Newbridge 18 pts. Narberth 19

Newbridge is one of the more distant away locations for the Otters and the clubhouse at the Welfare Ground was a buzz of expectation on Saturday, with many of their members looking forward to continuing their fine start to the season.

Both teams were evenly balanced, with perhaps the Bridge threequarters looking very sharp in the early exchanges.

The manner of the final score left their supporters aghast, though, as Narberth came off the field with a three league point win, which was achieved in the final moments of the game.

Narberth kicked off and made immediate efforts to attack Newbridge and on two minutes were awarded a penalty after several phased moves when the opposition were adjudged offside. Jonathon Rogers, playing at number 10, made no mistake with his kick, putting the Otters in an early lead.

Narberth were again soon on the attack with a Rhys Lane break and when challenged he chipped over the defence, only for the ball to roll over the dead ball line.

On six minutes, winger Adam Davies was sent to the sin-bin with a yellow card, with Newbridge threatening the Otters’ five-metre line and their threes moving the ball swiftly.

The Otters were able to overcome the situation with sound defence and, from a scrum, Lewis Wood made ground and Bridge offended in the tackle area, enabling the Otters to clear their lines with a touchline penalty kick.

On 11 minutes, Newbridge drew level when a Narberth tackle was considered high. Number 10 Keiran Meek had no difficulty in successfully kicking the penalty.

Play continued with both teams attempting to break the deadlock with phased play and dogged defence, but both defences remained strong.

Then on 20 minutes the Otters were awarded a penalty on the 40-metre line and Nick Gale made no mistake.

Five minutes later, he failed with a drop kick in an attempt to increase the lead.

The Otters began to put together a few threequarter moves, with centre Ollie Ryland making prominent breaks, only to be brought down. Then on the half-hour mark Johnny Morgan made a break and Newbridge were adjudged to have infringed at the breakdown. Jonathon Rogers made no mistake with the kick, with the ball sailing high between the posts to give the Otters a 9-3 lead.

Two minutes later, Bridge mounted a successful attack on the far left side and, when tackled, achieved a quick ruck and with a change of direction, moved the ball to the right, feeding winger Mathew McGovern, who managed to speed down the touchline and score in the corner.

The Otters bounced back and from a ruck, scrum-half Rhys Lane made a blind-side break, passing on to tight-head prop, young Ollie Evans, who showed a rare turn of speed to gain ground, only for the move to come to an end when the ball was unfortunately miss-passed into touch.

Minutes later, Newbridge were awarded a penalty on the 22-metre line on the grandstand side and fly-half Keiran Meek made no mistake to give Newbridge an 11-9 half-time lead.

At the lineouts, Alex Jenkins was supreme, gaining quality ball for the Otters.

The second half saw both sides start with promising moves. In Newbridge’s case, the strong Narberth defence and a forward pass thwarted their efforts, while the Otters’ moves were spoilt by passing mistakes.

However, on 50 minutes, Newbridge, despite some resolute tackling, managed to spin the ball wide, enabling winger Ryan Gardiner to evade his tackler and speed over for a try, converted by Keiran Meek.

Narberth responded immediately, but again sloppy passing caused the attack to break down.

On 56 minutes, the Otters were awarded a penalty 40 metres from the posts and once again Nick Gale made the kick look easy, reducing the Newbridge lead to18-12.

At this point, the Narberth coaches freshened the team, bringing on Ryan Banner for Lyndon Bateman, Ianto Griffiths for Adam Davies and Ryan Rees for Dan Jacobs.

Play continued with neither side gaining control.

Then on 70 minutes, the Newbridge number seven was sent to the sin-bin with a yellow card for persistent infringement at the breakdown. A few minutes later, Dewi Williams replaced Llyr Morris at number seven in the Otters back row.

On 78 minutes, Ianto Griffiths was also given a yellow card and sent to the sin-bin.

At this point, it looked as though the Otters were going to suffer a defeat. Then, with full-time beckoning, they pressed Newbridge on their 22, where a relieving kick was knocked down and collected by Johnny Morgan, who glided through the home defence as though they were paralysed to touch down between the posts. The referee awarded the try and Jonathon Rogers added the conversion.

Afterwards, the referee immediately blew for full-time and Newbridge players and supporters just could not believe they had lost the game. It was a truly amazing end to a very hard fought game by both teams.

Narberth supporters were overjoyed at gaining three league points in a traditionally difficult fixture.

Commenting afterwards, head coach Sean Gale said: “We got out of gaol in the end, although we did not play according to our game plan. We had good lineout ball and from the set-piece, but we did not make the most of it. Our kicking game was not fantastic and Newbridge had the better of us there.

“In the second half, we had 75 per cent of the ball, but we were unable to capitalise on it as the Newbridge defence was superb. In the end we had one chance and took that chance.

“At the end of the day, in the Eastern Valleys against good teams, we must make the most of these opportunities to score. The Championship has become very competitive and we are delighted to win two away.

“Llyr Morris was very good again and centre Ollie Ryland was very powerful. Ollie Evans is coming through nicely, playing out of position as a tight-head prop in only his fourth game in that position at Championship level matches. We kept a belief in ourselves, fought the line until the end and it worked for us.”

Former Wales international Ian Gough was selected by the team management as man-of-the-match as his experience proved crucial.

Narberth fielded: Jonathan Morgan (capt.), Jordan Roberts, Nick Gale, Ollie Ryland, Adam Davies (Ianto Griffiths), Jonathan Rogers, Rhys Lane, Dan Jacobs, Dan Smith, Ollie Evans (Ryan Rees), Lyndon Bateman (Ryan Banner), Alex Jenkins, Ian Gough, Llyr Morris (Dewi Williams) and Lewis Wood.

Pics. Elwyn Davies