Narberth 18 pts. Newbridge 22

Newbridge arrived at the Lewis Lloyd ground after a mid-week win which had yielded them five points and placed them one point above the Otters. The Otters had won the game at Newbridge 19-18 in a very close contest.

Needing another win to place them clear of relegation, Newbridge arrived with a large following.

Conditions were excellent when Narberth kicked off from the clubhouse end. Within three minutes, as a result of their attack reaching inside the Newbridge 22, the Otters were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Unfortunately, the kick was scuffed and three points went away with the wind.

However, on six minutes, they were awarded a further penalty on the 22 and this time Nick Gale made no mistake to give the Otters a three-point lead.

The game saw the Otters setting up a series of attacks, but with limited penetration, and when Newbridge had the ball, their threequarters showed their paces.

On 11 minutes, the Otters began to pressurise the Newbridge line. Jonathan Rogers, this week playing at fly-half, kicked for the corner which was followed by a series of PODs. A situation developed where Rhys Lane at number nine was able to feed the threes, who moved the ball towards the wing, only for the final pass to be faulty right on the line. Newbridge cleared the ball via a lineout from their five-metre line.

Two minutes later, the Otters were back, with the pack setting up successful rucks for Rhys Lane to feed Jonathon Rogers, who passed to Ollie Reyland, who in typical fashion forced his way through the Newbridge defence to score an unconverted try.

At this stage, the Otters, whilst not being outstanding, were playing with spirit and defending their line well.

With the score at 8-0, Newbridge came out of the blocks with determination and when Narberth were penalised for a high tackle, they were able to kick towards the corner. They gathered the ball from the lineout and the Otters had to defend desperately, but after a couple of rucks, prop forward Luke Leddington forced his way over the line to score near the posts and for fly-half Keiron Meek to convert, making the score 8-7.

We then saw both sides resort to ‘tennis rugby’, with a series of high kicks.

Newbridge on 25 minutes set up an attack in midfield, only for the movement to be halted via a knock-on by Ollie Reyland, which the referee decided was a yellow card offence and awarded Newbridge a penalty. Keiron Meek made no mistake with the kick to put Newbridge 10-7 in the lead.

On 28 minutes, Narberth won a ruck and from the ball being released, Rhys lane kicked to touch. At the lineout just inside the Newbridge half, the visitors fed the ball back to Scot Williams at centre. He proceeded on an arcing run around the Otters towards the stand side and then fed winger Scott Barratt, who kicked ahead and in the subsequent chase, Newbridge scrum-half Lloyd Peart showed a rare turn of speed to run from the middle of the pitch and win the touchdown, which Keiron Meek converted, giving the visitors a 17-8 lead.

Then on 31 minutes, Newbridge prop Luke Leddington was sent to the sin bin with a yellow card.

There followed a few Narberth attacks, but they broke down with poor handling.

At 36 minutes, the Newbridge fullback showed his threat with a weaving run which reached the Otters’ five-metre line, where he was tackled into touch.

Just before half-time, Newbridge replaced their inside centre.

When the whistle blew for half-time, there was concern among the loyal home supporters that the Otters needed to regroup and play with more nouse to turn around the score.

Narberth made a few changes at half-time, with Rhys Davies replacing Moritiz Neumann and Ollie Evans replacing Dan Jacobs. This resulted in Nick Gale moving from centre to wing.

On 43 minutes, Nick was in action, successfully kicking a penalty, bringing the Otters score closer to 18-10.

Ollie Evans began to make his presence felt with some storming runs through the middle of the field and Newbridge pack, breaking tackles and forcing his way forward even taking his tacklers with him. The coaches were wanting more energy from the Otters and Ollie was certainly showing the way.

The game was played between both 22s, but the Otters were unable to break down the Newbridge defence.

Another Narberth change was made, with Dan Smith replacing Marc Jones on 54 minutes.

The Newbridge threes began to look dangerous and were proving difficult to bring down, much to the Otters’ supporters exasperation.

On 58 minutes, from a clean ruck, Newbridge moved the ball from left to right and, seeing the middle field area blocked, the ball was fed along the threes, fullback Paul King using his gangly legs to run towards the stand before passing to outside centre Ryan Lee, who ran around the approaching defence, broke a tackle and sprinted clear to touch down in the corner for an unconverted try, which increased the Newbridge lead to 22-10.

Narberth then replaced fly-half Jonathon Rogers with James Stephenson and in the pack Dan Jacobs replaced the battle-scarred Tom Slater.

Unfortunately, a few loose passes destroyed a few Narberth attacks.

Newbridge with renewed spirit forced the Otters back into their half when on 70 minutes, under pressure near their line, Narberth freed the ball at a breakdown and kicked ahead. Nick Gale gave chase, booting the ball further ahead, with Ollie Evans also giving chase towards the line, only for the ball to run dead before Nick was able to touch down.

Kicking out of their 22, Newbridge were forced into an uncontested scrum. The Otters healed, the ball was fed to James Stephenson, who found Ollie Evans alongside. Ollie, using his strength, forced his way over the line to score a try, converted by Nick Gale, bringing the score to 22-18.

This then had the Narberth supporters urging the Otters for one final effort. The minutes ticked by as they worked their way forward. Unfortunately, they were penalised on the visitors 22.

On 76 minutes, the Otters infringed at a rolling maul on their 22 and home supporters breathed a sigh of relief when Newbridge failed to score from the penalty. The Otters kicked off, regained the ball, and proceeded to work their way upfield and with the game in the final minutes, Newbridge received a yellow card.

The crowd urged the Otters forward, but having made significant ground, they allowed Newbridge to regain the ball and they ended the game by kicking the ball into touch.

The referee blew time and the visiting supporters gleefully made their way to the clubhouse, knowing that having had a very poor three months before Christmas, they had now managed to make their place safe in the Championship league.

The Narberth supporters were clearly disappointed and concerned. The ability to open up defences seems to have disappeared and match winners Johnny Morgan and Nick Gale are not getting the opportunities that were created earlier in the season.

Newbridge, surprisingly, on occasions in this game forced the Otters backwards at the scrum.

Narberth have two games remaining and now need to win them to ensure their position in the league is safe, as the lower teams have suddenly begun to proceed up the league.

Afterwards head coach Sean Gale stated: “This was a hugely disappointing result after a promising start. We played with intensity for 25 minutes, but missed a few chances. At the moment, our skill levels are not good enough. Once you start losing, the team confidence levels drop. We were unable to play the planned territorial game in the second half and our inside defence was very poor, allowing Newbridge to nip in for two tries.

“However, we must continue believing in this team which has a number of good players. We must get confidence levels back. There were two players, Ollie Evans, who made an impact when he came on, and Rhys Davies played well. Newbridge were a very good team. Their players were strong, physical and took their chances well.

“There is no reason why we cannot bounce back and win the last two games of the season if we play to our potential.”

Narberth fielded: Johnny Morgan, Jordan Roberts, Nick Gale, Ollie Reyland, Moritz Neumann (Rhys Davies), Jonathan Rogers, Rhys Lane, Dan Jacobs (Ollie Evans), Marc Jones (Dan Smith), Tom Slater, Lyndon Bateman, Alex Jenkins, Gareth Bateman (capt.), Lewis Wood, Pat Roberts.

Later in the clubhouse, Alex Jenkins was announced as Narberth man of the match.