Fixture

Narberth 2nds 37 -v- 19 Aberystwyth Athletic

Aberystwyth Athletic travelled to face Narberth II’s hampered by a number of late withdrawals for

their second league game of the season.

After a few early exchanges between the two sides Narbeth pounced on a loose ball in Aber’s 22

and crossed unopposed for an early 7 -0 lead.

This spurred the young Athletic pack into action, and from the resulting restart Sam Hesden gathered the ball and powered into the home team’s 22 with one of his many blockbusting runs throughout the game, and after some good interplay between the forwards saw the home defence sucked in allowing outside half Sam Davies to produce a pin point pass to Tomos Jenkins who powered over under the posts for Davies to convert.

From the restart the Athletic again gained good territory in the home team’s half where man of the

match Iestyn Thomas was instrumental in good off loading between the forwards and were

awarded a subsequent penalty. From the resulting kick to the corner the Athletic were pinned on the

home team’s line but an unfortunate knock on allowed Narberth to clear their lines.

After a series of plays around the halfway line flanker Tom Kerton secured turn over ball which

allowed the Athletic to go on the counter attack. Once again in the home team’s 22 strong play on

the blindside saw the ever present Sam Hesden crash over the line for a well-deserved try ably

supported by hooker Daniel Jones.

With only minutes of the first half remaining, the athletic players switched off and some poor

tackling allowed the home side to cross wide out for a 17 – 12 half time lead.

This seemed to shake the home team into action and from a poor kick fielding by the Athletic at the

start of the second half, they were immediately camped on the visitors’ line where, after a series of

pick and goes by the home forwards, the ball was passed to the blind side winger who crossed

unopposed.

 Athletic then inexplicitly let in two more quick tries through poor tackling and poor

game management allowing the home team to race into a 32 – 12 lead. However, showing true determination the Athletic pack took the game by the scruff of the neck and will be disappointed not to have converted some of the chances they created, but instead of losing belief, it

seemed to spur them on even more and after some strong running by Hesden and Thomas, Sion

Evans capped off an excellent performance with a try under the posts, converted by Daniel Elwyn.

The last word though went to the home side after a dropped ball in midfield allowed them to

regather and score in the corner with the final play of the game.

The young Athletic team can take heart from this game as the Narbeth coaches were full of praise for their performance and were quick to point out that the score line flattered the home team.

It will be an exciting game when the Athletic welcome Narberth to Plascrug later on in the

season.