NARBERTH 20 pts. BRIDGEND ATHLETIC 11

Narberth were forced to make a few changes from the squad that had played the previous Saturday at Bridgend. At forward, both Adam Clarke and Lyndon Bateman were unavailable and were replaced by Ryan Banner who joined the experienced Alex Jenkins. In the threequarters, James Stephenson was selected at fullback, with Johnny Morgan moving to the wing in place of Nick Gale.

Conditions were reasonable and the early kick-off, necessary in order not to clash with the Six Nations match at Twickenham, reduced the normal attendance.

On 16 minutes, play was stopped when the Bridgend prop, Wayne Fooks, suffered a serious foot injury and a broken leg and had to be taken to hospital after careful treatment by the physios and then by paramedics.

Play resumed 50 minutes later. The game had started with the visitors kicking off, but within two minutes Narberth were awarded a penalty and Ianto Griffiths gave them a three-point lead.

Initially, both teams tested each other with high kicks, but both soon attempted to move the ball and it was not long before Bridgend Athletic attempted to use the rolling maul to contain the Narberth pack.

On 12 minutes, the visitors were awarded a penalty, but centre Shawn Wilson failed to score with his kick.

Three minutes later, the Otters made ground via a scrum-half Jonathan Rogers overhead kick; centre Steve Martin gave chase and hacked the ball on over the line, only for a defender to kick it dead.

This resulted in a five-metre scrum, at which the Narberth pack showed their scrummaging prowess, pushing the Athletic backwards and ending with the referee insisting on a reset scrum.

Once again the powerful Otters pushed the visitors backwards and the referee called a further scrum, only to find prop Wayne Fooks lying on the ground and in significant pain. It soon became obvious that he had suffered a serious injury needing expert attention. Whilst waiting for the ambulance, the visitors left the field, with the Otters undertaking warm-up exercises.

When play resumed, with the injured player en route to hospital, Bridgend Athletic replaced him with Lewis Davies. The referee ordered a reset a scrum. On this occasion, the visitors heeled the ball and cleared their line with a kick to touch.

The Otters returned to the opposition half and on 24 minutes, Ianto Griffiths failed to land a penalty, but a minute later with a second penalty award put the Otters 6-0 in the lead.

Whilst the youthful visitors were always quick to the breakdown, on 31 minutes one of their second rows was shown a yellow card for persistent offending at the ruck - what a difference a week makes when the Otters were penalised frequently!

The Otters went for a quick tap penalty and after two phases of play created a rolling maul which crossed the line, but the ball was adjudged not to have been touched down correctly.

Bridgend Athletic kicked out, but again the Otters attacked and from a scrum, Jonathan Rogers fed the ball which was moved away from the stand side and on reaching centre Ollie Reyland, he had no problem in making his way over the line to score a try under the posts, with Ianto Griffiths adding the extras to give a 13-0 lead at half-time.

Whilst both Ryan Banner and Alex Jenkins were initially winning the lineout on their throw, a few went the other way due to faulty throws. The visitors competed strongly and gaining the 13-point lead was a welcome advantage.

Normally the Otters create a try within minutes of the second half. On this occasion, though, it was the visitors who did so when on 43 minutes flanker Ben Howe bagged a touchdown. The try, which went unconverted, came from a missed tackle which allowed the Athletic to make ground and, moving the ball through the hands, they were able outrun the Otters’ defence.

The Otters’ scrum continued to be dominant and on 47 minutes a potential try was created from a set-piece, but unfortunately when the ball was released, the long pass out to Johnny Morgan on the wing could not be taken.

On 57 minutes, Narberth replaced prop Jamie Kaijaks with Ollie Evans and Dan Smith replaced Marc Jones. The Athletic replaced Tom Penry Ellis with Griff Davies in the second row.

Two minutes later, the Otters were penalised and centre Shawn Wilcox was able to add three points with his penalty kick. The score was now 13-8.

This seemed to lift the visitors’ spirits, who began to move the ball wide and their backs began to look dangerous.

Narberth brought on Pat Roberts to replace the hard-working Llyr Morris and a few minutes later, the Otters were again penalised, permitting Shawn Wilcox to add a further three points with his penalty kick. This brought the visitors to within two points of the Otters with the score at 13-11.

At this point, the Otters made a tactical change. With two fly-halves on the field, they switched their positions, with Ianto Griffiths going to fullback and James Stephenson moving forward.

The Otters regained the initiative when on 61 minutes, Alex Jenkins soared in the lineout to provide scrum-half Rhys Lane with good quality ball. James Stephenson received the ball and moving towards the stand side passed on to Steve Martin who, moving right, fed the ball to Johnny Morgan, who accelerated forward and won the race to touchdown to score a well-worked try. Although a difficult kick, Ianto Griffiths converted to give the Otters a 20-11 lead.

The Otters made a further player changes, bringing Jamie Kaijacks on to replace Dan Jacobs and Gareth Owen to replace the injured Ollie Reyland.

For the last 10 minutes, the Otters thwarted the Bridgend efforts to make ground, though the visitors managed to create some pressure in the final moments, but time ran out and the Otters were delighted to finish the game with a hard-earned victory.

Later head coach Sean Gale commented: “The game started well, the scrum was a huge positive, but the ref unfortunately did not allow us to have the upper hand; we were so dominant we could have scored a few tries. The first 25 minutes were excellent. The player injury had a telling effect on both teams. We were happy to gain the win. Bridgend Athletic are our bogey team. Whilst we are not playing our best rugby at the moment, our aim is to develop a style which will entertain the crowd. It has been a difficult season, but we have five games at home. We are looking forward to them and especially on Friday evening when we play Newcastle Emlyn. They are an exciting team wanting to advance up the table. It will be a tough game, but we hope it will be good entertaining rugby.”

In the clubhouse, the man of the match award, presented by Dorian Phillips Builders Ltd, went to Ryan Banner.

Narberth fielded: James Stephenson, Jordan Roberts, Steve Martin, Ollie Reyland (Gareth Owen), Johnny Morgan, Ianto Griffiths, Jonathon Rogers (Rhys Lane), Dan Jacobs, Marc Jones (Dan Smith), Jamie Kaijaks (Ollie Evans), Ryan Banner, Alex Jenkins, Gareth Bateman (capt.), Lewis Wood, Llyr Morris (Pat Roberts).

The SWALEC Championship League game against Newcastle Emlyn will be played at the Lewis Lloyd ground this (Friday) evening, kick-off at 7.30 pm.