It could have been disastrous for the All Whites had they lost, but their four try second half resurgence enabled them to overtake Pontypool and move into second place. They move up to 62 points with their 13th win of the season, 12 points behind runaway leaders Merthyr with a game in hand.
Two pearly penalties from Narberth outside half Nick Gale gave the visitors a handy start and then Gale scored a try after 25 minutes, which he also converted. The lead increased to 20 points when Gale converted a try from Rhys Lane after half-an-hour.
Three minutes before the break Rory Gallagher powered his way over for a Swansea try to make it 20-5 and throw the All Whites a second half lifeline. They didn’t waste it and started the second half with a bang.
Jack Wilson kicked a penalty and then Liam Popham crossed for a second home try. Wilson’s conversion cut the gap to five points before he cut through to score a try at the posts which he also converted to give the All Whites the lead for the first time in the match after 65 minutes.
Andrew Claypole then made the break that led to the bonus point try, and Gallagher’s second of the afternoon, with 10 minutes left to play.
Former Cardiff Met student Matthew Trowbridge made it a miserable start to the New Year for his old alma mater as he helped himself to a hat-trick of tries in Merthyr’s latest high scoring win.
Trowbridge’s centre partner David Bishop started the eight try rout with the first of the day within four minutes of the start, but the students hit back with a penalty from centre Tom Morgan. That was the cue for Trowbridge to take centre stage and two tries in the space of five minutes put the Ironmen firmly in control.
The first of Matthew Jarvis’ six conversions made it 17-3 to the home side, but the visitors rallied before the break to cut the gap to four points with a second Morgan penalty and conversion of a try for the visitors when the home side were down to 14 men.
Jarvis steadied the ship with a penalty on the stroke of half-time to make it 20-13 at the break, but it was still anyone’s game moving into the second half. Then the power of the home pack came to the fore and the students were blown away.
Ten minutes into the second half and Trowbridge completed his hat-trick to bag the bonus point. Livewire flanker Osian Davies was next over the Cardiff Met line, the back row man powering over for two tries in quick succession. Dan Parry then crossed for the seventh try of the day before Tom Daley completed the try-fest, which Jarvis rounded off with another successful conversion to take his match haul up to 15 points.
