NEWPORT were happy with a Christmas try count of four to one against their Gwent rivals at Rodney Parade on Boxing Day, but less than pleased with an error count which made it close run rather than extravagant.

Ebbw Vale were committed and ready to tackle everything, while Newport found it hard to break out of the defensive shackles and fully express themselves.

Thay made a lot of handling errors - Jonathan Pritchard, fighting the after-effects of flu struggling most - and lacked cohesion.

Up front it was hard as well as Vale competed everywhere, though Ian Gough and Joe Powell won clean line-out possession and the scrum was pretty solid. The problem about the stop-start nature of what was supposed to be a holiday feast in front of a 10,000-plus crowd was, in a nutshell, the referee.

An easy target maybe, but David Davies gave his usual stream of penalties against Newport, this time stopping their driving line-outs and even allowing a scrum which had been totally wheeled to continue.

It was difficult for Newport to establish any rhythm, never mind maintain it. But one player who did make a difference was scrum half Ofisa Tonu'u, back from a family bereavement in New Zealand, and a real threat at the base of the scrum.

He scored the first try and had a hand in the next two, finishing as Newport scored for the second-game running from the set piece move which drags skipper Simon Raiwalui into the centre at a close-in scrum.

Then he was the all-important link as Gough won a line-out, Raiwalui flipped up to Matthew Watkins and hooker Paul Young charged over.

Finally, it was a quick switch by Tonu'u to the right after a touchline thrust down the left that enabled Andy Marinos to send Matt Mostyn over for his fifth try in as many matches. But when Dale Burn went on as replacement eight minutes from time, he also posed a threat and after he had twice been just held up he took another quick tap penalty and fellow replacement Jason Strange put the ball inside to Powell who plunged across. But Vale ended as they began it - by scoring, and, as in every other case, the player who got the points was Gareth Cull.

He spent half a season at Rodney Parade with great success until Shane Howarth joined, and he almost returned to haunt his former team.

He fired over six penalties, one from a foot inside his own half, and nabbed that injury time try as Vale countered from deep inside the Newport half.

He converted from the touchline, of course, for a superb 25-point haul, and was close with two other long-range penalty shots. It typified Vale's mighty effort against their vaunted neighbours, nine places higher in the league.

True, Newport scored four tries to one. But they will have to improve in a tough four-game spell against Pontypridd, Toulouse, Newcastle and Llanelli.

*PICTURED: Newport hooker Paul Young crashes through the defence on his way to scoring.