NARBERTH RUN RIOT IN BIG WIN
NARBERTH defeated Glamorgan Wanderers 51-28 in the Admiral National Championship.
Two long-range penalties by Otters full-back Nick Gale set the ball rolling and this was quickly followed by a penalty try after a dominant Narberth scrum was collapsed inches from the Wanderers try line.
After a further 10 minutes a relieving kick by the visitors’ fullback was collected by Otters wing Ashley Sutton and he broke through the entire defence and then slipped a pass to supporting centre Josh Davies, who scored wide out to make it 18-0.
Straight from the kick-off the ball was moved to Gale, who broke the initial defence and passed inside to scrum-half Lewys Gibby, who passed to Josh Davies, who ran in under the posts. Gale converted.
Narberth attacked again from the kick-off but a dropped pass was seized upon by the Wanderers flanker, whose quick pass saw their centre in for a converted try.
There was time for one further try before the interval when Otters No. 8 Roy Osborn crashed over.
The Wanderers came out for the second half with renewed vigour and scored two early converted tries by their left wing and hooker to take the score to 30-21.
This in turn brought the best out of the Otters and with both teams throwing everything into attack, a clearance kick by the Wanderers full-back was charged down by flanker Richie Rees, who scored near the posts for Gale to convert.
Narberth continued to pile on the pressure and after a series of drives by the forwards, Narberth fly-half Jonathan Rogers sold a perfect dummy and ran in under the posts. Gale converted.
A further try came when centre Ianto Griffiths glided in under the posts, but Wanderers had the last word when their flanker went over for a try which brought the final score to 51-28.
In Division 3 West B, meanwhile, unbeaten leaders Amman United won 31-0 at bottom side Bynea, although it was far from plain sailing as Amman had to work hard for their victory.
The home side’s enthusiastic but very young side made a bright start, threatening the United tryline in the early skirmishes
But from the opening scrum, when Amman pushed Bynea back at will, the pattern for the day was cast and that was the ultimate difference.
From an early penalty to touch, lively forward Rhydian Jones won lineout ball and skipper Alun Lewis took the pass to power over.
Another rock-solid scrum gave scrum-half Alex Williams the chance to snipe over from the base for a try which fly-half Iestyn Griffiths converted.
Rhydian Jones was superb for Amman, winning lineout ball and making some marauding runs.
Tom Thorneycroft, Cian Lewis and George Clark were also bright in the Amman pack, while wing Rhys Howells was the pick of the backs, with Tom Caddell switching to full-back.
More lineout ball paved the way for Alun Lewis to go over for his second try, Griffiths converting for a 19-0 interval lead.
After the break, Clark just held up on the tryline after Alex Williams’s good work, but in the next phase the ball went wide and wing Rhys Howells finished off well.
Amman emptied the bench midway through the half, Jason Richards and Harley Davies on, along with the returning Chris Rees on his comeback. Centre Tai
Cousins soon joined his departed team-mates through an injury.
The dam broke once again when Howells’s persistence paid off, bouncing off several defenders before offloading to hooker Clark, who grabbed a well-deserved try, again converted by young Griffiths.
The Bulldogs certainly lived up to their name, the youngsters battling away and even creating some promising openings late on.
Liam Danter combined with Alex Williams late on to almost give Chris Rees a fairytale comeback try, but it was not to be.
Amman’s next scheduled league fixture at home is against Tumble on February 18.