Narberth 55 pts. Beddau 26

Results of mid-week games played by previously lower-placed clubs in the Championship League placed some pressure on the Otters to remove any doubt regarding their league position.

Narberth had won a closely fought game at Beddau earlier in the season, so a keen contest was expected at the Lewis Lloyd on Saturday.

Unusually, the Otters played towards the clubhouse in the opening half, but had a strong wind behind them.

Beddau kicked off and chased, but infringed when a ruck was formed. Nick Gale kicked for touch, placing the Otters well in the opposition 22. Following a lineout, the Otters moved forward with a series of phased moves, reaching the five-metre line, only to have the whistle blown for an infringement at the ruck, allowing Beddau to relieve the pressure.

However it was clear the Otters were under instruction to keep the opposition defending, with both Rhys Lane and Ianto Griffiths kicking strategically, forcing Beddau to defend their line.

After 11 minutes of pressure, Beddau broke out and managed to get close to the Otters’ five-metre line, but Ianto Griffiths, alert to the danger, put in a relieving kick.

On collecting the ball, the Beddau wing was quickly forced into touch. At the lineout, lock Alex Jenkins, soaring skywards, took a clean catch. The ball reached and was taken forward by a very determined Nick Gale, who looked set for a race to the line, only to be stopped by a blatant block, which was not penalised.

Then on 15 minutes, Narberth were awarded a penalty and from about 10 metres in from the clubhouse touchline, Nick Gale hoofed a huge 49-metre kick to gain the first points, the ball soaring high over the posts.

This cheered the Narberth faithful, but they knew more scores were needed and it was not long before they were to be treated to a try bonanza.

On 20 minutes, the Otters managed to successfully score their first try. When Beddau had kicked out, they were adjudged to have strayed in front of the ball. Moving forward, Ianto Griffiths kicked to Beddau’s 22. At the subsequent lineout, the ball reached Llyr Morris, who made ground, but some sloppy passing resulted in a scrum. The Otters pack held firm and heeled, Rhys Lane passed quickly to Johnny Morgan, who quickly touched down for a try, which Nick Gale converted.

Two minutes later, Beddau were guilty of an offence at a ruck. Nick Gale had no hesitation in electing to kick at goal with a monstrous 52-metre kick, which was on target, but as it approached the posts, the increasing gale caused the ball to veer to the right and hit the woodwork.

The Otters were quickly following up, though, and within three minutes, Llyr Morris went over, but was adjudged not to have touched down.

Instead the referee awarded Narberth a scrum. The ball was scrambled out and at the next ruck, with the Otters offending, Beddau were able to clear the immediate danger.

The Otters again attacked and this time Ianto Griffiths attempted a drop goal; unfortunately the trajectory was too low.

On 30 minutes, playing his last home game, former captain Steve Martin gave a real cameo of his past triumphs. Creating a clear opening and moving forward in his inimitable style, when challenged, he passed out to the supporting Johnny Morgan, who ran clear to score. Again Nick Gale converted, giving the Otters a 17 points to nil lead.

After 35 minutes, Beddau were able to get a score via an unconverted try, which initially came when a missed Narberth tackle enabled the visitors to make ground. On receiving the ball, fullback Sam Withers positioned his kick to the corner, enabling winger Morgan Williams to touch down for an unconverted try.

With half-time approaching, the Otters struck again. At a Beddau lineout, hooker Dan Smith gained possession of the ball and kicked forward which he was able to collect as it bounced and passed out to Nick Gale, who sprinted to the line to score and convert his own try.

Right on half-time, Beddau broke clear of the Otters, with fly-half Hywel Chatham side-stepping his way through the despairing tacklers, before kicking towards the Otters clubhouse corner, where scrum-half Carl Lewis raced diagonally from his position to win the sprint to touch down. With Hywel Chatham adding the extras with the copnversion, it provided an interval score of 24-12.

The Otters were showing a real determined effort, but Beddau, during the first half, had demonstrated they had dangerous threes who needed to be kept at bay.

Beddau restarted the game and away went the Otters, the ball was knocked on and from the scrum, Rhys Lane, moving round the side, stole the heel and sent out a long pass to outside centre Steve Martin, who quickly moved forward to release wing Ryan Davies for what was a bonus point try, which again Nick Gale converted.

Five minutes later, the Otters were again on the scoreboard. Beddau had decided to kick to relieve the Otters’ onslaught. Ryan Davies fielded the ball, passed inside to the advancing Johnny Morgan, who with a clever wheel manoeuvre, managed to release himself from a Beddau tackle and speed forward. When challenged, instead of attempting to beat his man, he passed to his left to the supporting Ryan Davies, who crossed the line triumphantly for his second try. Nick Gale made short work of an easy conversion.

He followed this a few moments later on 52 minutes with a penalty kick, putting the Otters into a commanding 41-12 lead.

A minute later, the Otters were back. This time, Steve Martin, who was in great form, scored after Beddau lost the ball in a tackle, it being quickly moved towards the touchline where he gathered the pass and, showing he still could muster a turn of speed, was able to sprint clear of the defence, touching down and for Nick Gale to convert and putting the result beyond doubt.

The Otters were now enjoying the situation and at every opportunity put Beddau under pressure.

Lewis Wood, making his final appearance at home, replaced captain Gareth Bateman at number eight and Marc Jones replaced Dan Smith at hooker.

The next Narberth attack broke down when the ball was dropped at the tackle. Suddenly, Beddau managed to take the initiative and showed how dangerous their threes could be, but gaining the ball, Rhys Lane relieved the pressure with a clearing kick.

On 67 minutes, Beddau were awarded a penalty on the Otters 22 and fullback Sam Withers kicked to the five-metre line. From the lineout, the ball was moved out to fly-half Hywel Chatham, who weaved his way forward, giving substitute Tyler Wells the chance to touch down for a try, which Withers converted.

At this point, Steve Martin was replaced by James Stephenson and Ollie Evans by Dan Jacobs.

A few minutes later, Beddau created a further try. Having taken possession of the ball, they proceeded to use a series of rucks to advance forward. Eventually the ball was worked clear to Hywel Chatham, who again opened up the defence to release Tyler Wells for his second try, converted by Withers, which took the score to 48 -26.

Narberth made one further change, replacing Rhys Lane with Jonathan Rogers at scrum-half.

On 80 minutes, the Otters scored their final try. Following some good work at the ruck by Marc Jones, the ball was released and reaching centre Ollie Reyland, he broke several tackles before feeding flanker Pat Roberts, who was on hand to cross for the try and for Nick Gale to once again convert, bringing the score to 55 -12.

When the final whistle was blown, the Narberth supporters applauded the Otters long and loudly for what was a most convincing performance, with the whole squad giving their best performance of the season.

The win rewarded them with five league points which removed any danger of relegation and, with surprising results elsewhere, meant that the relegated teams were Llanharan and Bridgend Athletic.

Tomorrow (Saturday), the Otters play their final game of the season away to Llanharan. A convincing win there will mean a sixth league position, far removed from any threats.

Man-of-the-match was a very difficult decision with so many players giving such fine performances.

Nick Gale never put a foot wrong with some outstanding kicks and was always a threat with ball in hand; Steve Martin was in great form and produced a few strong tackles; Rhys Lane was a busy worker at all the action, distributing the ball and feeding the threes; Ryan Davies took his opportunities for his tries; the forwards, whilst held in the tight, fought hard for continued possession throughout and put Beddau on the back foot frequently.

However, the match sponsors finally gave the award to Llyr Morris, who played a pivotal role at number seven.

Later, on behalf of the coaches, Sean Gale commented: “We asked the boys for a huge performance, having played on the heart strings all week. After a quarter of an hour, there was no way we were going to lose. The players were superb, with some big performances, and played as though their lives depended on it. I am really proud of them, it was a great team performance. Steve Martin was excellent in his last home game. I thought that Pat Roberts and Llyr Morris at number six and seven in the back row were fantastic. Our breakdown efforts were good and set-pieces particularly good. We took our opportunities and scored some fantastic tries. So I am a happy man this evening. This season there has been too much pressure and it’s our own fault that we lost a few games at home. However, if we had played to the same level as today, we would not have lost a game. So it is pleasing that we have reached this height ,but a little disappointing that we had to do it today to prove how good we are.”

Narberth fielded: Johnny Morgan, Ryan Davies, Steve Martin (James Stephenson), Ollie Reyland, Nick Gale, Ianto Griffiths, Rhys Lane (Jonathan Rogers), Ollie Evans (Dan Jacobs), Dan Smith (Marc Jones), Jamie Kaijacks, Lyndon Bateman, Alex Jenkins, Pat Roberts, Llyr Morris, Gareth Bateman (Lewis Wood).