NARBERTH came away with a hard fought win away to Beddau in the Championship.

The Otters beat the Green and Gold 16-0 to continue their impressive start to the season having only lost one match back in their campaign opener versus Neath.

The players came together after the game to pay tribute to former Crymych and Ospreys star Ifan Phillips who suffered life-changing injuries in a recent motorcycle crash.

Narberth are fifth in the Championship with 13 points, six off leaders Bargoed.

Match report supplied by Narberth RFC:

Tight first half

Narberth travelled to Beddau where light rain persisted for the whole match making it slippy under foot and difficult to play an expansive game.

Early in the match Beddau struggled to win their line-outs and this gave the Otters more of the possession.

Guto Davies and Steff Phillips were always on hand to make charging runs into the Beddau half but both teams defensive efforts were outstanding and neither side seemed able to break the deadlock.

Eventually the home team succumbed to the pressure and handled the ball at a ruck. Narberth were awarded a penalty and Jonathan Rogers was successful with the kick (0-3).

Just before half time Ryan Scourfield picked up a shoulder injury and Jake Jenkins came on to play in the centre with Ianto Griffiths moving to full back and Ashley Sutton moving to the wing.

Beddau ended the half camped on the Narberth line but there were no further scores before half time.

Second half: Narberth apply the pressure

Right from the start of the second half Narberth got the upper hand at the scrums with Tom Slater giving his opposite number a torrid time.

Within five minutes Beddau were pushed off the ball at their first scrum and Narberth were awarded a penalty which was successfully kicked by Jonathan Rogers (0-6).

Narberth continued to pressurise Beddau and after a strong run down the middle by centre Joe Hutchings, Beddau handled the ball on the floor at the ensuing ruck and Rogers kicked a further penalty to stretch the lead to 0-9.

Twenty minutes into the half Narberth replaced hooker Rhodri Owens with Tom Curry and Prop Ifan James with Lewis Davies.

The Otters were now getting a stranglehold on the match but just couldn’t turn the pressure into points.

Further replacements were used with Ryan Banner replacing Tom Powell and Dylan Walsh replacing Ashley Sutton.

With little time left Narberth had a line-out ten metres from the Beddau line.

A driving maul ensued and when this collapsed inches from the line Guto Davies was on hand to pick up the ball and dive over for a try.

Jonathan Rogers was successful with the conversion and the game ended with Narberth worthy winners by 16 points to nil.

The Narberth coaches were very pleased with the hard fought winning result and especially with the defensive effort which resulted in the home team failing to score any points.

Next week Narberth will be at home to Cardiff Met who are also having a successful season so it promises to be another tough encounter with both teams wanting to get a win prior to the Xmas break.