NEWPORT threequarter Hal Luscombe (pictured) is out for the rest of the season.

The Wales under-21 cap suffered a knee injury last month and has had an operation to remove a piece of bone from the knee.

That will rule him out of Newport's cup and league programme for the remaining six weeks of the season.

Newport have also allowed scrum half Dale Burn to go on loan to Pontypridd for the rest of the season, though they do have a recall facility.

Pontypridd made a request for one of Newport's four scrum halves after regular Paul John also went down with a knee injury.

Burn sat on the bench for them in last week's draw against Llanelli and will remain with them.

It leaves Ofisa Tonu'u, David Llewellyn and Llyr Lane as the Newport scrum halves, Llewellyn leapfrogging Burn since his recovery from his long standing Achilles tendon problems.

Newport have already let loose head prop Ceri Jones join Zurich Premiership Harlequins on loan.

Newport have named a squad for Saturday's Principality Cup quarter-final against Ebbw Vale at Eugene Cross Park. They are waiting for fitness tests on injured trio Tonu'u skipper Simon Raiwalui and fellow lock Mike Voyle.

Newport: P Montgomery, M Mostyn, J Jones-Hughes, J Pritchard, A Cadwallader, S Howarth, O Tonu'u, D Llewellyn, R Snow, P Young, C Anthony, A Garvey, M Veater, S Raiwalui, M Voyle, I Gough, J Forster, S Ojomoh, A Powell, R Jones. Replacements from: A N Other, J Richards, A N Other, A N Other, A N Other, J Strange, L Nabaro. Kick off 2.30pm.

Ebbw Vale coach Mike Ruddock has delayed naming a team to give centre Rhys Shorney and outside half Scott Mitchell time to recover from hamstring problems.

Two players ruled out are lock Neil Edwards and full back Richard Davies, both because of injury.

But Ruddock believes that the two-week break his side have had will serve them in good stead. He said: "Most of the players have got over the bumps and bruises from the Llanelli game.

"Last week we did a lot of fitness work so that the players could get up to a decent level and this week has been spent doing a lot of video analysis work.

"We've also been working on set-plays so we're more than ready for the game."

Meanwhile, Ebbw Vale, along with Neath and Saracens, are to be hauled before a three-man ERC disciplinary committee in Dublin next Tuesday on a misconduct charge arising to problems with a frozen pitch for matches in January.

In Ebbw Vale's case it was their Parker Pen Shield match against Pau which was eventually played at Rodney Parade two days behind schedule.

Ebbw Vale will vigorously defend the charge after making strenuous efforts to get the match played at four different grounds - their own, Caerphilly, Cardiff and Newport.