Narberth 16 pts.

RGC 1404 21

The North Wales accent was strong at the Lewis Lloyd ground for the visit of the RGC 1404 team, currently lying fourth in the National SWALEC Championship.

Besides the young playing squad, amongst their supporters were ‘Men of Song’, part of a relatively young North Wales Choir who quickly gave a pre-game performance.

Everyone was surprised that the game and ground had survived the extreme gales and occasional torrential showers that blew over Narberth the previous day. That it did was was a tribute to the Otters for their investment in ground drainage improvements in previous years.

The game soon became affected by the wet ground and gale, the ball becoming greasy and difficult to handle, although both teams attempted to play open rugby despite the conditions.

In the stand were famous men of Welsh rugby, including Phil Davies, fresh from the Rugby World Cup and soon to be part of the North Wales rugby set-up, who was kept busy with his advice to the touchline via modern communication technology. Nearby was former Wales and Scarlets coach Gareth Jenkins, now a rugby development officer, and a few other Scarlets staff, obviously on a scouting visit.

RGC kicked off playing into the gale and towards the clubhouse end. The initial exchanges were fairly even.

RGC had clearly studied the Otters and initially challenged their normal lineout superiority and with a fine kicker in their fly-half, sought to pin them down in their 22, with their young pack chasing and vigorously challenging the Otters’ attacks.

The early exchanges in the tight with the forwards is always an interesting and testing time and it was good to see replacement hooker Marc Jones, deputising for the injured Dan Smith, strike against the head, which reflected the solid scrummaging by his colleagues in the Otters’ pack.

However, on nine minutes, RGC took the lead. When James Stephenson was about to kick out of hand and clear the immediate danger, the referee blew for an offside situation by Narberth. RGC fly-half James Lang accurately judged his kick against the elements to put them three points ahead.

Then on 14 minutes, after the Otters lost their lineout, Lang kicked high and with the ball now greasy, fullback Johnny Morgan mishandled the catch. RGC pounced and kicking ahead, centre Danny Cross easily won the race for the touchdown for Lang to convert, giving RGC a 10-point lead.

Narberth responded strongly and after Llyr Morris had gone close, Nick Gale eventually opened their scoring with a penalty after 18 minutes.

This gave them some encouragement and for 15 minutes the Otters pummelled the RGC try line with phase after phase of successful rucks and finally they were forced into a knock-on. The resultant scrum collapsed and the referee reset for the second scrum. The Otters supporters fully expected a potential penalty try was in the offing, but the RGC team had Lady Luck on their side and managed to heel and initially overcome the danger. ]

Narberth regained the ball and second row Lyndon Bateman drove hard towards the line, but was forced into touch near the clubhouse. They continued their pressure in the RGC 22, but their efforts were undone when the ball was fly-hacked by a RGC player down field for winger Sam Jones to outsprint the Otters, who were still in attacking mode, and he gained the touchdown in the bottom corner on the stand side. James Lang failed with his conversion, making the score 15-3 at 35 minutes.

At this point, it seemed unjust that a try against the run of play had placed RGC in a comfortable place with half-time approaching.

Just before the break, though, Nick Gale reduced the deficit with a fine penalty goal after an RGC player was penalised for not using his arms when bringing an attacking Otter to ground.

Home supporters saw the situation as retrievable and especially with the gale at their backs second half.

Immediately from the restart Narberth went on the attack and when RGC were penalised for offside, Nick Gale made no mistake with the resultant penalty to take the score to 15-9.

Soon RGC fought their way up field, and kept the Otters penned in their own half for sometime, eventually being awarded a penalty, which Lang slotted to make it 18-9.

RGC replaced second row Andy Williams with Kelvin Davies and Narberth replaced Alex Jenkins at number eight with Calumn Treem while Tom Kaijaks replaced Dan Jacobs at loose head.

Calumn Tree began to make himself noticed with several surges forward over the gain line to enable successful rucks, releasing the ball to the eager Narberth players.

There followed a promising move initiated by James Stephenson, who kicked into the 22 and in the follow-up Nick Gale attempted to break clear, but had to pass inside to keep the movement going forward, but it broke down when the ball was knocked on.

On 66 minutes, the Narberth coaches replaced Liam Hutchins with Jordon Roberts, while RGC replaced wing Sam Jones with Josh Leach, and they managed to keep the Otters at bay with some disciplined play.

On 74 minutes, lack of discipline by the Otters enabled the North Walians to gain a penalty when the referee saw an RGC man tackled without the ball and loose talk enabled the kick to be moved 10 metres forward into the Narberth 22, from where Lang accurately kicked the ball between the posts to take the score to 21-9.

Narberth were far from finished, though, and continued to press forward in the closing minutes, and when the ball reached Johnny Morgan in the RGC 22, he was alert to the opportunity as he beat the defence with a chip kick and won the race for the touchdown. The try raised the spirits of home supporters and even more so when Nick Gale converted to bring the score to 21-16, which at least gained them a losing bonus point.

From the restart, the Otters surged forward again in a bid to snatch a dramatic last gasp victory, but there was little time and their hopes were dashed when the referee blew the final whistle.

Seasoned watchers agreed that RGC deserved the win, remaining disciplined and demonstrating the qualities of their well-drilled training and preparation for the game. This professional effort is supported by WRU investment to advance the quality and opportunities for North Wales-based players.

Part of this project has been the introduction of a North Wales Academy where 16-year-old boys from the various clubs are inducted in the skills and discipline required in later years. Those who succeed advance to join the RGC 1404 squad, which comes under the tutelage of professional coaches and administered by the well-known ex Wales international Rupert Moon.

In West Wales, the 16-year-olds enter the Scarlets Academy and then move on to the WRU Premiership and rarely return to the local clubs. Next season it is anticipated that RGC will move up to the Premier League.

After the game, both sets of supporters mingled and the singers of both clubs soon burst into song.

When the presentations were made, Otters chairman John Owen announced that the match sponsors’ man-of-the-match was second row forward Lyndon Bateman.

This was followed by a special presentation to the immediate past club captain Steve Martin, who on the day played his 200th WRU League game for the club. He is only the sixth player to have achieved this distinction and first played for the club 10 years ago. Since then he has had an exceptional career. His award was warmly applauded by those present.

Commenting immediately after the match, Narberth backs coach Roger Davies said: “The conditions were very difficult. Both teams played well and it was a big disappointment for us to lose. It was a game that we could have won, but we made some crucial mistakes at crucial times which let us down. RGC are a good team. They took advantage of our mistakes and punished us. It was a harsh lesson for us to be more accurate in attack and not to concede mistakes in defence. Narberth backs carried well against the wind.

“In the second half we did not use the wind as well as we could have done. There was a great late try, but it was too little too late.”

Roger thought that the forwards had played particularly well in the first half. Jamie Kaijaks did well in the scrum, Lyndon Bateman and Adam Clark in second row and the inexperienced back row played quite well.

Narberth fielded: Johnny Morgan (capt), Nick Gale, Steve Martin, Ollie Ryeland, Liam Hutchins (Jordon Roberts), James Stephenson, Jonathon Rogers, Dan Jacobs, (Tom Kaijaks), Marc Jones, Jamie Kaijaks, Lyndon Bateman, Adam Clark, Alex Jenkins. Ryan Banner.

Subs - Dan Smith, Lewis Gibbin.