Bridgend Ath. 10 pts. Narberth 10

This game, played on the Newbridge playing fields, ended as a draw when Narberth should have come away with the winning points.

The pitch was relatively firm with some puddles and as the game proceeded cut up significantly.

Narberth coaches and supporters were disappointed when several opportunities to score went begging, particularly in the first half, which perhaps could be put down to lack of match play, but some of the errors seemed to be due to carelessness and limited focus.

In the first half, Narberth missed two 40-metre penalties taken by Nick Gale, both were on target, but unusually both fell short of the posts. They were well within Nick’s kicking ability, which suggests the conditions played a part.

In addition, Narberth wasted at least four opportunities to take the lead when, with the try line almost at their mercy, handling mistakes, knock-ons or forward passes saw rhgew moves break down.

The Otters’ pack scrummaged solidly and also had the upper edge with good ball from their lineouts.

Fly-half Ianto Griffiths kicked well when necessary, pinning the young home team back in their half, while prominent when they had the ball in hand were Ollie Reyland at centre and winger Jordan Roberts.

Unfortunately, the home side took the lead with a penalty kicked by wing Lewis Evans after 10 minutes, with the score remaining 3-0 at half-time.

In the second half, Bridgend Athletic began to gain some measure of control in the loose and certainly were kept in the game via the rucks where the referee penalised Narberth on many occasions.

However, the Otters levelled the score after 50 minutes, with this time fly-half Ianto Griffiths taking over the kicking duties.

Two minutes later, the Otters were penalised, but on this occasion, Lewis Evans was off target for the home side.

The Athletic began to pressurise the Narberth defence with several phases and their fly-half started to weave through the Otters’ defence before being pulled down.

Narberth’s first replacement was to bring on the boisterous Lyndon Bateman in place of the very hard working lock Adam Clarke.

On 65 minutes, Narberth took the lead with an excellent try by centre Steve Martin, with Ianto Griffiths making no mistake with the conversion to take the score to 10-3 in their favour.

The try came after several forward phases before Rhys Lane passed out to captain Gareth Bateman, who on being challenged, passed to Lyndon Bateman and on to young Jordan Roberts, who released Steve Martin to scythe through the remaining defence, showing he has not lost his acceleration.

Ollie Evans came off the bench to replace Jamie Kaijack.

Thereafter, Narberth were almost continuously penalised at the rucks, which enabled the home team to see much of the ball. They began to make use of the rolling maul and their fly-half, when released, began to side-step through the Narberth defence.

When the Otters gained the ball, Jordan Roberts was very prominent, showing courage, pace and a strong determination.

Keirion Jones came on to replace Nick Gale and the flanker Pat Roberts was yellow-carded on 75 minutes.

A minute later, following a further ruck offence near the Narberth line, Bridgend Athletic took a quick tap penalty, set up a maul and rumbled over the line to score a try via their pack, with Lewis Evans converting to bring the scores level at 10-10.

The Athletic had the opportunity to take the lead on 81 minutes when once again the Otters were penalised, but this time Lewis Evans failed to find the posts.

Perhaps in the circumstances a draw was a fair result. It was a frustrating afternoon for both the Narberth coaches and supporters, who were dismayed at the number of occasions the forwards were penalised at the ruck. It allowed the home team to gain more of the ball than they could obtain in the tight and the former enabled them to maintain almost continuous pressure on the Otters in the last 20 minutes.

Those failed passes in the first half cost the Otters winning league points.

Later director of rugby, Jonathon Dodd, commented that it had been an enthusiastic effort by the squad, but there were a lot of mistakes.

“We made a lot of line breaks, but we did not finish them off and in second half we were bullied up front,” he said.

The Otters again play Bridgend Athletic tomorrow (Saturday) at the Lewis Lloyd ground, kicking off at the early time of 1.30 pm because of the England v Wales Six Nations match commencing at 4 pm. Hopefully, the Otters will provide a try feast before the big game.

Narberth fielded: Johnny Morgan, Jordan Roberts, Steve Martin, Ollie Reyland, Nick Gale (Kierion Jones), Ianto Griffiths, Rhys Lane, Dan Jacobs, Dan Smith, Jamie Kaijack (Ollie Evans), Dan Smith, Dan Jacobs, Adam Clark, Alex Jenkins, Pat Roberts, Llyr Morris, Gareth Bateman (capt).