Narberth travelled to Cardiff Met’s Cyncoed ground knowing that it’s not the easiest place to get a win and again that’s how it turned out to be fr the Otters.

Narberth were without regular fullback Ianto Griffiths as he was unavailable for the match and during the week his replacement, Nick Gale, pulled up with a hamstring injury, so winger Will Lewis had to fulfil that role. This also meant that the Otters’ two regular goal-kickers would not be on the field, so the kicking duties were handed to fly-half Jonathan Rogers.

The game started at a cracking pace with both teams looking to run the ball at every opportunity. Unfortunately, after only five minutes, Will Lewis was tackled whilst in possession of the ball and suffered torn ligaments to his ankle and he required assistance to be taken from the pitch. This resulted in Jake Jenkins being asked to fill in at fullback.

For the first 10 minutes, Narberth put the Mets under a lot of pressure, but were unable to put any points on the board. From a driving lineout, the ball was held up inches from the line ,allowing a Met put-in at the scrum, which enabled them to clear their line. A long pass by Jonathan Rogers then put hooker Rhodri Owens into space, but he was brought down just five metres short of the try line and another opportunity was missed. Then Jack Price ripped the ball from his opposing centre, kicked downfield and was just beaten to the touchdown by the Mets fullback.

The Mets weathered the storm and then hit a purple patch which ended in them getting quick points on the board where the Otters had previously failed. Firstly, Jake Jenkins had his kick charged down and from the resulting ruck Narberth were caught offside and Mets fly-half Harry Johnston kicked the penalty (3- 0).

Shortly after the restart, the Mets number eight made a half break in midfield, slipped a pass to the supporting tighthead prop who was brought down only five metres from the Otters’ line and when the ball was recycled the loosehead prop took a short pass and barged his way over the try line. Johnston converted to put the Mets in front 10-0.

From the restart, Jonathan Rogers kicked the ball directly into touch, which gave the Mets a scrum on the halfway line. The ball was moved quickly to the left winger, who made ground, cut inside several would-be tacklers and then fed the ball to his supporting scrum-half, who ran in unopposed under the posts. Johnston again converted to make the score 17-0.

Narberth tried to get back into the game, but Rogers missed a penalty from about 35 metres out. Then Jack Price made a strong run down the blindside of a scrum and fed his supporting winger, Gethin Gibby, who ran hard for the line, but was tackled just metres short.

When the ball was recycled, possession was eventually lost in midfield and from a speculative kick out of defence, the ball bounced awkwardly away from the covering Narberth backs and straight into the hands of the Mets centre who sprinted upfield and scored under the posts against the run of play. Johnston converted to make the score 24- 0 after about 35 minutes of play.

Just on half-time and with no further scores, Narberth number eight Richie Rees had to leave the field with a knee injury and was replaced by Harry Phillips, with Tom Powell switching to No.8.

Narberth came out for the second half in determined mood and for the first 15 minutes laid siege to the Mets try line. Unbelievably, the Otters retained possession and recycled the ball on 24 occasions, but still the Mets defence held firm. Several scrums followed five metres from the Mets line, but by swinging the scrum round illegally, the Mets prevented Narberth from gaining a pushover try.

Further drives towards the line by the entire Narberth pack and with Jack Price and his co centre, Keiron Jones, being brought down inches short of the line ended in the ball being eventually lost and again the Mets were able to clear their line by a relieving kick downfield.

Then from a rare incursion within the Narberth 22 metre line, the Mets lost possession and Keiron Jones broke down the blindside of a ruck. He sprinted for 60 metres, before passing to winger Gethin Gibby, who in turn when tackled passed inside to Yannick Parker, who raced in to score near the posts. Rogers converted (24-7).

Dan Jacobs then replaced Bradley Davies at prop and hooker, Rhodri Owens, was replaced by Kyle Hamer. Rhys Lane was replaced by Lewys Gibby at scrum-half.

Narberth continued to dominate the game and all of the Narberth forwards were superb making hard yards driving towards the Mets try line. Harry Phillips, Tom Powell, Tom Kaijaks and Jack Price were all held up inches short of the line with some heroic defence by the Mets forwards.

Eventually after recycling the ball on numerous occasions, it was fed wide to Jake Jenkins who crossed the try line wide out. Rogers kicked the conversion to make the score 24 -14.

With about 15 minutes of the game left to play, the Mets managed to win some possession and again put Narberth under pressure. After a series of rucks, the ball was fed quickly to the Mets inside centre who jinked his way past a couple of Narberth tacklers and scored near the posts. The conversion failed (29-14).

With only a few minutes left to play, the Mets were sure of a win, but in fairness to the Narberth players, they refused to give in and with the last play of the game a long pass by Jonathan Rogers found centre Keiron Jones, who shrugged off two tacklers and ran in from 20 metres out. Rogers converted to make the final score 29-21.

Fortunately Ystrad Rhondda lost their home match to Rhydyfelin, so the Otters are still in with a chance of finishing second to Pontypool for the third year in a row, which would be some achievement.

Team was: Bradley Davies, Rhodri Owens, Tom Slater, Tom Kaijaks, Alex Jenkins, Dewi Williams, Tom Powell, Richie Rees, Rhys Lane, Jonathan Rogers, Gethin Gibby, Jack Price, Keiron Jones, Yannick Parker, Will Lewis. Subs: Kyle Hamer, Harry Phillips, Dan Jacobs, Lewys Gibby and Jake Jenkins.