AN experimental Newport team romped to victory over an inexperienced Uruguay side at Rodney Parade on Sunday, with scrum half Dale Burn scoring a hat-trick of tries.

And in the process a number of Newport youngsters took the opportunity to show that the future of the club is in good hands.

Centre Hal Luscombe and openside flanker Gareth Gravell seized the opportunity with impressive performances, Luscombe, a South African from Cape Town, quick and long striding and Gravell everywhere.

Centre Scott Williams, last year's Wales under-19 FIRA captain, dummied and darted over for a try within a minute of going on in the second half.

At the same time other players who rarely receive a senior team opportunity also took their chances, particularly in a fluent first half performance.

Two of Burn's hat-trick came from his own alertness at tap penalties close to the line. Half back partner Jason Strange converted seven of Newport's nine tries while Joe Powell showed his line-out ability and hooker Paul Young played like an extra back.

Newport swept the Uruguayans aside in the first half, scoring six tries with some lovely flowing rugby, offloading the ball in the tackle expertly.

They lost their way after that, either hanging on to the ball too long or knocking it on as their early fluency disappeared.

The Uruguayans looked ominously strong up front early on with a succession of drives by the pack, but once Newport sorted that out there was no stopping them.

Rarely-used wing Martyn Llewellyn set the ball rolling with a sparkling run down the touchline for the first try.

Then acting captain Adrian Garvey and flanker Peter Buxton both handled twice and Powell plunged across.

Luscombe, Buxton and Garvey again and Gravell combined for Gareth Taylor to nab try number three before Burn grabbed his first.

More delightful handling ended with Matt Mostyn getting in on the try scoring act and then Gravell crossed after Matt Pini broke through the middle.

A 38-0 interval lead looked like turning into a rout, but it didn't happen in the second half when Newport's try scoring was confined to two by Burn and another by teenager Williams.

Uruguay managed one of their own when replacement Mario Val charged over.