ON a glorious sunny day at the Lewis Lloyd Ground Narberth RFC concluded their excellent season with an eight try romp against Trebanos.
Ten minutes into the game a rolling maul from a lineout close to the Trebanos line saw Prop Ifan James dive over the line for an unconverted try (5-0).
Within minutes, swift movement of the ball by the Otters backline saw full back Fraser Jones make the initial break before passing on to supporting winger Josh Evans who crashed over in the corner for an unconverted try (10-0).
Trebanos responded with a penalty kicked by their fly half but it wasn’t long before Narberth extended their lead when Prop Davies once again forced his way over the visitors line for a third unconverted try (15-3).
At this stage of the match Narberth were dominating the forward exchanges and after powerful forward drives by locks Alex Jenkins and Rhys Williams a long pass out wide saw wing Evans dive over the line for his second try (20-3).
Trebanos refused to give up and after putting together some good phases of play they were rewarded with two further penalties prior to half time (20-9).
Immediately after the break Trebanos were well and truly back in the game when their centre tore through the Narberth defence and scored a try converted by their fly half to bring the score back to 20-16.
The Otters appeared to be rattled but scrum half Lewys Gibby took matters into his own hands when he broke away from a Narberth scrum, beat a couple of defenders by sheer pace and then flicked a beautiful inside pass to wing Evans who jinked his way over for his third try converted by full back Jones (27-16).
The Otters soon got themselves back near to the visitors line and from a scrum five metres out centre Ilan Phillips came on a great angled run slicing through the Trebanos defence and scored a try under the posts converted by Jones (34-16).
Then a penalty close to the visitors line was quickly taken by Otters flanker Caine Rees-Jones who dived over for Narberth’s seventh try (39-16).
Despite these setbacks, Trebanos continued to play some attractive rugby and when an opportunity arose close to the Otters’ line a catch and drive from a lineout saw their Prop force his way over for an unconverted try. This was quickly followed by another scintillating break by the visitors’ centre resulting in a try under the posts (39-28).
Finally with the last move of the game Trebanos attempted an attack from behind their own goal line but the ball was dropped and captain Tom Powell was on hand to touch down for the eighth try converted by Jones to bring the final score to 46-28 in favour of the Otters.
This brought to an end another successful season for the Otters where they finished a creditable 5th place in the Championship Division. A great achievement.
The only disappointment for the Narberth supporters was that after 18 years as Head Coach at the Lewis Lloyd Ground, Sean Gale has decided to call it a day.
During his time he has ensured that the Narberth club has consistently been one of the top twenty club sides in Wales which is a great achievement for a small town the size of Narberth. He will be greatly missed by the Narberth faithful supporters.
Also leaving his duties is backs coach Deiniol Evans who has been involved with the club since 2018 and in recent years has shaped a young and talented back division. He will also be greatly missed.
