The Otters supporters before the game were wondering how strong the Cardiff Met squad would be having drawn with Bargoed and easily beaten Cross Keys and on the previous Saturday beaten Neath and arriving at the Lewis Lloyd Ground unbeaten.

In the clubhouse there were again a number sponsor guests. In the Folly Farm Otters Holt was the reunion of the Youth players of 30 years ago. The event organised by Aubrey Young included a video of those earlier times and how the game has changed and they all noticed how heads of long hair have disappeared and thinned! For the club supporters it was good to meet up again with some of those who no longer live locally. The occasion was a great success.

Upstairs in the Hywel Griffiths Plant Hire Suite, Jason Slater sponsored in the name of the Eagle Inn, Narberth and the Cross Inn, Clarbeston Road.

Tom Kaijack led the Otters onto the field, it being his last game for some time. Both he and his wife are off to Australia. The club wish them well. As a prop forward he will be missed.

The students kicked off and for nearly 10 minutes they looked very dangerous playing an open style of rugby, moving their attack across the field and switching back. It needed the Otters organised blitz defence to hold them out.

The referee awarded the Otters a penalty which Ianto Griffiths placed near the Cardiff Met corner. From the lineout, the pack formed a rolling maul before releasing; from the subsequent ruck, the Otters spread the ball wide on the north side, reaching fullback Nick Gale who had moved up, and he raced over the line taking the Cardiff Met defenders with him for an unconverted try.

The next score came when the students were penalised at a lineout in their half. Nick Gale easily added three points.

The Met kicked off which Ianto Griffiths fielded and found touch. At the lineout, the students failed to throw the ball straight. A scrum was formed with the Otters heeling for number eight Roy Osbourne to pick up and make ground before passing to Josh Davies who made a powerful run, only for a knock-on to spoil the move.

Again a scrum was formed and this time the powerful Otters pack pushed the students over the line for Roy Osbourne to drop on the ball for another unconverted try.

Then on 24 minutes, Cardiff Met suffered a yellow card for a high tackle. This enabled Nick Gale to add a further three points, bringing the score to 16 - 0. This proved to be the final score in the first half.

Four minutes into the second half, Lewys Gibby scored. It came from a dominant Otters scrum, Roy Osbourne again making ground from the heel before passing to Lewys Gibby who put on his after-burners streaking through the students defence for an unconverted try.

He scored a second try which was very much an individualistic try. The students kicked forward which Josh Davies fielded near touch on the stand side some 30 metres from the line, before passing infield to Gibby who again raced through a huge gap to score, with Nick Gale this time converting.

The score was now 28-0 and it gave the Otters a bonus point for the four tries.

Changes were made, with Jonathan Rogers replacing Ianto Griffiths at fly-half and Elliott Dawe replacing Dafydd Pritchard on the left wing, followed by Daniel Jacobs replacing Bradley Davies at loose-head prop.

The Met suffered yet another yellow card on 56 minutes.

Yet another try was scored on 60 minutes when Joe Hutchings crossed over for an unconverted try.

Then three minutes later, substitute winger Elliott Dawe scored. This came from a chip kick by Jonathan Rogers which Dawe picked up and raced over in the far corner. The score was now 38- 0.

The students responded. but were penalised at the breakdown.

On 68 minutes captain Richie Rees came off the subs bench, replacing Roy Osbourne.

Four minutes later, Lewys Gibby scored his third try. The move came from midfield and moving forward via two phases, the ball was passed back to the threequarters who when tackled the ball came loose for prop Daniel Jacobs to pick up and make ground before passing to speed merchant Gibby, who wasted no time in scoring his third try and Nick Gale convered.

The students quickly responded and in the Otters half from an Otters kick, it was hacked upfield for inside centre Ivan Ivanisivic to win the chase over the try line and drop on the ball for an unconverted try which made the score 45-5.

The Otters responded with their final try. The ball came loose at the breakdown and inside centre Jake Jenkins hacked forward, winning the chase to the touch down and for Nick Gale to convert on 79 minutes.

The referee blew full-time with the score 52-5.

The Otters were triumphant having achieved a try bonanza. For Cardiff Met, the students were given a real roasting by their coaches, for their inept performance, but the Otters pack really were on top throughout the game, giving an excellent base for the big win. This was really the first time that Cardiff Met had failed to compete, for they had on occasions in the past won this fixture. It was a very unhappy Cardiff Met committee that discussed the game with the Otters officials.

Otters attack coach Deinial Evans commented: “It was a great performance, we needed it after a couple of hard weeks. We played a top Championship side and I thought we played really, really well. The performance first half was quite good, quite clinical, and we scored some points when we needed to. We tried to dominate the set-piece, the scrum was exceptional again and got us some penalties and put us on the front foot.

“The early yellow card was hard for them, but it put us on the front foot. We capitalised and took a nice lead into half-time and the dressing room advice was to try to repeat the methods, keep hold of the ball and opportunities would arise.

“Early in the second half the lads let loose. We have wanted to see that for 12 months, but not achieved it. From my viewpoint, the game especially the second half was the most comfortable game for a long, long time. The pack played exceptionally well and laid the platform. Roy Osbourne made some good runs off the back of the scrum, making good yardage, and Dewi Williams put in some big hits. The back row was exceptional all the way through. The front row did their job well scrum-time.

“Lewys Gibby was excellent, scored three tries and was for me man of the match. The boys played really well and managed to keep hold of the ball, especially second half and damage was done in the right areas. Ianto Griffiths played well, especially in the first half, and controlled the game really, really well and kicked well. He took the ball forward and we capitalised. We left a few tries out there which was disappointing, if passes had gone to hand we would have scored more tries. All in all though, we are really happy with that performance.”

Team: Dafydd Pritchard (Elliott Dawe), Joe Hutchings, Jake Jenkins, Josh Davies, Ianto Griffiths (Jonathan Rogers), Lewys Gibby, Bradley Davies, Rhodri Owen (Dan Smith), Tom Kaijack, Steffan Phillips, Alex Jemkins, Dewi Williams, Tom Powell, Roy Osbourne.