The eagerly awaited clash between Narberth and Brecon took place at the Lewis Lloyd Ground on Saturday and the large crowd in attendance witnessed an epic encounter.

After gaining promotion last season, Brecon had put together a strong set up including the likes of former International and Cardiff Blues player Kristian Dacey and Head Coach Dale McIntosh formerly of Pontypridd, Cardiff and Merthyr.

The match had a little bit of everything, great attacking play, fierce tackling and excitement right up to the last minute of the game.

Brecon came out the stronger and within the first ten minutes had opened their account with a catch and drive close to the Narberth line which saw their flanker dive over for a try converted by Dion McIntosh.

Shortly afterwards resulting from a high tackle by the visitors, Otters fly half Jonathan Rogers kicked a penalty to reduce the arrears to 3-7.

Narberth full back Ashley Sutton then left the field with an injured knee and was replaced by Geraint Llewellyn.

Brecon extended their lead with a penalty kicked by McIntosh but Rogers replied with another penalty to bring the score back to 6-10.

Brecon then went further ahead when their wing raced down the touchline and kicked the ball ahead and some confusion in the Narberth defence saw Brecon’s centre dive on the ball over the line for an unconverted try which increased the lead to 6-15.

At this stage Brecon were in the ascendency but just before half time the Otters had an opportunity to reduce the arrears.

An initial attack out of defence by scrum half Lewys Gibby saw the ball moved to centre Hedd Nicholas who made ground before passing to wing Aled Rees.

He raced towards the try line but knocked the ball forward in the tackle with the try line just a few metres away. The chance was lost and the referee blew the whistle for half time.

After the restart Brecon continued to put the Otters under pressure resulting in the home team losing ball at the lineout. Brecon had further opportunities to score close to the Otters try line but solid defence from the home team kept them out. Then a loose kick out of defence by the Brecon scrum half saw Llewellyn gather the ball.

He jinked passed the first two Brecon defenders and then passed the ball inside to the supporting Gibby who raced in under the posts to score a try converted by Rogers.

The home supporters were vociferously elated and this seemed to spur the Otters on.

Within minutes Narberth were awarded another penalty ably kicked by Rogers to put the home team in front for the first time in the match at 16-15.

A high tackle by the visitors saw Rogers increase the lead with a further penalty to 19-15 with only ten minutes remaining.

Brecon refused to give up and launched wave after wave of attacks only to be thwarted by some heroic tackling by the entire Narberth team which at one point resulted in a Brecon forward being held up over the Otters try line resulting in a kick out from between the posts.

Narberth however were gaining the ascendency at the scrums and with a couple of penalties in the dying minutes they were able to withstand the storm and earn a very hard fought victory over a strong and determined Brecon team.

Man of the Match was awarded by Fenton Vets to fly half Rogers for his excellent goal kicking throughout the match which undoubtedly contributed to the Otters win.