Newbridge 15 pts. Narberth 13

It was an early start for the Otters, who were on the road at 9.30 am for a 1.30 pm kick-off. This season, the fixture list issued by the WRU looks very strange, with successive away games and a Championship League game on the day of a home international. Indeed, the limited home games and the Autumn International Series places great pressure on clubs.

During the night, there had been quite heavy rainfall, with rain continuing throughout the day. One wonders whether the game might have been called off had a more normal start time been possible. Locally in Pembrokeshire, several games were called off.

The Newbridge ground, which is situated in a valley, was heavy underfoot, with the pitch conditions deteriorating throughout the game.

The Otters made a few changes to the starting team from the previous week. Ianto Griffiths having been effective at fly-half started in the position, with Jonathan Rogers occupying a place on the bench. Joe Hutchings moved from wing to fullback, while Keiron Jones returned earlier than expected from injury, taking the wing position. Both props Tom Slater and Ryan Rees withdrew from selection with injuries. They were replaced by Rhys Davies and on permit Craig Thomas. Steffan Phillips, playing his first game for some weeks, took up a back row position.

Newbridge kicked off and it was quickly clear that they would play to the conditions and began to dominate in the loose, with the referee finding the Otters infringing at the breakdowns.

Indeed the first score came from a successful Newbridge penalty goal, with the Otters drawing level when Ianto Griffiths kicked one himself after about 23 minutes, having missed with an earlier opportunity.

The Otters’ pack were not showing the steel of the previous week, but were just about holding on in the scrums. However, the lineout was not as efficient and being penalised frequently, the extra possession gave Newbridge the advantage and using the poor conditions they eventually scored a converted try, giving them a half-time lead of 10 -3.

Those Otters supporters who travelled were hoping for a major turnaround in fortune, similar to the previous week. Unfortunately, there was no immediate improvement.

Newbridge added to their score with an unconverted try, before the Narberth coaches made changes, bringing on Bradley Davies in place of Rhys Davies, with Rhys Lane and Jonathan Rogers coming off the bench to take their positions at half-back, with Ianto Griffiths moving to fullback and Joe Hutchings being withdrawn.

Immediately the Otters became more dominant. Ianto Griffiths added a second penalty on 58 minutes to make the score 10-6 and added a try late on.

In scoring the try, they went through 13 phases, before Alex Jenkins broke clear to race up the touchline and enjoy a rare try, which Ianto Griffiths converted.

Rhodri Qwen came on to replace Dan Smith at hooker.

As the conditions worsened and time was running out, the Otters were unable to add to their total, with the referee blowing full-time with the score at 15-13.

A disappointed head coach commented: “We have been getting better and better, especially after last week. The conditions were poor and we went down to Newbridge level which was disappointing. We made too many mistakes, they wanted the game more than us and every 50-50 ball they won. The lineout was poor, we were not accurate enough and our kicking game was poor.

“It is always a difficult place to visit, their tactics with the weather suited them and we could not tempo the game to the level we wanted to play at. In the last 20 minutes we improved drastically when we made changes, which was a bit pleasing, but apart from that, it was a poor day at the office.

“ Our discipline let us down and the referee consequently penalised us in the contact area, so we could not keep the ball. We move on to prepare for the game at home against Cardiff Met in a few weeks.”

Narberth fielded: Joe Hutchings (Jonathan Rogers), Keiron Jones, Jack Parkinson, Paul Davies, Liam Hutchings, Ianto Griffiths, Lewys Gibby (Rhys Lane), Craig Thomas, Dan Smith (Rhodri Owens), Rhys Davies (Bradley Davies), Ryan Banner, Alex Jenkins (capt.), Richard Rees, Tom Powell, Steffan Phillips.