Fixture

Torrential rain prior to the kick-off had threatened the game but some welcome sunshine and hard work on the pitchforks satisfied referee Stuart Kibble that all was well. Oh, that injured players could recover so quickly!

From the outset Beddau set about the Otters defence but little was conceded and eventually the west Walians were asking questions of their own. Beddau had begun with scrum half Jay Harris pressed into service on the right wing and when he suffered a sickening blow when tackling Narberth centre Kieran Griffiths his replacement was Lloyd Peart, another scrum half. Such are the trials currently facing the Beddau selectors. Both Harris and Peart are consummate footballers and cope well with the transition but it opens the eyes to the injured or otherwise unavailable talent sitting in the stands.

Narberth were gaining the occasional dividend from a better kicking game and had set up a driving maul at the Beddau 22. Referee Mr Kibble had appeared to signal that a penalty was arriving when Narberth outside half Jonathon Rogers landed a speculative drop goal to claim the three points anyway.

A further penalty at a collision could have stretched Narberth`s lead but Rogers put the long range effort wide and Beddau were next on the score sheet.

Previous penalties had been kicked to touch and when Narberth hadn`t retreated at a kick this was again the chosen route. The ball was killed when Beddau attempted to maul and Hywel Chatham this time kicked the points.

A long restart was fumbled and Narberth flanker Sean Jenkins was briefly clear. A tackle halted him but a supporting player was obstructed in attempting to take the offload. Jonathon Rogers, however, saw the relatively easy kick slide past the goal and it was 3-3 at half time.

Soon after the restart Narberth`s driving scrum earned a penalty but this was soon upgraded to a penalty try making it 10-3 to the visitors.

Some excellent running behind with Hywel Chatham linking with Ashley Coombes produced a fine score. The strong running Coombes was tackled in full flight but pacey lock Sam Tiley kept it moving and Number 8 Leon Rogers got a toe to the ball and had the pace and strength to win the race for the try. Hywel Chatham added the wide-angled conversion.

When Beddau stripped possession from a Narberth drive it was to find that the Otters had been in receipt of an advantage from an earlier offside in midfield. Jonathon Rogers restored the visitors` lead.

Shortly afterwards a holding down offence allowed Hywel Chatham to make the scores level and with Beddau finally appearing to gain the ascendancy optimism was visiting the home support. Despite winning a scrum just in their own half replacement Number 8 Glenn Slater was scragged by the Narberth back row and the ball was trapped. It was a long way to the posts and Jonathon Rogers must have been replaying images of his last gasp kick that failed to win the game for Narberth last season but, this time he was bang on target and Narberth took the hard earned points.