Glamorgan 16 Newport 28

NEWPORT underlined their challenge for the Welsh Premiership title by inflicting a first home defeat in more than seven months on the Wanderers at Ely on Saturday.

Their performance drew lavish praise from hosts’ coach Richard Hodges, who said: “Newport are the best side we’ve played and can challenge for the title without a shadow of a doubt.”

But Black and Ambers coach Sven Cronk was far from happy, and admitted: “That was the first time this season I had to rip into them in the changing-rooms at half-time.”

In truth, it was something of a curate’s egg of a performance by Newport, who scored three tries out of the top drawer in the first half, but were so loose they amazingly trailed 16-15 at the interval.

Cronk’s rollicking did the trick, however, and they played a far more controlled and structured game in the second half to score 13 unanswered points and make it six wins from seven to go second in the table.

Cronk added: “We were a mile off our game in the first half. It looked as though we hadn’t got off the bus, we were so lethargic. Our lineout was poor, with our kick-and-chase game there was no follow-through at all and we weren’t filling holes for each other like we have been.

“We try to encourage heads-up stuff, but in the first half we were carefree, like a Sunday afternoon game.

“I was brutally honest with them at half-time and they responded and brought our game back into shape.”

Refusing to contemplate the title so early in the season, he added: “We’ve got our feet on the ground as a group. We’ve got five home games coming up, which hopefully we should do well in. It’s just about looking after ourselves.”

Hodges was less reluctant: “They’ve got to be title favourites,” he said. “Their coaching team deserve a huge pat on the back because they’ve turned them around.

“Last year they were very one-dimensional, very predictable. This season people seem to have been reinvented and they seem a very close-knit group with the right values. How on earth we went in at half-time a point in front I’ve no idea. We were so lucky. Their back three were so exciting.”

Newport lost the first two lineouts on their throw and won only two cleanly in the first half, when they also conceded six penalties to one.

They never really worked together up front and trailed 6-0 after 12 minutes to two penalties by former Cross Keys outside-half Scott Sneddon.

They reduced the arrears to 6-5 after 15 minutes when Wanderers were penalised for delaying a throw-in, and from the quick free kick they worked the ball along the line for left wing Mike Poole to take centre Tom Riley’s short pass and cross.

Sneddon’s third penalty made it 9-5 before the impressive Poole took a clearance kick on his 22 and counter-attacked superbly, catching his own chip before putting Riley away for another touchdown.

When outside-half Dan Griffiths’ long pass sent Poole away again and full back Paul Jones took his inside pass to score, it looked as though Newport might pull clear.

But just before the interval they twice lost the ball after winning a lineout on their own line, Wanderers prop Nathan Trevett pouncing for a sloppy try which Sneddon converted.

But it was all change in the second half as Newport kept the ball, maintained control and kept Wanderers down to just a few long-range breaks.

Griffiths landed two penalties, and ten minutes from time hooker Andrew Brown burrowed over for Griffiths to convert.

Newport had to defend strongly in the closing stages, particularly when Griffiths was yellow-carded minutes before Wanderers returned to 15 men following replacement flanker Ben Rose’s yellow.

But with outstanding flanker Richard Dale setting the example as he had throughout with his fierce defending, they held out to avenge last season’s cup defeat by the Cardiff side.

Glamorgan Wanderers: J Loxton, J Pocock (M Roper 21), R Lock, D Hewitt, J Jones, S Sneddon, G Holloway (L Evans 68), N Trevett (M Bolton 68), R Price (R Johnson 45), S Andrews (G Alexander 74), G Knight, T Evans (B Rose 57), J Groves, R Thomas (M Grimes 73), N Kelly.

Scorers: Try: Trevett; conversion: Sneddon; penalties: Sneddon (3).

Newport: P Jones (M Schropfer 68), M Pizey, T Riley, S Williams, M Poole (N Williams 80), D Griffiths, A Quick, D Pattison (I Evans 73), A Brown (M Leaman 73), G Robinson, M Workman (M Amos 62), A Jones, R Dale (D McShane 80), C Hill, A Coombs.

Scorers: Tries: Poole, Riley, Jones, Brown; conversion: Griffiths; penalties: Griffiths (2).