WRU Premiership Division:

 

Otters win – by a single point

 
 

Narberth 18 - Newcastle Emlyn 17

 

Narberth extended the gap at the bottom of the Premiership table to five points over opponents Newcastle Emlyn and Bonymaen – but it was a hard-fought tussle and Emlyn deserve every credit for the way that they pushed The Otters all the way and a late converted try gave them a deserved losing bonus point, writes Bill Carne.

 
It was a typical derby game as there were yellow cards aplenty so that this aged reporter lost count of them, but just before the interval, in one two-minute spell near the clubhouse corner there were two for Emlyn and one for Narberth as referee Kristoff Young showed he was determined to keep a tight rein on matters – and the game became a stop-start affair in difficult conditions.

 
There were also a few departures through injury as neither side would give an inch, with every replacement used by the end of what turned out to be an eventful 90 minutes played.

 
Great early start for Emlyn but The Otters reply late on
 

It was the visitors who got off to a great start as they pushed up tight on the offside line and were rewarded as winger Steve Evans latched on to a careless pass thrown out in the Narberth midfield and sped unopposed to the posts for a try which full back Shaun Leonard converted to give his side a seven-point lead after only three minutes.
 
The Otters almost opened their account when dynamic No 9 Lewys Gibby took a quickly-tapped penalty and drove left but the final pass went awry – and their pack set up a superbly controlled line-out drive for fully 50 metres – but again the move broke down in the clubhouse corner as referee Young spotted a minor infringement.
 
There was a yellow card for a Narberth  high tackle in the 32^nd minute and moments after the restart the ire of the Narberth faithful was raised again with yet another penalty but they were soon cheering a failure by Leonard, playing on permit for his former club, to add three points that were well within his range.
 
And with two minutes from the end off the half The Otters opened their account after Emlyn had been quickly reduced to 13 men and Narberth had 14, with their third penalty near the line in quick succession saw centre Harrison Griffiths ploughed over – but a missed Rogers conversion saw his side trail by 5-7, but with second use of the strong wind blowing down the pitch.




 

Otters take the led, which they managed not to lose throughout – but only just

 
Narberth made the better start to the second period but missed a golden chance of a try in the far corner as Gibby and Rogers worked a two-to-one overlap after some real graft on the floor by Sam Davies, Roy Osborn and skipper Tom Powell saw a touch of ‘white line fever’ and a chance gone as the culprit was hauled down and the chance gone!
 
But The Otters took the lead in the same corner when the busy Gibby swung play wide and second row Will Blackburn squeezed over right in the corner and Rogers landed the superb touchline conversion.
 
It says much for Emlyn’s resolve, however, as they refused to give in, even after Rogers had launched a monster of a penalty from five metres inside his own half – with Leonard showing his true kicking ability with a penalty from 40 metres that flew between the posts.
 
On a rare off-day for the ace kicker, now with Cardigan, he also aimed for two penalties into the corner for lineout drives but both were over-hit and valuable chances were missed.
 
Rogers added another long-range three-pointer to put his side eight points ahead again but Emlyn kept plugging away as replacement scrum half Dion Jones became a huge influence with his darting runs and ability to link well with forwards Ifan Bryant and skipper Emrys Davies that set Narberth on the back foot for several periods of pressure.
 
Leonard was again off-target with a penalty from 25 metres that proved costly because in the dying seconds the visitors won cracking possession and when play was switched left to the clubhouse corner, they scored a  deserved try wide out which Leonard did well to convert – but there was no time for further scores and Narberth celebrated a third win of the season, leaving Emlyn to reflect on what might have been.
 
Narberth: Ashley Sutton: Rhys Harries; Hedd Nicholas; Harrison Griffiths; Harry Fuller: Jonathan Rogers; Lewys Gibby: George Rossiter; Tom Clarke; Ryan Rees: Will Blackburn; Caleb Salmon: Tom Powell (Capt); Sam Davies; Roy Osborn. Replacements: Bradley Davies; Kyle Hamer; Tom Kaijaks; Sam Martin; Alex Jenkins: Josh Hamer; Alex Williams; Osian Evans.
 
Newcastle Emlyn: Shaun Leonard: Bleddyn Morgan; Aled S Davies; Andrew Owens; Steff Williams: Steffan Evans; Mike Jones: Emrys Davies (Capt); Alex Williams; Ifan Bryant: Kester Adams; Bleddyn Davies: Harry Holden; Callum Williams;  Lewis Ellis-Jones. Replacements: Rhodri Evans; Aled Evans;  Calum Evans; Dylan Rowe; Dion Jones; Ellis Payne; Llyr Jones.