Narberth 13 - Tata Steel 10: In a tight, nerve-jangling encounter, Narberth edged this win against old rivals Tata Steel and sustained their campaign to end the season in second place in the WRU Championship.

But it took a massive Nick Gale penalty from 58 metres to seal the victory in the 78th minute of a game that had been, for the most part, attritional and littered with handling errors.

That was little surprise as the torrential rain for a couple of hours over lunchtime had turned the Lewis-Lloyd ground from an excellent condition in the morning into a quagmire. The area in front of the stand was particularly affected and it will take some weeks of fine weather for the pitch to recover.

For many seasons, these two clubs have had a strong rivalry and encounters between them have always been hard-fought. This year, the Port Talbot side arrived in Narberth in eighth position, having won only four of their 12 matches this season and were anxious to stay away from the relegation zone.

However, they and the Otters share the distinction of being the only teams in the Division to deny the steam-rolling Pontypool side a bonus point win this year. Tata lost to the Championship leaders by only eight points to three at Pontypool Park before Christmas while Narberth were edged out 16-18 by Pooler only last week.

Conditions were awful for both sides with occasional rain squalls adding to the damage from the lunchtime downpour, and a near-gale force wind blowing down the pitch from the town end.

Winning the toss, the Otters skipper Alex Jenkins opted to play into the wind in the first half and almost till the point of half time, this seemed a sound decision.

The home side battled hard though and had much the better of both possession and territory in the first half and it looked as though they would turn around with just a three point deficit. A try by Tata flanker and captain Scott Malone on the stroke of half-time, however, made things much less comfortable.

The conditions were perfectly suited to the visitors’ heavyweight pack while the Otters’ more mobile eight were excellent despite still recovering from the bruising encounter with Pontypool the week before and from the rash of injuries to key players.

Tata took an early lead when Narberth were penalised on their 22 directly in front of the posts and outside half Dan Guarneri made the most of the easiest of chances.

The Otters pack has become a formidable scrummaging unit and this showed in the 10th minute when they pushed Tata off the ball against the head. From then on, the visitors were in constant difficulties at the scrum and had to resort to collapsed and wheeling scrums to try to counter the Narberth drive. They gave away a succession of penalties and from another collapsed scrum, Nick Gale, who has been in remarkable kicking form, took a shot at goal from 30 metres just outside the left upright. The strong wind took the kick which faded across the face of the posts to miss to the right.

It would have been no more than Narberth deserved to have gone in at half-time on level terms. They had taken the game to Tata, who, despite the strong wind behind them had found it difficult to pen the home side in their own half.

The Otters’ forwards had made lots of hard yards, keeping the ball tight and driving forward with Tom Kaijaks – a prop filling the injury gap in the second row – and the back row of Richie Rees, Andrew Cooke and Tom Powell outstanding in both attack and defence. Centres Jack Price and Keiron Jones tried to punch holes through the resolute Tata midfield, for whom Jack Brooks was outstanding and provided the visitors’ only real threat with ball in hand.

In fact, it was only on their third visit to the Narberth 22 that Tata extended their lead.

At a scrum 10 metres from the home line, Narberth appeared to be well in charge but referee Stuart Kibble ruled that the front row had committed an offence. In the ensuing shambles as the scrum broke up, openside flanker Scott Malone grabbed the ball, took a quick penalty and dived over for the try. It was converted by Dan Guarneri.

It is an indication of the conditions that after half time, Narberth took to the field in fresh kit as their starting gear had become so muddy and saturated that both sides were almost indistinguishable. It was something of a shock to see a team which had started in its usual light and dark blue strip, turning out after the interval in its green and black change kit!

Tata team came out in the second half with a clear game plan of sticking the ball up their mud-encrusted shirts but it was Narberth who got onto the scoreboard in the seventh minute.

A penalty in the Narberth half was kicked to the right-hand corner by outside half Jonathan Rogers and the Otters’ lineout, which had uncharacteristically wobbled a bit at the beginning of the game, was clean and efficient. Tata were unable to deal with the speed and energy of the Otters’ driving maul and hooker Rhodri Owens dived over near the corner flag. Nick Gale added the conversion points with a splendid kick from near the touchline.

As conditions deteriorated, the visitors held onto the ball for long periods with phase after phase of forwards picking up and attempting to drive upfield. Defensive organisation has been one of the keys to Narberth’s success this season and the home side’s aggressive tackling meant that despite having the lion’s share of possession, Tata were continually driven back and were rarely able to get out of their own half.

It was not pretty but it was effective as the Otters were determined not to give an inch.

Despite a raft of substitutions, the home pack continued to dominate the scrums and in the 72nd minute, Tata were again penalised for disrupting a scrummage in which Narberth had, once more, driven them off their own ball. Gale levelled the score, kicking the penalty from 35 metres and almost in front of the posts.

The pressure on the visitors’ front row also began to tell as they made front row substitutions and with eight minutes left, the last remaining member of the starting Tata front row Rhys Taylor hobbled off at snail’s pace with a leg injury. The teams now had to resort to uncontested scrums and the regulations required Tata to complete the game with 14 men.

The first passive scrum was over five metres into the Narberth half and Tata were penalised when their openside flanker broke early.

With less than two minutes left on the clock, Nick Gale opted for the goal kick and stroked it, admittedly with a following wind, right between the uprights to seal a hard-won but deserved win.

The win means Narberth stay in fourth position in the Championship with 12 wins and only three defeats this season. They have games in hand on the two teams immediately above them, Ystrad Rhondda and Cardiff Met and if the Otters continue winning, they will comfortably outstrip both clubs. Key games will be the home fixture against Ystrad on 23rd March and the away game with Cardiff Met.

After the game, Otters’ head coach Sen Gale paid tribute to his team.

He said, “After the outstanding performance in the gruelling match with Pontypool last week, we thought there might have been a bit of a hangover but there is such a team belief in winning with these boys!

“The conditions were awful and the win wasn’t the way we had planned it, but it was all important that we won, especially with our injury list at present.

“I thought it was a strong, determined team performance and the forwards, and the back row especially, were outstanding and it was great to see young Harry Phillips coming on and playing so well and what can you say about Nick’s goal-kicking?” he added.

After the game, the sponsors – The Eagle inn, Narberth and the Greyhound Inn, Haverfordwest – chose number eight Richie Rees as man of the match for the fifth time this season. Head coach Sean Gale presented Tom Kaijaks with the Player of the Month trophy.

The next home game is a re-arranged fixture with Rhydyfelin on February 9th. The game will be played on the same day as the Italy-Wales international and the kick-off has been brought forward to 2 p.m.

The Narberth team: Ianto Griffiths; Nick Gale, Keiron Jones, Jack Price, Lawrence Headlam; Jonathan Rogers, Lewys Gibby; Bradley Davies, Rhodri Owens, Tom Slater, Tom Kaijaks, Alex Jenkins (captain), Andrew Cooke, Tom Powell, Richie Rees. Replacements (all used): Kyle Hamer, Dan Jacobs, Harry Phillips, Matthew Morgan and Yannic Parker.