Newport.............6 Glasgow.............27

NEWPORT'S slim chance of lifting the Welsh/Scottish League title disappeared with their worst home defeat for two years at Rodney Parade on Saturday.

It came out of the blue because Newport had won five games in a row and had lost only once at home in the league all season.

Yet they were well beaten by a Glasgow side with little but pride to play for.

Newport were outscored by four tries to nil in a comprehensive defeat, the first time they had lost to the Scots in the league and only the second time this season they had failed to score a try, the other being Castres, also at home.

Now, far from challenging for the title Newport could face a battle to qualify for the Heineken Cup next season because they have to travel to Glasgow and go to Swansea. They can hardly expect to gain any points from either visit, so it is absolutely vital they win their other remaining games at home to Caerphilly and at Cross Keys.

It has become a bit of a habit among both the public and the media to praise a side to the skies if they achieve a good victory and then castigate them when they lose badly.

And hindsight is always a wonderful thing, but the fact is Bridgend, whom Newport beat so handsomely in their previous league game, offered little challenge up front whereas Glasgow, full of internationals, positively bristled with intent.

Newport couldn't beat the last really tough opposition they faced-Bath, Munster, Edinburgh and Cardiff - and they failed again on Saturday.

This time it really was abysmal as they struggled to win line-out possession and couldn't string any passes together.

The conditions were difficult in the persistent rain, but it was the same for both sides, and Newport played as though they were strangers to one another.

The Scot's showed the way with a desire and an appetite Newport completely failed to match.

They scored four tries without reply, three in the first half as they got stuck in and exposed Newport's limitations around the fringes where Jason Forster was missed.

Two of their tries came via that route when scrum half Fraser Scott first scored himself and then made ground for Scotland centre James McLaren, playing on the wing, to race clear, chip over Matt Pini and win the race for the touchdown.

Then centre Jon Stuart brushed aside some weak tackling for try number three to leave Newport with a stiff hurdle to face at 19-6 down at half-time, their only points coming from two Shane Howarth penalties.

And that's how it stayed, Newport unable to muster anything when they desperately needed at least one early second hail score.

Instead it was Glasgow outside half Tommy Hayes, who kicked well throughout, who put Newport further behind with a dropped goal.

Nothing much else happened until four minutes from the end when Glasgow scored again, replacement Barry Irving latching onto a kick ahead by Hayes.

By then Newport fans in another impressive crowd of 6,200 were leaving the ground, something which hasn't happened in the last two seasons.

It's not so much that they are fickle, it was more the Newport performance was so bad.

Centres Andy Marinos Jones-Hughes and wing Matt Mostyn made as many handing errors in one match as in the entire season, while James Richards couldn't find the target with his throwing in.

With major league and cup games to come Newport have got to get this out of their system, and quickly, otherwise what might have been a celebratory finale to the season could turn into a disaster.

Newport: M.Pini, M.Mostyn, J.Jones.Hughes, A.Marinos, (J.Pritchard 77mins), M.Watkins, S.Howarth, D.Burn, C.Jones, (R.Snow 55), J.Richards, A.Garvey, S.Raiwalui (G.Taylor 64), I.Gough, P.Buxton, (J.Powell 64), G.Teichmann (captain), A.Popham,

Scorer-penalties: Shane Howarth (2)

Glasgow: G.Metcalfe (B.Irving 50), J.McLaren, A Bulloch, J.Stuart, R.Kerr, T.Hayes, F.Stott, D.Hilton, (L.Harrison 75), G.Bulloch, G.Mcllwham, C.Stewart, J.White, G.Simpson (R.Reid 79), J.Petrie, G.Flockhart (D.Mcfadyen67)

Scorers-tries: Frasier Stott, James McLaren, Jon Stuart, Barry Irving; conversions:Tommy Hayes (2);dropped goal:Hayes