Narberth 45 pts.

Tata Steel 21

Steel were in this game right up to the closing minutes, although handicapped by being a player short for most of the match before three late tries by the Otters, two of which were scored in injury time, put the game out of reach.

After a strong start, Steel were placed on the back foot four minutes into the game, when centre Lloyd Phillips received a red card for a tackle on Narberth flanker Gareth Bateman.

The Otters opened the scoring following the resultant penalty through outside-half Stuart Morris and with wind advantage added to the advantage in playing numbers, the Otters were able to establish a lead of 15 points at the interval.

After nine minutes, new winger Jason Howells revealed his class with a great run-in to score in the left corner, following a flowing passing movement, and Stuart Morris converted.

Steel clawed back three points through a penalty kick by fullback Gareth Walters after 16 minutes, but three minutes later it was cancelled out by a penalty from Stuart Morris.

On the stroke of half-time, replacement flanker Lawrence Reynolds broke clear to crash over in the right corner, for an unconverted try, to extend the Narberth lead.

At the start of the second half, Steel came back strongly with two penalties, kicked by Gareth Walters and fly-half Shaun Evans, respectively, and a try by winger Gareth John, also converted by Evans.

Otters' winger Nick Jones, who had moved into the number 10 slot after an injury to Stuart Morris, kicked a penalty, before Steel lock Ben Davies burst over in the right corner for an unconverted try which levelled the scores.

A quick piece of thinking by Otters' scrum-half Adrian Killa enabled him to dart over the line for an unconverted try, following good work by the Narberth pack, to give his team a lead of five points.

Steel had been issued with a number of yellow cards during the match, but when the final card was issued, the Otters drove home the advantage with three late tries in the space of six minutes.

Firstly, centre and captain Steve Martin touched down in the left corner following another good handling movement for an unconverted try and then Jason Howells scored the try of the match.

Number eight Steffan Phillips started the movement and quick hands got the ball out to Howells. He picked up the scoring pass near his ankles, cut inside and raced over for the try in a defence-splitting diagonal run to score near the posts.

The try was converted by Nick Jones, who had the last word with an excellent solo effort as he touched down under the posts for a try which he also converted.

Commenting after the match, director of rugby Jonathan Dodd said: "Tata Steel were a formidable side, very good in the first half and hard to beak down, but we took our chances.

"The red card was a major influence on the game, but gradually we wore them down in the second half, when we looked fitter and more structured than the opposition.

"On top of the red cards the number of yellow cards also played a part in the game breaking up, which suited the way we play our rugby.

"We did not expect to get a bonus point win against last season's Division One West champions, so we are over the moon with our start.

"Although we did not do so well in pre-season games, the pre-season training has been the best in years and it paid dividends in today's match."

The Balcony Suite match sponsors, the Narberth Vice-President and Patrons and the Otters Holt match sponsors, the 'Dragonistas', selected Lawrence Reynolds as man-of-the-match. There were also excellent performances by Jason Howells, Adrian Killa and prop Sean Lloyd.

The match ball sponsors were Narberth RFC Happy Hour Gang, the Narberth RFC Former Players Association and Karen Jones and Friends.

Tomorrow (Saturday), the Otters have another tough fixture away to promotion candidates Ebbw Vale.

Narberth fielded: Jonathan Morgan, Nick Jones, Steve Martin (capt.), Richard Davies, Jason Howells, Stuart Morris, Adrian Killa, Sean Lloyd, Dan Smith, Tom Slater, Chris James, Alex Jenkins, Gareth Bateman, Steffan Phillips and Wayne Williams.

Replacements - Tom Bonnell, Jarad Bayliss, Steffan Jones, Gyles Vaughan and Lawrence Reynolds.