Narberth 11 - Glamorgan Wanderers 13: Visitors Glamorgan Wanderers were joint fifth in the Championship League with the Otters before the game.

They are a famous club based in Cardiff who have through their connection with the Cardiff Blues had as playing members nine recent Welsh internationals, including former British and Irish and Wales captain Sam Warburton, but three seasons ago were relegated to Division One East and were promoted back to the Championship at the end of last season.

A torrential downpour early in the day added to the heavy ground conditions, although before the game the pitch looked good, with a strong westerly wind blowing down the field.

The Wanderers kicked off and within a minute the Otters, with the wind behind their backs, scored an unconverted try. The ball was fielded on the Otters’ 22 and from a ruck, Nick Gale raced down the far side and when challenged passed out to Rhys Lane, before he passed back inside to Joe Hutchings, who sped over the line to score near the far corner. Nick Gale was unable to convert.

The Wanderers restarted with Nick Gale fielding the kick and passed inside and at the subsequent ruck at the breakdown the Wanderers were penalised. Ianto Griffiths kicked back to halfway. At the lineout Alex Jenkins safely gathered the ball, forming a rolling maul, which the Wanderers appeared to collapse, but they were awarded a penalty. It was to become during the game the first of many penalties.

After 10 minutes, the Wanderers were penalised for a ruck offence. Nick Gale, having got a measure of the wind, scored with a good penalty kick, giving the Otters an 8-0 lead.

From the restart, there was a mini kicking duel before Nick Gale put in a huge kick to the opposition 22. The Otters built up the pressure, before Nick Gale put a well-judged kick to the Wanderers corner. At the lineout the referee awarded the Wanderers a penalty, which their fly-half kicked to halfway, relieving the obvious Otters’ threat.

At their lineout, the Wanderers worked the ball up to the Otters’ 22 before they were awarded another penalty at the ruck. Scrum-half Paul Short came forward, but failed to gauge the true effects of the wind with the penalty kick which sailed to the left of the posts.

The next Otters attack came initially from a good catch fielding the ball by Ianto Griffiths. He was brought down and from the ruck scrum-half Rhys Lane made a great break well into the Wanderers domain and 10 metres from the line the ruck formed, only for the referee to award Glamorgan Wanderers a penalty, with their kick relieving the pressure.

The Otters attacked again and, spreading the ball wide, made significant ground before knocking forward the final pass.

This was followed by a further period of pressure by the Otters. Another safe take by Alex Jenkins at the lineout enabled a rolling maul, making some ground before the Wanderers were penalised, enabling Ianto Griffiths to kick to the corner.

From the lineout, another rolling maul moved forward, before releasing the ball , only for the referee to call for a scrum from a knock-on. At the scrum, with the Wanderers’ tighthead manoeuvring illegally, the referee awarded them a penalty, causing fury in the stand. The Wanderers cleared the danger, only for the Otters to respond, with Rhys Lane prominent, as they crossed the gain line, before the whistle blew for anotherknock-on at the breakdown.

Another Otters attack broke down when the pass was knocked-on. Then right on half-time Glamorgan were penalised in front of their posts, enabling Nick Gale to kick an easy penalty, giving the Otters a half-time score of 11-0.

During the break, concern was raised by knowledgeable watchers at the way the illegal scrummaging was not being picked up.

During the game, the ground began to cut up, with the ball becoming greasy, which on occasions was playing a part in the Otters’ handling errors, but there was concern that the Otters were not able to increase their lead.

They restarted the second half, with the ball landing well into the Wanderers’ half, forcing them to kick out of defence and in no time were awarded a penalty on the halfway line, which their fly-half kicked to within five metres of the line. From the lineout, they formed a rolling maul, then the Otters were penalised and a scrum decided. Before it formed, the Wanderers replaced their open-side prop. This was followed by a series of rucks as they attempted to cross the Otters line. It ended with them being awarded a penalty, which Paul Short slotted between the posts.

At the restart, the ball landed in front of the touchline, but the Wanderers touch judge put up his flag which the referee accepted, resulting in a scrum back on halfway. This really incensed the local supporters. Then from the heel they moved into the Narberth half and once again the Otters were penalised and Paul Short landed the goal to bring the score to 11-6.

The Narberth infringements continued at the breakdowns, enabling the Wanderers to kick to near the Otters line. They held their lineout setting up a rolling maul which the Otters failed to hold out. This enabled former Otter, Rob Weston, playing at number eight, to drop on the ball as they crossed the line, which Paul Short converted, putting Glamorgan Wanderers in the lead at 13-11.

At this point, the Narberth coaches made several changes, with Jonathan Rogers replacing Ianto Griffiths, Lewys Gibby replacing Rhys Lane, Bradley Davies replacing Dan Jacobs and Kyle Hamer replacing Dan Smith, with finally Steffan Phillips replacing Jake Baker in the second row.

The fresh legs initially had an effect, with the Otters getting into the Wanderers ’half. They were awarded a penalty in a kickable position to score three points, but chose to go for a kick to the clubhouse corner, which Jonathan Rogers achieved. This was at 71 minutes, but unfortunately the lineout was a disaster and landed in Glamorgan Wanderers hands and they quickly relieved the danger.

Then four minutes later, the Otters were awarded a penalty 45 metres out near the far side. This time they decided to go for the three points and, although the direction was good, with the strong wind blowing, the ball fell short. Critics felt they should have gone for a kick to the corner.

Time was now running out, but the Otters could not get back to a scoring position and so the game ended with the score 13-11 to the visitors.

In the clubhouse, the Otters’ sponsors awarded the Man of the Match award to number eight Roy Osbourne.

When approached for comment, attack coach Deinial Evans said: “A frustrating game which we should have won,; we should target our home games. Glamorgan Wanderers came down and did outmuscle us a bit. I thought that in the first half we missed opportunities, there were lots of errors throughout the game which ultimately lost us the game. We had several chances first half to score, especially towards half-time. We took two early penalties and a try to set us up nicely. Glamorgan Wanderers defence was good. We just could not quite finish off first half. Eleven points for the first half was not good enough.

“The second half started off poorly, with the opposition having all the ball. Our defence was still quite strong throughout the game. We were on the wrong side of a couple of decisions, giving them an easy advantage and our decisions were weak and ultimately we gave to them some territory.

“They kept possession well and they scored a try and put us under pressure and we could not relieve it, keeping us in our 22. There were some poor kicking decisions and some poor kicking from our point of view. We could not finish the game off which was very disappointing.

“The boys trained well all week, but we could not get the job done. It leaves us with something to build on in preparation for next week. We did not play well, but that is not to take anything away from Glamorgan Wanderers, they deserved to win. They wanted to win the game and that is the most frustrating part.

“There were lots of errors throughout the game particularly towards the end when we took the wrong options. We need in mid-week to prepare the squad for a game next week at Bargoed who are in good form.”

Narberth fielded: Nick Gale, Dafydd Pritchard, Joe Hutchings, Jake Jenkins, Elliot Dawe, Ianto Griffiths (Jonathan Rogers), Rhys lane (Lewys Gibby), Daniel Jacobs (Bradley Jacobs), Dan Smith (Kyle Hamer), Tom Slater, Jake Baker (Steffan Phillips), Alex Jenkins, Richie Rees (Capt.), Tom Powell, Roy Osbourne.