NEWPORT are the sole Gwent team who will be involved in Tuesday's Konica Minolta Cup quarter-final draw, an eight-try demolition of Glamorgan Wanderers at Rodney Parade on Saturday ensuring their place, while Cross Keys, Pontypool and Bedwas bowed out.
The Black and Ambers were not at their best, conceding too many turnovers, dropping too many passes and generally playing at too leisurely a tempo, but it was still all too easy for the Premier Division side against their First Division opponents.
It was Wanderers' second exit from the competition, having lost to Ebbw Vale in round three before being reprieved because their opponents fielded an ineligible player.
There was no escape route this time, though, in fairness, they always tried to play rugby, and in addition to the two tries they did score they should have finished off some adventurous play with at least two others.
In outside-half Lee Mullane they had a clever sniper who was always trying things, and right wing Jamie Henthorne showed pace while their back row worked tirelessly.
They also did well in the scrums, but could hardly win a lineout because of the monopoly of Newport's Ben Thompson and Rhys Jones, while for all their tackling, they could not halt Newport when they did manage to put their moves together.
Experienced centre Rhys Shorney was Newport's catalyst, setting up more than one try with his breaks and power, though by the end he did tend to go it alone too often.
Scrum-half James Ireland, out for much of the season through injury but on the bench for the Newport Gwent Dragons against Ulster the night before, also had a fine game and set up tries with his long cut-out passes. While hooker Andrew Brown was lively and pulled off more than one vital tackle, Newport's eight tries were scored by eight different players, in itself a measure of their 15-man approach, but they will have to tighten up in defence if they are to progress against stronger sides.
The team have targeted winning the cup and a top-three league spot this season, and both are within their capabilities, though their league objective is hampered by the loss of three points for not fulfilling the Llandovery fixture, a decision they are not now contesting.
The Wanderers ought to have taken a sixth-minute lead on Saturday, when they ran from inside their own 22 to the Newport line, but could not find support at the last moment.
Four minutes later Daniel Griffiths, on a rare appearance at full back, caught a clearance 40 yards out, and with nowhere to go, somehow ran left, then right and then straight down the middle for an amazing try.
Twelve minutes later wing Gareth Chapman scored, but when Mullane and flanker Anthony Corsi set up a converted try for centre Dai Willey, the Wanderers trailed only 12-7 with four minutes of the first half remaining, having had an equal amount of the game.
But within those four minutes Shorney set up tries for Brown and outside-half Ricky Williams, and at 22-7 at the interval there was no way back for the Cardiff outfit, beaten only on try count after a 10-10 draw in their only other cup game against Newport, also at Rodney Parade, 12 years ago.
Within eight minutes of the restart flanker Paul Williams and Shorney had crossed for converted tries after flowing movements, and replacement centre Richard Payne added the seventh, Wanderers prop Mark O'Leary replying, before fittingly skipper Matthew Veater picked up a pass off his bootlaces to help Newport to the half-century mark.
Newport: D Griffiths, G Chapman, R Shorney, S Ireland (R Payne 50min), W Kershaw-Naylor, R Williams (J Rowles 68min), J Ireland (G Hall 61min), D Pattison, A Brown (K Crawford 50min), G Robinson (G Mason 55min), M Veater, B Thompson, N Kelly (S Waldron 58min), P Williams (M Popham 50min), R Jones.
Scorers: tries: Griffiths, Chapman, Shorney, R Williams, Brown, Veater, P Williams, Payne; conversions: Griffiths (5).
Glamorgan Wanderers: M Evans, J Henthorne, D Willey, C Baxter, G Hobbs, L Mullane (M Butler 68min), A Cawley, R Denton (R Searle 68min), M Shephard, M O'Leary, K Stewart (A Luff 36min), J Connors, A Corsi (E Christopher 61min), A MacDonald, M Grimes (R Thomas 61min).
Scorers: tries: Willey, O'Leary; conversion: Mullane.
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