PHOTOS:
James Thomas - opened the scoring for Whitland
Johnny Morgan - a potent force for Narberth
Stuart Worrall - close-range try for Otters' flanker
KO Cup Semi-Final:
Narberth 27 - Whitland 7
Matches between these neighbours and old rivals are traditionally hard-fought and this one was no exception before Narberth eased their way into the Knockout Cup Final at the expense of a Whitland side which never gave up trying and was in front until the last moments of a tight first half.
Both teams had two players shown the yellow card and there was always an edge to the forward play as neither pack was ready to concede an inch in a typical KO Cup tussle.
Mason leads Borderers to better start . . .
Indeed, the fact that they started out as underdogs against a team a division higher meant nothing to the Borderers as they had slightly the better of an error-strewn first half as Jack Mason, Raff Williams and skipper Marc Jones led the way up front and there were nice touches in their back division from Steffan James, Johnny Thomas and Scott Newton as Andrew Jenkins used his experience to good effect and Sean Coles posed a threat wide out.
Yet Narberth had the first clear-cut chance but Ianto Griffiths put a relatively easy penalty wide of the mark before Coles went close as James Stephenson put him into space and he clever chipped through but was held up over the line as he did well to regather.
But the Borderers took a deserved lead midway through the half when the livewire Mason put in a typically telling run at the Otters defence and slipped the ball to James Thomas for the flanker to power the last 25 metres to the line, with James adding the extra points.
Narberth tale a late interval lead
Narberth also had half chances but could only muster a successful penalty by Griffiths because handling errors prevented any points until half time loomed and Whitland not only conceded a penalty but were marched back 10 metres by the referee to make a three pointer possible but Griffiths kicked well to the corner and a concerted forward drive saw flanker Stuart Worrall emerge to claim a try which gave his side an 8-7 interval lead as Griffiths was unable to convert from the last kick of the half.
The second half was equally hard-fought but Narberth raised the tempo and turned chances into points whilst Whitland had some promising moves out on the right involving Will Davies and Stephenson but the Otters covered back well through Jonathan Morgan, Martin and Gale.
Morgan shows attacking flair
It was Morgan who also showed his potent attacking powers as he created space on the left and put skipper Martin in for a good try which Gale converted from wide out – and after a tense period where the Borderers had a man fewer than their opponents they conceded a third try as Morgan turned from provider to scorer with a nice run where he dummied his way to the posts for Gale to again add the conversion.
The Otters’ reward for victory is a final against Haverfordwest which will be played at Bierspool, Pembroke Dock.
Narberth: Jon Morgan: Rhys Davies; Morgan Griffiths; Steve Martin (Capt); Nick Gale: Ianto Griffiths; Rhys Lane: Sean Lloyd; Dan Smith; Ollie Evans: Adam Clarke; Alex Jenkins: Gareth Bateman; Stuart Worrall; Lewis Wood. Replacements: Zac France-Miller; Steffan Phillips; Callum Tree; Nico Setaro; Tom Bonnell; Ashley Sutton.
Whitland: Scott Newton: Will Davies; James Stephenson; Johnny Thomas; Sean Coles: Steffan James; Andrew Jenkins: Nathan Price; Marc Jones (Capt); Ryan Rees: Ben Kirk; Raff Williams: James Thomas; Rhydian Davies; Jack Mason. Replacements: Dafydd Evans; Dai Ebsworth; Carl Smith; Fraser Watson; Alan Proctor; Rhys Proctor.