Stalemate

The Black and Ambers remain three points clear at the top, but to stay there they will have to show more heart for the tough battles than they showed in this game.

Neath included five regional players, three of them development members, and were clearly up for a game they knew they had to win.

Defeat for the second-placed side would have left them nine points in arrears, with Newport red-hot favourites for the title.

Now, another loss for Newport at third-placed Aberavon next Saturday would leave the title race wide open, and defeat is possible if they again perform like this.

In truth, Newport have not been playing that well in recent weeks, despite the victories, and this was a result waiting to happen.

Perhaps a little complacency has crept in, with Newport believing they need only to turn on the gas for 30 minutes of a match to be able to win it.

Neath showed that you have to keep the pressure on for 80 minutes, and did so on Saturday for a comprehensive win they thoroughly deserved.

Despite Newport more than holding their own at the set piece, they were outbattled at the breakdown, suffered numerous turnovers and were able to feed only on scraps as an experienced Neath pack took control.

Skipper Paul Jones and fellow prop Andrew Howell, with No 8 Hywel Jenkins, were powerful in the loose, giving Neath player-coach and scrum-half Patrick Horgan and young outside-half Matthew Jones all the room in the world to control play.

Wings Gareth Morris and Richard Johnston were always a danger, and full back Adrian Durston, too, was elusive on the counter, and Newport had little answer.

Their try apart, which briefly gave them a 5-3 seventh-minute lead, Newport's big chance to get back in the game came early in the second half.

Trailing 16-5, they suddenly upped the tempo for the only time, and managed to string a few phases together which created a 4-1 overlap.

But hooker Jonathan Evans held on when he should have passed, and was stopped, and when the ball was switched right, outside- half Daniel Griffiths could not get his pass away to replacement wing Chris Thomas, and a try went begging.

Llyr Lane dropped a goal, but when a poor Newport drop out enabled Durston to break clean through and combine with Morris to set up a 55th-minute try for centre Mike Jones, Newport were beaten at 23-8.

Neath grabbed four tries in all, and with Matthew Jones contributing 17 points with the boot, he more than passed the 100 mark.

Newport's try was a fine one. Running the ball from deep, centre Rhys Shorney easily went outside Mark Jones on Newport's 22 and sold a dummy before grub-kicking ahead for Craig Richards to score his 16th try of the season.

That was after seven minutes, and four minutes later former Ebbw Vale skipper Mark Jones was yellow-carded for a dangerous high tackle. But in the ten minutes he was off it was a rampaging Neath, not Newport, who rattled up ten points, and the writing was on the wall.

Neath: A Durston, R Johnston, M Jones, W Mitchell (J Leyshon 26min), G Morris, M Jones, P Horgan (R Morgan 73min), P Jones (C Griffiths 73min), A Littlehales (D Poland 73min), A Howell, M Jones (B Davies 73min), L Bateman, B Sinkinson (A Llewellyn 72min), J McPhail, H Jenkins (R Phillips 78min).

Scorers: tries: Johnston (2), Horgan, Mike Jones; conversions: Matthew Jones (4); penalties: Matthew Jones (3).

Newport: S Tuipulotu, C Richards (C Thomas 43min), R Shorney, S Williams (R Payne 73min), W Kershaw-Naylor, D Griffiths (O Jones 71min), L Lane, D Pattison, J Evans (G Robinson 67min), S Cronk (R Thomas 57min), C Billen, S Martin, M Veater (S Waldron 57min), G Gravell (M Popham 72min), R Jones.

Scorers: try: Richards; dropped goal: Lane.

Attendance: 2,256.