Newbridge 7 - Narberth 13: After a week of wet and stormy days, and another wet start last Saturday, it was surprising that the game at Newbridge was still on and was one of only two games played in the Championship due to the state of the grounds.

The Welfare Ground at Newbridge is constructed as a stadium having been a member of the South Wales Floodlight League and an esteemed club in its hey day. The pitch has an underlay of ash which assists drainage and whilst a heavy shower before the start of the game gave it a glistening appearance, there was a reasonable covering of grass.

However, the heavy shower conditions affected the play and in the second half caused the pitch to become a quagmire in places.

The Otters fielded an unchanged threequarter line and a fairly hefty front row, with young Ryan Bean starting a game for the first time in the second row.

Newbridge kicked off with the strong wind blowing diagonally across the pitch and for the first five minutes both teams persisted with a kicking duel, before the Otters set up a promising movement, passing the ball wide, only to end with a forward pass.

After six minutes, the Otters won a penalty, Nick Gale came forward to attempt a 40-metre kick, which was a wee bit off target.

Initially, the Otters appeared to be penalised frequently at the breakdowns, giving Newbridge opportunities to attack. From their lineout, Bridge moved the ball smartly, with centre Mathew McGovern making a diagonal break, only to be stopped in his tracks by the strong Otters’ defence.

At the breakdown, Bridge offended, enabling Jonathan Rogers to gain touch on the halfway line. From the lineout, the ball moved across the threes to Ianto Griffiths, who kicked for the corner, only for the wind to hold it up and for Newbridge to call a mark.

Their kick was gathered and returned; Newbridge again kicked and the Otters, receiving the ball, attacked, but were stopped and at the breakdown the referee awarded them a penalty just outside the 22 line. Again Nick Gale came forward, but at the last moment the wind moved the ball to the right of the posts.

Newbridge kicked out, Ryan Bean gathered and made ground, with Jack Price alongside. The ball was moved away from the stand side, only for the slippery ball to be knocked on.

It became clear that the Otters’ pack had control of the tight, with Newbridge being penalised and Jonathan Rogers attempting to find touch. Newbridge returned the kick, Ianto Griffiths gathered and raced forward. At the breakdown, the Otters retrieved the ball and, moving right towards the stand, passed to Nick Gale who raced forward and when tackled passed to Ryan Bean; he moved left, but unfortunately the ball was adjudged to have been passed forward.

At the scrum, Newbridge heeled and kicked the ball into touch. At this point, Tom Kaijack had to leave the field and Bradley Davies came off the bench, which resulted in Dan Jacobs moving over to tight-head prop.

The game continued to see both teams attempting to gain ground, with both defences strong, and when the movements did make ground, the slippery ball made handling more difficult and errors occurred. Penalties were also occurring against both teams as the rucks became more intense.

Then on the half hour, Newbridge were again penalised, enabling Jonathan Rogers to place the ball into touch on the stand side. At the lineout, Andrew Cooke caught the ball at the end of the lineout and fed Rhys Lane who passed it out, only for Newbridge to halt the move and get penalised at the breakdown. Again Nick Gale failed to find the target with his penalty kick.

Conditions worsened as a very heavy showers descended on the proceedings.

The Otters continued to attempt to make progress before the referee blew for half-time with the game still tied at 0- 0.

Fly-half Jonathan Rogers, when he had opportunity, placed the ball behind the Newbridge backs with each kick. He restarted the second half and immediately the Otters gained possession and advanced close to the line, before Newbridge offended at the ruck. This time, with a penalty kick in front of the posts, Nick Gale easily slotted the ball between the sticks for a 3-0 lead.

Newbridge kicked off, again the Otters attacked, but at the breakdowns the game was becoming a muddy scramble. This led to a further kicking duel, which failed to create an opportunity for either side.

Newbridge began to see a little more of the ball, but were being repelled by the Otters.

On 60 minutes, the Otters withdrew Andrew Cooke from the back row to be replaced by Steffan Phillips.

At the lineout, Alex Jenkins again proved his worth, gaining good possession and occasionally winning the ball on the Newbridge throw.

The first scrum after the change in the back row saw the Otters push Newbridge back some 10 metres, with the referee awarding them a penalty. From this kick, Jonathan Rogers put the Otters to within five metres of the try line. For an offence at the lineout, Christian Francis, the Newbridge number eight, received a yellow card and was sent to the sin bin. The resultant penalty saw Jonathan Rogers again place the ball into touch on the five-metre line. Alex Jenkins made a clean jump and take and immediately formed a maul which, despite Newbridge’s efforts, enabled the pack to cross the try line for Rhodri Owen to touch down. Nick Gale safely converted to give the Otters a 10-0 lead.

At this point, Lewys Gibby replaced Rhys Lane and Jake Jenkins replaced Keiron Jones for the Otters.

Sam Withers restarted the game and quickly gained possession. As they attacked, the Otters were penalised for standing offside in defence. Withers kicked the penalty into touch on the far side near the five-metre line. From the lineout, they set up a rolling maul and, as the Otters attempted to hold the move, Newbridge threw in a few threequarters and crossed the line for centre Mathew McGovern to score, Sam Withers converted to bring the score to 10-7.

From the restart, the Otters attacked in midfield, only for Newbridge to wrench the ball free as the players were going to ground and passed to McGovern, who made an effective break, only for the ball to end in touch.

Newbridge showed determination to get ahead and the contact between players became quite intense.

With play just outside the Otters’ 22, Newbridge’s yellow card player returned, but at a scrum, the Otters heeled and on receiving the ball, Jonathan Rogers made ground with his kick out of hand downfield.

Newbridge offended and a scrum was reset before the referee awarded the Otters a penalty as they overpowered the Newbridge eight. This time Nick Gale was successful with his penalty kick, bringing the score to 13-7 on 75 minutes.

Following this, Newbridge changed their front row and as a result the scrums became uncontested. However, the Otters controlled most of the remaining minutes of the game, playing safe and using Alex Jenkins’s superiority at the lineout. There was relief all round when the referee blew for full-time.

Head coach Sean Gale commented: “It was an excellent win, when you are playing a lower table side, at the moment, they are always scrapping to win any points they can. What teams are doing is defending very well. Like Beddau, the Newbridge defence was very good. However, the will in our squad at the moment is absolutely fantastic. They are used to winning, so we are always good enough with our set-piece. Tom Kaijack went off early and Dan Jacobs had to move to tight-head and he did absolutely excellent and we won the game through scrum penalties second half. We put so much pressure on Newbridge that they moved to uncontested scrums.

“On the whole we played very well and just lost a little concentration at a driving lineout which allowed them to score, but it was always going to be a tight affair. Although the weather was quite poor, the boys dug in for a really good win. Newbridge is a very tough place to go, so to come away with a win with the poor weather, I was very pleased. We are nine wins and two losses to date, so the season is going extremely well.

“Today we received a few cuts, two lads in the front row had cuts to their eyes, Newbridge did not like the way we were scrummaging. The boys who played well were Dan Jacobs, who did very well having not played tight-head for a while, Ryan Bean and Jack Price, who made holes in the centre. Jonathan Rogers controlled the game very well. We played in the right areas and overall it was a very well deserved win.”

Narberth fielded: Ianto Griffiths, Nick Gale, Keiron Jones (Jake Jenkins), Jack Price, Jonathan Morgan, Jonathan Rogers, Rhys Lane (Lewys Gibby), Dan Jacobs, Rhodri Owen (Kyle Hamer), Tom Kaijack (Bradley Davies), Ryan Bean, Alex Jenkins (capt.), Andrew Cooke (Steffan Phillips), Tom Powell, Richard Rees.