Sat 24 Sep 2022, 14:15
Five tries to two sounds fairly convincing but Newport’s failure to convert any of their kicks at goal throughout the afternoon meant the game remained tight throughout and could have gone either way with the hosts finally taking the spoils with two late scores.
Unavailability and injuries meant that Newport’s squad was stretched to the full as they were forced to ring the changes and with several regulars being forced to play out of position the side had something of a makeshift look to it. There was, however, at least the return of the mercurial Hendry Vaka and the ebullient Rhys Morgan to cheer up the locals.
The visitors won the toss and chose to go down the slope with Newport setting the game in motion. Barnstaple conceded the first penalty of the day and Jake Leonard nudged the kick to within 5 metres, whereupon they executed a perfect catch and drive for open side flanker Keifer Laxton to register his first try for the club and an early 5 – 0 lead within just two minutes.
Barnstaple were looking the livelier outfit and certainly well-drilled up front where they were already causing Newport problems in the scrum and particularly dangerous from close range so it was imperative that the hosts kept them out of the red zone, something they managed to do up until the seventeenth minute when Newport were penalised at the scrum but with advantage being played the visitors swung it out wide to cross only to have the ball knocked from their grasp in the act of scoring. Nothing lost though, play brought back under the Newport posts and Barnstaple opted for the scrum, soon shunting the home pack backwards resulting in the awarding of a penalty try that edged them into the lead 5 – 7.
A couple of repeat penalties then took Newport into the Barnstaple twenty-two and from the resultant line out Connor Adams combined with Vaka in what was clearly a well-practiced move straight off the training ground for the Fijian to ghost through as only he does, extending his tally as Newport’s all-time leading try scorer to a truly remarkable 132, and in so doing restore their lead at 10 – 7.
Barnstaple hit back almost immediately with a catch and drive try of their own, scored by Ryan Smale, again showing how dangerous they could be with not far to go. The conversion was missed after which Newport failed to take advantage of a rather “flukey” 50/22 from Vaka which saw them turn over possession whilst in a dangerous position so it was all to play for as the half ended 10 – 12.
The second period didn’t start well for Newport as they were penalised for “crossing” after collecting the restart and Jake Murphy was able to knock over a straightforward kick to increase the visitor’s lead to 10 – 15 after forty-one minutes.
Newport made several mistakes, particularly from a spate of aimless kicking which simply put them back under pressure in their own half but then they sparked into life and a sweeping move down the right involving Charlie Gamble and George Castledine drew in the visiting defence and sensing there was space out to the left the ball was quickly transferred out wide for Kieran Forbes to crown another impressive performance with a try in the corner that brought the scores level at 15 – 15 with twenty-six minutes to play and the game still on a knife-edge.
Sam Brown was then yellow-carded on sixty-two minutes for a deliberate knock-on that thwarted a dangerous Barnstaple attack illegally and Murphy was on target once more to put the visitors back in front 15 – 18.
Morgan’s twenty-two stone was introduced from the bench which certainly had the effect of shoring up Newport’s creaking scrum and at last a concerted period of front foot ball. A word also here for George Boughey who put in a tremendous shift in the unfamiliar role of second row.
Despite being a man down it was Newport who were looking the more likely but could they find the decisive score? Castledine made a great break down the left that caused enough panic in the Barnstaple defence for them to infringe and go down to fourteen giving Newport a crucial advantage. Leonard put the resultant penalty into the corner followed by some patient phases before Adams spotted Gamble in space on the wing and threw a long cut-out pass to put him in at the corner and in so doing secure the bonus point, but not necessarily the win at this stage, as six minutes still remained.
Barnstaple were unable to threaten again and when they messed up their own line out seven metres from their own line Morgan was able to hoover up the spilled ball. Nobody stops Morgan from that distance and he duly obliged by barrelling over to the biggest cheer of the day. Still not done and dusted as the margin was only seven and time for the restart but Newport were able to claim the ball, run down the clock and complete a very important victory, Barnstaple going home with a solitary losing bonus point which was probably no less than they deserved.
Enjoyable but tense probably sums up the mood and attentions now turn to Newport’s longest trip of the season down to Redruth where many of their supporters have already planned an extended stay in Cornwall. Both teams currently Won 2, Lost 2 so it should be a good contest.
Written by: Chris Wilde
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