Narberth 26 Corus 7

Narberth’s win over the Port Talbot side Corus was a much tougher encounter than the scoreline would suggest.

The Steelmen were just that. Tough, uncompromising, rugged and unwilling to admit defeat.

The Otters turned round in the lead by just 9 points to 7 at half-time but that had been scant reward for their efforts.

They had applied lots of pressure but were unable to turn their superiority into points.

In fact, Corus scored their converted try in their only visit to Narberth’s 22 in the first period.

Narberth had a lively wind at their backs in the first half and many of their supporters were worried that they had not piled up enough points.

The Otters’ outside half Aled Davies opened his account with a neatly-struck 35-metre penalty in the second minute.

But, despite prolonged periods of dominance, the home side went behind when Corus were awarded a penalty ten metres in front of their posts and opted for a scrum.

From the scrum, former Narberth stalwart Chris McDonald worked a smart blind-side move with outside half Nathan Holsgrove to score a try, converted by full-back Simon Evans.

Further penalties by Aled Davies in the 35th minute and on the stroke of half-time, gave Narberth a slender lead at the interval.

The incident leading to the second penalty saw Corus number eight Robbie Morgan sin-binned when north Walian referee John Roberts lost patience after a succession of offences at the breakdown.

Immediately on the restart, Narberth brought on dynamic young number eight Lloyd Phillips, who made an immediate impact.

Phillips took full advantage of the absence of his Corus counterpart and made several powerful breaks after picking up at the base of the scrum.

But it was lively young winger Johnny Morgan who broke the deadlock when he gathered an ill-judged off-load out of a tackle by one of the Corus forwards and burst over the visitors’ line, unchallenged from 30 metres.

Ten minutes later, the Otters extended their lead when Lloyd Phillips again picked up at the back of a scrum 30 metres out and scorched into the corner for a brilliant individual try.

Right on the final whistle, Narberth’s prolific centre Steve Martin got in on the act when he burst through for the final try of the game, converted by Aled Davies.

Narberth worked hard to subdue a well-organised, physical and workmanlike Corus team.

After the game, coach Sean Gale said: “There were some exciting passages of play in the second half when we played some superb concerted phases.

“This showed what we are capable of and where we plan to be. Corus were a tough side to crack, but we did a very professional job in the end.

“We know we are not performing consistently in the way we know we can, but these boys are capable of great things.

“We cannot complain as we are now one of the top 20 teams in Wales. That’s pretty good going for a small place like Narberth.”

Second-row Jason Jennings was named man of the match.

Narberth now face two big local derbies over the next two weekends.

They have a trip to Carmarthen Athletic on Saturday before welcoming rivals Whitland to the Lewis-Lloyd Ground on Easter Saturday.

Narberth: Nick Jones; Craig Barnett, Steve Martin, Richard Davies, Jon Morgan; Aled Davies, Andrew Davies; Tom Slater, Dan Smith, Justin Hughes (captain), Jason Jennings, Alex Jenkins, Gareth Bateman, Andrew Dennis, Jamie Bohata. Replacements: Scott Payne, Aled Harries, Dai Ebsworth, Adrian Killa and Lloyd Phillips.