WRU Championship
Narberth 18 Newcastle Emlyn 6
A failure to secure some crucial attacking line outs with the game finely in the balance and a few moments of ill-discipline cost the Newcastle Emlyn dearly, but they were nevertheless unlucky to come away with nothing.
The red and whites who were well in this contest until very late on took the game to the home side from the first whistle and they dominated the opening half hour and put the Narberth line under a great deal of pressure and were unlucky to miss out on a losing bonus point.
Forwards Emrys Davies, Joel James, Luke Kendall and captain Alex Williams carried the ball extremely well but the visitors were just unable to cross the whitewash. After twenty minutes Emlyn were awarded a penalty right out on the touchline five metres from the Narberth line, when the home side were again penalised for not rolling away after a tackle. Skipper Williams elected to go to touch and Emlyn set themselves up for a line out with number eight Kendall acting as scrum half.
However some poor communication and execution cost the visitors dearly and the chance was lost and the ball was booted long and away from danger.
The respite did not last as Williams and co, with scrum half Mike Jones probing behind his pack, quickly returned to the Narberth twenty two area and Dan Davies converted a couple of penalties from the twenty two metre line to set his team on their way. From the restart a lovely break from the half way line by full back Shaun Leonard took play back up to the Otters line and it was only some desperate defending that kept Emlyn out. After a series of rucks Leonard dropped deeper into the pocket and he was only just wide with a dropped goal attempt.
This seemed to spur the home side and a strong run by inside centre Ollie Reyland took play into the Emlyn half where the visitors were penalised and Gale, against the run of play, brought the score level with his second penalty goal.
Growing in confidence the Narberth three quarters, led by their centres Reyland and Jack Price, began to run aggressively at their opponents. Emlyn centres Tomi and Llyr Jones had their work cut out defending against the speedy Narberth centres. The Otters eventually scored when centre Price received the ball outside the visitors twenty two and ran strongly to brush off three defenders to score the game’s first try.
To add to Emlyn’s woes skipper Alex Williams got stretchered off with a leg injury sustained at the beginning of the move to be replaced by Neil Elworthy.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with the red and whites taking the game to Narberth at every opportunity. Dan Davies just missed with a long range penalty attempt at the start of the half. Two potential overlap chances were squandered due to a poor final pass. With Narberth looking to counter attack it took a thunderous tackle on their full back Stephenson by Luke Kendall to halt an almost certain try for the home side.
Approaching the hour mark it looked as if the score would remain as it was at 11-6 as both sets of defences were dominating the match but then came a moment of indiscipline by replacement prop Jack Parry whose late tackle saw him sin binned. The resulting penalty was kicked into the corner and the Otters pack drove powerfully and set up Price for his second try of the match and the score which effectively won the game for his team.
Minutes later there was another key moment of missed opportunity when Llyr Jones was desperately unlucky not to score a try when from a scrum, the backs executed an unusual move only for the centre to have the ball knocked from his grasp by two tacklers as he crossed the line.
Replacement scrum half Dafydd Evans got into the game quickly and started to utilise the blind side well and back rower Brynmor Jones had two powerful carries taking play up to the Narberth line. A cheeky grubber kick by the inside half into the in goal area looked to have caught the home defence cold but the ball just ran out of play with the red and whites ready to pounce.
With time running out Emlyn were awarded another penalty kick and went for touch ten metres out but once again mis-communication at a crucial attacking line out saw the ball thrown in to the opposition hands allowing Narberth to clear their lines and the chance and the game was gone.
Narberth though were well worth their victory as they took their chances when they arose and their fantastic run is set to continue into the New Year. The Ddol Wiber men who have done well to be in a position just outside the relegation battle, especially with so many injuries with the list increasing on a weekly basis and coach Marc Lloyd will be hoping for a bit more luck on this front in 2017.
