Championship: Narberth 16-11 Cardiff Met

IT was a great win for Narberth as they ended Cardiff Met’s unbeaten start at the Lewis Lloyd Ground.

The students arrived after eight straight wins, but were undone by a dominant display from the home pack in which the back row of Andrew Cooke, Tom Powell and man of the match Richie Rees were outstanding.

The Otters led 6-5 at the interval - a score that didn’t do justice to the intensity of the game. Both sides played with pace and commitment and a huge tackle by Narberth prop Tom Kaijaks on Met’s No 9 Ellis Bevan set the tone.

The home side led early on with a simple penalty by full back Nick Gale, and the visitors were largely stifled despite their clear intention to play with width.

They did score when centre Jack Wright went over for a try, but Gale put The Otters back in front with another three pointer although the home side wouldn’t have been totally happy at half time as they wasted scoring chances.

But The Otters started the second half well as three minutes in No 8 Rees touched down in the corner from a driving maul, a feature of the home side’s play,  and Gale slotted a difficult conversion.

Outside half Henry Johnson landed a penalty for Cardiff Met though and it remained tense at 13-8 until nine minutes from time, when Gale was again on target to effectively seal the win.

Johnson did nail another late penalty to at least secure the away team a bonus point, but it failed to take the gloss of a vital win for Narberth.

“The boys played very well and I thought and we always looked like winning,” said team manager Chris James.

“We stuck to the game plan and we dominated up front which took a lot of energy out of their pack.”

Narberth: Nick Gale: Johnny Morgan, Jack Price, ,Jake Jenkins, Gethin Gibby, Jonathan Rogers, Lewys Gibby, Dan Jacobs, Dan Smith, Tom Kaijaks, Jake Simm, Alex Jenkins (Capt), Andrew Cooke, Tom Powell, Richie Rees. Replacements: Bradley Davies, Rhodri Owens, Steffan Phillips, Rhys Lane, Ianto Griffiths.

Cardiff Met: George Gladding, Will Morris, Jack Wright, Oliver Morris, Will Morris, Henry Johnson, Ellis Bevan, Jamie Tucker, Shawn Howard, Will Hurd, Tom Pearson, Adam Dove, Dan Thurston, Max Heatherman, Joe Jackson. Replacements: Matthew Lorrett-Scott, Jack Williams, Ed Scragg, Dylan Morgan, Rhys Gealy.