Narberth nil Merthyr 28 pts

Dreams of a good SWALEC Cup run for the Otters disappeared last Saturday when a strong Merthyr squad overpowered them.

Merthyr are current leaders in the WRU Championship League and in the close season announced the support of a local lad made good who was prepared to invest a significant amount in Merthyr in an effort to move the club into the Premiership.

The financial backing enabled them to sign a strong squad, including several players with Premiership experience. On the field they are led by ex Wales international Andy Powell, who made headlines in rugby clubs for travelling on the M4 in a golf buggy from the Wales squad HQ. On the field, he looked fit and very much part of the Merthyr method of play.

Off the field they are supported by a strong coaching team, with the famous Dale Mackintosh as an adviser. Successful teams attract support and many of their supporters travelled to the game at Narberth.

Before the kick-off, there was a minute’s silence in respect of the late Roy Lewis, a former committee member and father of Richard and Robert (Basher), both former players.

The game kicked off with the Lewis Lloyd ground looking in good shape, but the weeks of wet weather meant that the pitch was heavy underfoot and quickly cut up.

Initially both teams parried each other and the Otters displayed their strong defensive quality and were quick to snuff out any Andy Powell drives. However, from the first scrum, Merthyr showed their intent to dominate the tight, pushing the usual strong Otters scrum backwards and it took the homse side a few scrums to regain some form of control, though scrum-half Jonathon Rogers and later Rhys Lane needed the support of the back row throughout to gain any good ball with the scrum moving backwards.

As the half developed, the Otters were having to constantly clear their lines with several touch kicks, enabling Merthyr to regain the ball from lineouts.

The first score came after eight minutes when Merthyr centre Tom Hiscock touched down for a controversial unconverted try. Merthyr had heeled the ball from the scrum and passed out to the threes; the pass to Hiscock appeared forward, but unfortunately went unseen by the referee, who awarded the try.

In the first 20 minutes, Powell stayed out of the rucks and was frequently the first receiver, but on all occasions he was well marshalled by the Otters, who constantly defeated his attempts to get across the gain line.

A minute later, the Otters were awarded a penalty, but Nick Gale failed with a 40-metre attempt.

Four minutes later, the Otters were awarded another penalty when Merthyr were offside. This was a 30-metre kick, which Ianto Griffiths took, but the ball sailed the wrong side of the posts.

The Otters began to gain more ground and centre Keiron Jones made a good break, but unfortunately the attack failed due to a knock-on.

Narberth made a change at scrum-half bringing on Rhys Lane.

Then two minutes from half-time, Merthyr managed to outstretch the Otters’ defensive line, allowing winger Alex Howman to cross in the top far corner for an unconverted try.

Before half-time, Jordan Roberts broke out of the Otters’ 22 and sprinted up the stand side, only to be brought down close to the five-metre line where Merthyr retrieved the ball and cleared the threat.

The half time score of 0 -10 looked within the Otters’ grasp. Clearly Merthyr had done their homework, putting the pressure on in the scrums and minimising Narberth’s famed lineout play by kicking in field and lying near to offside whenever the Otters attacked, thus restricting their use of the ball.

The second half saw Merthyr again on the attack, with their large pack forcing their way up field via several phases and it was not long before the Otters were penalised for a ruck infringement, allowing fullback Mathew Jarvis to gain three points with the penalty kick.

Two minutes later, the Otters were again penalised, this time for a scrum offence. Jarvis again added the three points and this saw Merthyr’s score beginning to build with a 16 points to nil lead.

Three minutes later they went further ahead with a try by wing Dan Parry, who, using a chip kick, was able to outsprint the Otters’ defence and touch down. Jarvis failed with the conversion.

Narberth began to make changes, bringing Dan Jacobs on to replace Ollie Evans.

Then Merthyr were penalised at the scrum and from the penalty, Ianto Griffiths kicked to the five-metre line on the stand side. Alex Jenkins made a good catch and a rolling maul formed, but they failed to cross the try line, Merthyr again managing to thwart the effort and clear the danger.

Narberth then brought on fresh legs, with Pat Roberts replacing Llyr Morris and Marc Jones replacing Dan Smith.

Merthyr continued to put the Otters under pressure and on 65 minutes, flanker Osian Davies, who had been at the fore of all the Merthyr efforts, crossed after sheer forceful play by the pack made significant ground and Davies was able to dash clear to touch down, with Mathew Jarvis converting to give the visitors a final score of 28-0.

Merthyr have an extremely strong, well-drilled squad, stopping the Otters gaining as much ball as they would have liked. However, in this tough cup game at forward, Calumn Tree worked tirelessly, along with all his colleagues. Ollie Reyland again impressed with his ability to take on the defenders and force his way forward. At the rucks, Merthyr had the edge, but good work was done by Llyr Morris.

The sponsors’ Narberth man of the match was Ollie Reyland.

Commenting immediately after the match, Narberth director of rugby, Jonathan Dodd, said: “As coaches we were very pleased with the level of performance by the Narberth players who could not have given any more. A couple of things went against us. We did not finish a couple of try scoring opportunities in the first half and we missed a couple of penalty kicks. I would like to think that on another day we could have finished off those chances.

“There was lots of effort and determination in defence against a very good Merthyr side. We hope that we can get something out of the game in two weeks time when Merthyr return to Narberth for the league fixture.

“Merthyr are a very strong outfit and should be league champions at the end of the season.”

Narberth fielded: Johnny Morgan, Nick Gale (Jordan Roberts), Keiron Jones, Ollie Reyland, Jordan Roberts (Liam Hutchins), Ianto Griffiths (James Stephenson), Jonathon Rogers (Rhys Lane), Ollie Evans (Dan Jacobs), Dan Smith (Marc Jones), Jamie Kaijaks (Ollie Evans), Lyndon Bateman, Alex Jenkins, Gareth Bateman (capt.), Calumn Tree, Llyr Morris (Pat Roberts).