Winners Whitland youth.

Narberth 7.

Whitland 31.

Whitland were the deserving winners of this season's Pembrokeshire youth cup final.

The Borderers proved too strong overall for a determined Narberth Youth team, building up a 14-point interval lead and staying on top throughout the second period, with outside half Johnny Thomas claiming two of their tries.

Yet the final score doesn't reflect the hard work put in by the young Otters, especially in a tight first quarter when they had two scoring chances for Tom Richards but the full back was off the mark with two penalties.

Whitland finally made their strong physical presence felt as the back row of James Davies, Mike Jones and man of the match Danny Evans started to win a lion's share of the 50/50 ball. Lewis Owen had a cracking game at second row alongside Carl Davies and the Borderers' front row was solid in the set-pieces and eager in the close exchanges. It set up the platform for a series of attacks and ended with a break from Jonathan Morgan and a try for skipper Alex Pickersgill, who got up in support.

Co-centre James Stephenson added the extras, as he did again soon afterwards when outside half Johnny Thomas made a classic No 10's break from a set piece, threw in a dummy and sped through to the posts.

It took the Borderers 14 minutes to add to their tally in the second period when Stephenson dropped a goal before missing a penalty chance - and with 12 minutes remaining Narberth broke their duck with a good try from replacement scrum half Aaron Keane after his pack had rumbled forward, with Richards adding the extra points.

Whitland responded quickly as James Stephenson scored a cracking try as he broke through at pace, and with Narberth's final move of the match breaking down it was Johnny Thomas who intercepted and raced away for his second try. Stephenson converted it to apply the coup de grace in an entertaining match that was well refereed by Keith Davies. The final was sponsored by the NatWest Bank, with Wyn Jones there as their representative.

Narberth Youth: Tom Richards: Dan Jenkins; Chris Davies; Deri Galvin; Paul Beddis: Jack Parsells; Tom Parsells: John Edwards; Mark Done; Gareth Jones: Luke Battison; Rhydian Williams: Paul Bowen (Capt); Rion Whatmore; Richard Sharp-Williams. Replacements: Gwynfor Llewellyn; Aaron Keane; Ben Douglas; Anthony Pugh; Sam Large; Sam Cowlam; Chris Davies.

Whitland Youth: Dan Newton: Scott Williams; Alex Pickersgill (Capt); James Stephenson; Jonathan Morgan: Jonathan Thomas; Dafydd Evans: Lee Williams; Gavin Walsh; Rhys Thomas: Lewis Owen; Carl Smith: James Davies; Danny Evans; Mike Jones. Replacements: Brynley Toms; Jack Rees; Dan McDermott; Steve Webster; Dan Hodson; Thomas Rees; Aled Rees; Iestyn Scourfield; Duncan Evans.

Venue: Heywood Lane, Tenby.

Referee: Keith Davies.

Touch Judges: Mark Smith and Colin Kaijaks.

10:41am Friday 9th May 2008

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