Narberth 35 pts. Newbridge 19

Narberth supporters enjoyed this bonus point win in the first game of the season.

The game was special for hooker Dan Smith, celebrating his 250th league game with the club. Dan has become a devoted Otter, popular with his fellow players and with the club supporters; he is a real clubman. Dan was given the opportunity of leading the Otters onto the field to receive a great reception from the many supporters.

The Otters fielded a new centre pairing of Paul Davies and Keiron Jones, with Tom Powell making a home league debut start at number seven, with Richard Rees at number eight.

The Otters kicked off downfield. In no time, fly-half Ianto Griffiths was called into action, attempting an audacious 52-metre kick, which had the height, but went the wrong side of the posts.

It proved to be a special game for Ianto, for within five minutes, he scored the first of three tries. It came from Newbridge kicking out from the failed penalty kick. The ball was fielded and from a series of rucks, centre Paul Davies made a 30-metre break, which eventually led to the supporting Ianto sprinting over under the posts for the try, which he converted himself.

Two minutes later, Ianto scored again. This time it was flanker Tom Powell who broke clear of the Newbridge pack and, when challenged, passed to Ianto Griffiths for him to score his second try, which again he converted.

Then five minutes after his first try was scored, he bagged his third try. This time Newbridge were attacking inside the Narberth half, winning their rucks and began to attack using long passes into the Otters’ half, only for Ianto to intercept and sprint clear of the opposition for his hat-trick. This time he failed to convert, but with the score at 19-0, he had already provided all the points after only 10 minutes of the first half.

Newbridge, clearly stung by this deficit, came back strongly and within three minutes collected seven points with a converted try.

The visitors’ try came from a kick by fly-half Eamonn Rees towards the stand corner. They took possession of the Narberth throw at the lineout and set up a rolling maul which collapsed, with the referee awarding them a penalty. This was taken quickly by scrum-half Owen Clemett, who passed to the fly-half, who kicked towards the far side for Owen Clement to appear on the wing and cross the Narberth line to score. Eamonn Rees converted with a very acute angled kick.

This lifted Newbridge, who began to come more into the game, requiring the Otters to remain strong defensively. Although Newbridge managed to get close to the Narberth line, an infringement at a ruck provided relief for the Otters. Ianto Griffiths gained several metres, with his kicking putting Newbridge back to the halfway line.

Then on 22 minutes, Newbridge infringed at a ruck inside their own half and Ianto Griffithe added a further three points with a successful kick at goal.

At this stage, neither team was making much headway. Then on 35 minutes, Newbridge scored again. Centre Scott Williams, who was proving to be difficult to tackle, managed to wriggle out of several tackles, before taking the ball towards the Otters line where he eventually set up a successful ruck for flanker Christian Francis to score an unconverted try.

On 40 minutes, Newbridge were penalised for their scrummaging, pushing before the put in. Once again Ianto Griffiths succeeded with a 35-metre kick, giving the Otters a 25-12 lead at half-time.

Changes were made at the break by the Otters. Jack Price made a surprising return at centre, while Keirion Jones moved to the wing, with Liam Hutchings being withdrawn.

Within two minutes of the restart, the Otters increased their lead. From a lineout, the ball was fed to Rhys Lane, who passed to Ianto Griffiths, seeing a gap he raced through and when challenged, passed to flanker Tom Powell, who raced upfield to score a try, converted again by Ianto Griffiths, lifting the score to 32 - 12. This try gave Narberth a bonus point.

At forward, matters were getting frenetic and on 46 minutes the Otters’ pack responded to a high tackle on Ianto Griffiths. Three minutes later, a ferocious scrap occurred, with one Narberth player being the victim of a vicious attack. When the referee had calmed the players down, both number 12s were sent to the sin bin. The Narberth supporters were enraged, having witnessed the situation, but the referee could only deal with events that he was able to see.

Matters calmed down and on 57 minutes Narberth replaced Jake Simm with Pat Roberts while Dan Jacobs came on for Tom Slater in the front row.

Five minutes later, Newbridge were penalised at a ruck and Ianto Griffiths again made no mistake in adding to the Narberth score and taking his personal total 30 points.

At this point he was withdrawn to applause from a most appreciative home crowd, being replaced by Jonathan Rogers.

Then on 69 minutes, Dan Smith and Bradley Davies were replaced by Rhodri Owen and Dan Slater, respectively. Dan was given a great acknowledgement from the Narberth supporters. Rhodri Owen was making his Chamionship league debut.

Two minutes later, Newbridge scored their third try, with substitute Tom Bainton crossing in the far corner for an unconverted try. The move came from a Newbridge attack after a successful ruck on the Otters’ 22-metre line, with fly-half Eamonn Rees chip kicking to the corner for Bainton to beat the Narberth defence, catching the ball and racing over the line. Rees converted from the touchline.

This proved to be the final score, resulting in a 35-19 bonus point win for the Otters.

The remaining minutes saw Jonathan Rogers fail with a penalty and the play becoming scrappy.

Not surprisingly, Ianto Griffiths was deservedly awarded man of the match by the main match sponsors, Narberth Ladies. However, there were some promising displays, from the new centres and from the back row, with Richard Rees and Tom Powell standing out with their determined efforts and Dewi Williams working hard and able to move into second row when Jake Simm was substituted. Alex Jenkins and Jake Simm also played important roles.

Later, head coach Sean Gale commented: “It was a very good bonus point win at the beginning of the season, which is most pleasing. There are a lot of improvements to be made. We have to be pleased to score four tries at the beginning of the season, but we fell off to many tackles.

“It was disappointing at times that our concentration levels were so poor and our contact skills were not as they should have been, but on the other side of the coin, we scored some fantastic tries. Tom Powell’s 40-metre run for his try was out of the top drawer and Ianto Griffiths scored the quickest hat-trick I can remember and they were very pleasing. He took his tries very well and the quality of them was superb.

“I am very pleased with the recruitment we have made, the new boys linked in very well. So it has to be remembered that we have a lot of work to be done to improve in the contact area and our tackling one to one.”

Later in the clubhouse, a special presentation was made to Dan Smith in recognition of achieving 250 league games for the Otters. This was followed by the match sponsors presentation.

Narberth fielded: James Stephenson, Liam Hutchings (Jack Price), Keiron Jones, Paul Davies, Jack Parkinson, Ianto Griffiths (Jonathon Rogers), Rhys Lane, Bradley Davies, Dan Smith (Rhodri Owen), Tom Slater (Dan Jacobs), Jake Simm (Pat Roberts), Alex Jenkins (capt.), Dewi Williams, Richard Rees, Tom Powell.