Llanharan 42 pts. Narberth 24

No one would have forecast the result of this Championship game on Saturday. Supporters were expecting Narberth to end the season on a high as Llanharan had not won a game all season.

But it seems the hosts had made several changes and were rebuilding the team with some younger club members, while at scrum-half they had the experienced and talented Craig Burton, who was to be pivotal to their game.

Conditions were good for a game of open rugby. Within three minutes of kick-off, the Otters had a chance to take the lead, but Nick Gale failed to find the posts.

However, he soon made amends. When the Otters set up an attack and the ball was kicked forward, it was quickly picked up as it bounced and passed to Nick, who sprinted clear of the Dairymen to score an unconverted try.

For 20 minutes, Narberth saw plenty of the ball, but were unable to open up the Llanharan defence.

The Dairymen set up an attack which broke down for the Otters to gather the ball and quickly penetrate the opposition 22, only to lose the initiative by dropping the ball.

The Dairymen regained possession of the ball, moving it across field for flanker Richard Lawrence to receive and head for the Otters’ try-line, but he was tackled into touch on the five-metre line.

The Otters cleared the immediate danger, but on the 20-minute mark were guilty of an infringement and from the resultant penalty, fly-half Scott Jones was on target to making the score 3-5.

A few minutes later an incident occurred which changed the outcome of the game. The Otters were in total control of the scrums and clearly were too strong for Llanharan in that area. The referee called for a scrum, both sets of forwards packed down and suddenly the scrum erupted and Narberth prop Ollie Evans shot out and was furiously handbagging his opposite number.

Whatever the cause, the referee had no hesitation in giving the Llanharan prop a red card. Whilst it meant Llanharan had only 14 players, the downside for Narberth was that Llanharan did not have a suitable replacement and so uncontested scrums were necessary.

It was apparent early on that their scrum-half Craig Burton was a player of ability. The changed situation at the scrum enabled him to display his experience and in the process inspired Llanharan into playing with much more determination. The scrum situation gave him time to distribute and he was constantly harassing his opposite number when Narberth had the scrum or at rucks.

After the card incident, Narberth were awarded a penalty, which Nick Gale kicked for position to the 22-metre line. From the subsequent throw-in, Alex Jenkins made a safe catch and the Otters moved forward with a series of rucks, only to be penalised close to the try-line.

A few minutes later, when the Otters pack surged forward and was met by stern resistence, Ollie Evans was left lying flat on the ground, unable to move, and it quickly became clear that he had to be transported to hospital with a suspected serious ankle injury. Latest news received is that he suffered a bad ankle sprain. On the pitch, Marc Jones replaced him.

On 38 minutes, Llan were awarded a penalty on the Otters’ five-metre line. A scrum was chosen and, with the limitation of the uncontested scrum, Craig Burton proceeded to attack the line and seeing his way blocked, passed to number eight, Huw Thoma,s who crashed over for the try, which was converted by Scott James.

Narberth withdrew Steve Martin, with Lawrence Headlam coming off the bench to replace him.

Llanharan attacked again and just on half-time Jordan Roberts accidently knocked the ball forward as he attempted to intercept and was given a yellow card. Scott James made no mistake with the resultant penalty, giving Llanharan an unexpected half time lead of 13-5.

Otters supporters, whilst concerned at the circumstances on the field, had expectations of a turnaround in the second half.

However, within one minute of the half restarting, Narberth were penalised and Scott Jones added a further three points to the Llanharan score.

The Otters soon responded, though. Awarded a scrum, the ball was quickly fed to Nick Gale, who sprinted clear, beating the fullback with a swerve and crossing for an unconverted try.

Three minutes later, Llanharan were again on the scoreboard via a try by winger Liam Union, with the conversion again added by Scott Jones. Again Burton was the creator with a sniping run, changing direction and evading would-be tacklers.

On 54 minutes, Narberth replaced Lewis Wood with Dewi Williams and as they attacked from their own 22, centre Evan Parry Lewis intercepted a pass to the Narberth wing and dashed clear to score, with Scott Jones converting, to take the score out to 30-10.

At this point, the Narberth coaches made a tactical change, moving Johnny Morgan to scrum-half and Jonathon Rogers to fly-half, with Ianto Griffiths switching to outside centre and Lawrence Headlam to fullback.

Immediately the tempo of the Narberth attack increased, with Johnny Morgan adding extra speed to his passes and able to effectively move the ball longer distances.

Unfortunately, several Narberth moves floundered because the ball was either passed poorly or missed the final man or was knocked on.

On 66 minutes, Llan gained their bonus point with a try by Liam Union, converted by Scott Jones.

The game became unreal as the Otters threw everything into attack, but there was no strategy to their play.

Then on 76 minutes, Johnny Morgan moved the ball and with the Otters retaining possession, it returned to Morgan’s hands and, evading the defence, he touched down under the posts, with Nick Gale adding the extras.

Two minutes later, with the Otters again attacking, Llanharan gained possession and, moving the ball quickly, it reached wing substitute Gavin Parsons, who crrossed for an unconverted try.

Finally, just on full-time, Ollie Reyland scored for the Otters, which gave them a bonus point. The referee blew time with the score at 42-24.

Otters supporters were dismayed by the performance, but Llanharan had played with great spirit and their threequarters were far more creative than the visitors.

Whilst the result and five bonus points did not change circumstances for Llanharan, who are now relegated, the Otters moved up the league two places on gaining their bonus point and finished in ninth position. Had they won with a bonus point, they would have moved to sixth or seventh position.

The Otters were a shadow of the previous week’s performance and it was a sad end to what has been a very challenging season.

Afterwards, Jon Dodd, as director of rugby, commented: “We are very disappointed, we were very poor, we were disjointed through injuries and lack of availability. We lost to a side we should have put away, but full credit to Llanharan, they played with spirit and fully deserved their win.

“The red card meant they had only 14 men, but the uncontested scrums did not favour us, although we should not be making excuses when playing a bottom side who we should have put away.

“We have finished lower in the league than we should have; it has been a disappointing season. There is a need for rebuilding of the team and off the field as well. The sooner we get on with the changes, the better, otherwise we will go downhill.”

Narberth fielded: Johnny Morgan, Jordan Roberts, Steve Martin (Lawrence Headlam), Ollie Reyland, Ianto Griffiths, Jonathon Rogers, Ollie Evans (Marc Jones), Dan Smith, Jamie Kaijaks (Dan Jacobs), Gareth Bateman (capt), Alex Jenkins, Pat Roberts, Llyr Morris, Lewis Wood (Dewi Williams).