

His colleague on the other wing Nick Gale had made a number of runs up the right flank earlier in the half, to cause problems for the Tondu defence.

This time, in a clever switch of plan, he prised open the Tondu with a defence splitting diagonal break and made a lot of ground up field.

Rhys Davies had run in support and left defenders trailing in his wake to score a try near the posts.

The successful conversion by Ianto Griffiths narrowed the gap so that the Otters were two points behind at the break.

Narberth regained the lead 10 minutes into the second half when flanker Stuart Worrall scored a try in the right corner, after the Otters had won line-out ball.

The conversion was testing but Ianto Griffiths was on target and the extra two points gave the visitors the cushion of five points lead.

Tondu were only one score behind and were determined to get back into the game.

The Narberth pack had been slowly wearing down the opposition and were beginning to cause problem for Tondu in the scrums.

However, the Otters were unable to capitalise on their scrum superiority as for the second week on the trot, injuries made the introduction of uncontested scrums a necessity.

This reduced the visitors' attacking potency as it limited Narberth's ability to create scoring opportunities.

Play moved from one end of the field to the other as time went on. In a frenetic last five minutes, Tondu were camped inside the Narberth 22, with a series of scrums and line-outs.

Narberth managed to withstand the pressure and hold on to their lead, despite that late desperate onslaught from Tondu.

Wing Rhys Davies was named the Narberth man-of-the-match by the team management and on the day it must have been a close call between him and back-row forward Steffan Phillips.

Commenting after the match, Narberth head coach Sean Gale, said: "It was an excellent win at the end of the day. The pitch did not suit our style of play, the rain came in and uncontested scrums meant that we were unable to use the strength brought in from the bench.

"We scored two cracking tries, both scored by wing Rhys Davies who was a huge positive on his first full appearance for the club.

"At present, it is all going very well for the club. We have won five, lost two and drawn one of the matches played to date. Obviously, we would like more bonus points which we are not getting at present.

"Unopposed scrums in the last two games has taken a lot of our armoury away from us.

"Nevertheless, winning on the road is very good as teams like Tondu are difficult to beat.

"Our defence in the last five minutes was excellent.

"As coaches, we are pleased that we have come up to Tondu and won, but we need to improve our execution in future."

Narberth fielded: Jonathan Morgan, Nick Gale, Steve Martin (C) (Jason Howells), Rhodri Jones, Rhys Davies, Ianto Griffiths, Rhys Lane, Ollie Evans (Nathan Williams), Dan Smith, Tom Slater, Adam Clark, Alex Jenkins, Timoci Kaumaitotoya, (Gareth Bateman), Stuart Worrall and Steffan Phillips.