NEWPORT coach Ian McIntosh insists the Welsh/Scottish League title race is not over and though he is returning to South Africa at the end of the season his only focus in the next fortnight is Newport's last three games.
But Newport will have to make the trip to Scotland to face Glasgow at Hughenden on Friday night without Jonathan Pritchard and Matt Pini.
They are already without scrum halves Ofisa Tonuu and Dale Burn plus centre Andy Marinos.
Their back division resources are stretched to the limit, with Pritchard and Pini suffering injuries against Cardiff on Friday night.
Pritchard has cracked a bone in his foot and will probably miss the last three games while Pini has damaged hand ligaments, similar to Marinos' injury.
It means a likely centre partnership of Matthew Watkins and Hal Luscombe, so promising against Cardiff, for the Glasgow match.
They paired up for Newport's last visit to Scotland when Newport battled to a 19-19 draw against Edinburgh.
Newport could be helped by Glasgow's even harder run-in, the Scots also facing Cardiff at Hughenden tomorrow night.
The Glasgow squad and coach Richie Dixon watched the Newport-Cardiff clash at Rodney Parade on Friday night before beating Ebbw Vale on Saturday and have a healthy respect for the pair of them.
Despite Newport's run of three successive league defeats which has tumbled them from leaders to third in the table and McIntosh's impending departure, the coach typically breathes defiance.
"It's not in my head that I'm going," he said. "There are three games left and we want to win them all. Why shouldn't we do that? My most important trip is to Scotland not South Africa.
"We have got three very important games left and we can still win the title. The only thing that has changed is that it is now in the hands of others.
"But this is all in the mind, we've just got to make sure we keep going."
* The second extraordinary meeting of all WRU clubs scheduled for May 26 may be put back because of the clash with the Pontypridd-Sale shield final. Talks were taking place today.
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