Narberth 7 pts.

Neath 38

The current Neath coach and former Wales captain, Gareth Llewellyn, brought a strong squad to the Lewis Lloyd ground last Saturday, including some aspiring Osprey players.

Neath have a Premier League game against old rivals Swansea next Saturday and were intent on a competent workout. The Otters’ coaches were using the game as a form of trial with several new faces in the squad for whom this game was quite a tough challenge.

Head coach Sean Gale rested seven players who normally would have been playing to give the newcomers a chance. Among those rested was club captain Alex Jenkins, enabling Ryan Banner to take his place, with former Llandovery flanker Richard Rees assuming the captaincy.

The previous week Llanelli had been the visitors and the Otters played a storming game, winning by five tries to two. So the Neath game whetted the appetite of Narberth supporters and a crowd of several hundred were present. Some Neath supporters also travelled, intrigued to visit the home ground of their legend, the late Brian Williams.

The ground and facilities were immaculate, reflecting the work of officials and committee at the club during the close season.

The game kicked off and immediately Neath attacked and scored within five minutes, with centre Richard Smith hoodwinking the Otters’ defence on the far side of the ground. Fullback Ed Howley converted.

They continued to pressurise the Otters who gainfully maintained defiance and their attacks were quickly snuffed out. Prominent was Jonathon Rogers, playing at scrum-half for the Otters as both regular scrum-halves were unavailable.

Neath’s defence was tight up on the Otters’ attack, enabling them to force Narberth to ruck for the ball and occasionally losing the initiative with an infringement.

Neath appeared to have the upper hand at the scrum, which meant the Otters struggled to hold the strong Neath eight whilst giving Jonathon Rogers little chance to feed his threes cleanly.

In fact, it was from a scrum that the second Neath try came when powerful number eight Scott Hicks picked up the ball from a five-metre scrum and twisted over for an unconverted try.

On 25 minutes, the Otters made some front row changes, withdrawing experienced Dan Smith and Dan Jacobs for youngsters, Rhodri Owen and Ryan Rees.

On 28 minutes, Neath broke through the Otters’ defence for Richard Smith to score his second try, converted by Ed Howley.

The Otters responded immediately, attacking the bottom corner on the stand side and forcing Neath into a lineout on the five-metre line, butg the visitors regained possession, clearing their line.

Narberth, from a messy lineout, regained possession and the half-backs set up a promising attack, only for the ball to end in touch with the last pass failing to find its man.

Just before half-time, prop Bradley Davies, who had been prominent in the loose, had to be withdrawn with a foot injury and replaced by Dan Jacobs. The referee blew his whistle for the break with the score 0-19.

Whilst Neath were a powerful squad, the Otters, with several newcomers, were somewhat disjointed, with the threequarters unable to break down the Neath defence.

With Neath gaining more possession, the back row of Sean Jenkins, Richard Rees and Steffan Phillips were working overtime.

A few changes were made by the Otters, with Dewi Williams replacing Steffan Phillips at number eight and Jake Jenkins coming on for James Stephenson.

Initially the Otters saw more of the ball, but once again it was failing to find its man, ending in touch.

Five minutes into the second half, Neath went further ahead when scrum-half Scott Gibbon crossed over after some excellent support play by the Neath squad putting the Otters’ defence under further pressure. Ed Howley again converted the try.

Gethin Gibby came on to replace Liam Hutchings and we then saw a period of Narberth pressure which on 59 minutes saw a Neath player sent to the sin bin for an illegal ruck near their try line.

A minute later, Jake Simm, who was his usual hard working self, went over for a try under the posts, which Ianto Griffiths converted. The score was then 7-26.

Neath came back at the Otters, setting up several phases before number eight Scott Hicks had only to run a few steps before touching down for his second try, again converted by Ed Howley.

Back came the Otters and a promising attack ended on the grandstand side with a missed pass and the ball going into touch.

Sean Gale made a further change, bringing on Harry Phillips, the latest product from the Narberth Youth squad, to replace Sean Jenkins.

The Otters continued to attack, but the final Neath try came on 76 minutes when the Otters, passing the ball along the threes, suffered an interception, with the Neath player sprinting clear to touch down in the far corner for an unconverted. The game ended with Neath winning 38-7.

The Narberth supporters were of the opinion that the trial squad had performed well against a much stronger squad. The lack of penetration in the threequarters reflected the changed situation and limited experience of the newcomers, some who were making a major move through the leagues in an attempt to meet their aspirations. Unfamiliarity was evident in both the threes and forwards, where the usual dominance in the lineout was missing with mistimed throws.

For the Otters, it is still very early and with senior players still to return, a stronger and more skilful squad will be available.

The Otters have one more friendly against Llanelli Wanderers mid-week before commencing the first Championship game at home on Saturday, September 2, against Newbridge.