Otters hold on for vital win (From Western Telegraph)

Otters hold on for vital win

Beddau 10 Narberth 11

Simon Daniels was the toast of his Narberth colleagues as the fly half slotted the second-half penalty which saw The Otters win by the narrowest of margins at Beddau, a venue where few teams go away with anything to show for their efforts.

But although the final margin was so desperately close as the referee played eight minutes of time added on, the Narberth team remained strong and were ultimately just about good value for a sixth successive win that keeps them at the head of the table.

The win was all the more commendable because the Otters were forced to play almost all the second half with 14 men after they had exchanged Puku Faletau for Kevin Davies at the break, only for the powerful hooker to be sent off for his first tackle, which the referee deemed to be dangerous.

Kevin Davies returned to shore up the front row alongside Dai Balkwill and Alan Phillips, with flanker John Bowen the unlucky player pulled off in Faletaus place - and the seven Otters left up front played their hearts out, as did Chris Flattery and Jamie Bohata when they came on as fresh legs for Balkwill and skipper Jason Jennings, as did Chris MacDonald, who came on at scrum half for Lloyd Thomas and again showed how much he revels in tight tussles like this, linking well with Alan Reynolds and Gareth Bennett at the base of the scrum.

It was Beddau who made the better start, the Mid Glamorgan outfit having three chances in the opening quarter as centre David Harries missed two penalty kicks before making it third time lucky in the 24th minute.

At the other end, Simon Daniel missed his first chance for Narberth but landed his second attempt from an easier position - and hit the left-hand post with another good kick from long range before the Otters took the lead with an excellent try.

It came after Daniels had kicked them into the corner from a penalty from which Jennings won good ball and Reynolds and Co drove on before releasing their backs in a series of thrusts at the line. They were held up for a while but then Thomas switched play blind and winger Andrew Jones squeezed over in the corner.

It meant that Narberth were 8-3 ahead at the break and it might have been more but a promising late move involving full back Aled Davies and centre Tevita Manaseitava broke down in the home 22 when a try looked on.

The Otters made a disastrous start to the second half as they conceded an early try when a kick ahead by fly half Owen Thomas saw him beat Manaseitava to the final touch for Harries to convert - and then Puku took an early bath before he had time to raise a sweat.

It says much for the Narberth resolve that they were able to regroup and Daniels was just short with a long range penalty.

The arrival of MacDonald, Flattery and Bohata gave the side another boost and they had other chances as Aled Davies missed with two drop goal attempts before Daniels put the Otters back in front with a penalty 15 minutes from the finish.

As they sought a try to finish Beddau off, Narberth went close as Santa Reynolds fly-hacked up the touchline and Andrew Jones just failed to gather - and Chris MacDonald threatened with a burst up the middle.

As Beddau tried hard to fight back there was some superb touchline kicking by Daniels but Beddau still had one last chance to snatch the verdict when Harries was charged with the responsibility of taking a penalty that he put wide of the left upright - and the Otter faithful heaved a sigh of relief as the final whistle saw their team still that point ahead - and with three more league points as reward!

Narberth: Aled Davies: Wil Morgan; Tevita Manaseitava; Andrew Bowen; Andrew Jones: Simon Daniels; Lloyd Thomas (Chris MacDonald): Dai Balkwill (Alan Phillips); Kevin Davies (Puku Faletau); Chris Flattery: Jason Jennings (Jamie Bohata); Emori Katelau: Alan Reynolds; John Bowen; Gareth Bennett.