WITH a Welsh Youth Cup match and the first team playing Pontypool the Lewis Lloyd ground was almost full to capacity on Saturday (Jan 29).
Narberth attacked Pontypool from the start and there was very little between the teams. After a loose kick out of defence by Pontypool Narberth Prop Bradley Davies charged towards the visitors line.
The ball was then spun wide and when George MacDonald attempted a quick pass to the blind side it was unfortunately intercepted by the Ponty full back who then passed to his winger who scored close to the Narberth posts. The try was converted (0-7).
Narberth were quick to get back into the game and after some brilliant passing amongst all the backs Jordan Roberts got his pass away to Steff Phillips and then to winger Ashley Sutton who scored in the corner. Nick Gale converted (7-7).
Another mistake in midfield then led to another Ponty try. A kick downfield followed by a penalty and then a catch and drive at a lineout resulted in the visitors’ hooker scoring a try which was converted (7-14).
Narberth then got back into the game with a Gale penalty (10-14). Some good interplay between the Ponty backs and forwards then saw the Ponty No.6 score a try to stretch the lead again to 10-19.
The visitors were beginning to dominate play but the Narberth defence and ferocious tackling from the whole team prevented Pontypool from scoring again before half time.
After the break Pontypool were encamped on the Narberth try line but the Otters defence held firm until twenty minutes into the half when the Pooler winger went over in the corner (10-24).
Narberth refused to give up and when the Ponty full back’s kick was charged down by MacDonald the ball bounced up nicely for Jonathan Rogers who scored under the posts. Gale converted and the Otters were back in the match (17-24).
It looked as though Narberth would at least get a deserved losing bonus point but three minutes into injury time Ponty scored again to leave the final score 17-29 in favour of the visitors.
Head Coach Sean Gale was full of praise for the commitment, tenacity and team spirit shown by the whole team for the last two consecutive weeks against probably the best two teams in the league.
He was a little disappointed by the result and felt that if they had made less mistakes and taken the chances created it could have been an even closer game. However he believed the playing squad was determined to do well for the rest of the season and greatly appreciated the large number of supporters who had turned out to cheer the team on.
Match report by Rob Lewis. Photo by Elwyn Davies/Myrddin Dennis
