Sat 25 Mar 2023, 15:00
Newport began this game knowing that victory would ensure they would be playing National League rugby again next season but whilst that wasn’t quite achieved in what turned out to be an enthralling match Barnstaple’s defeat by Redruth, coupled with the two bonus points they picked up, meant the objective was still achieved and with the cushion of three more games remaining.
It was a truly epic day at the club as a sold-out lunch were entertained by the legend that is Dean Richards, only to be followed by a wonderful game of exciting, combative rugby that had the large crowd drooling in admiration at the skills on show from both teams.
Chris Perry returned to the side at centre, whilst in the pack Oli Buckley resumed in the second row and Jack Wells started at hooker in place of the unavailable Perez Raqio. The visitors won the toss and for the second week running Newport were given the advantage of both wind and slope in the first half.
Clifton are not second in the table without good reason and they were quick out of the blocks, whilst Newport looked a bit off the pace early doors. It was only a couple of poorly executed line outs from the visitors that prevented them taking the lead but they managed to maintain field position and the home side were caught napping when Clifton burst through the middle of the ruck and with support either side Newport’s defence was unable to prevent Ric Cano crossing by the posts for Luke Cozens to convert and give them a 0 – 7 lead after eight minutes.
Newport then won a penalty following a Clifton offside which took them to within fifteen metres of the visitor’s line. Good, hard, straight drives from Nat Titchard-Jones, Josh Kent and Finn Barnes set up the position for the ball to be spun right from where Charlie Gamble finished with aplomb, George Castledine, who had a fine afternoon orchestrating the Newport attacks, converted to make it all square after sixteen minutes.
Cozens then made a great line break and looked certain to score before stumbling but Newport’s defence had been cracked and Zak Hamid crossed for the try wide out on the left to make it 7 – 12 with twenty-three minutes gone and they soon added another as their free-flowing play brought a score for hooker Albert Stretch, converted by Cozens that gave them a 7 - 19 advantage and a warning to all that they might be starting to run away with it.
Newport then stole a Clifton scrum and Leonard found just enough room to stretch over and score, Castledine converting to narrow the deficit to 14 -19 after thirty-two minutes. Clifton were soon back in the Newport red zone and Brad Talbot ploughed his way over from short range, Cozens conversion making it 14 - 26 but Newport hit back immediately. Wells, Matt Hubbart and Kaid O’Neill all made good ground before Leonard sliced through and fed Gamble for his second try of the day which saw both teams go in at the break with Clifton holding a 19 – 26 advantage, job well done they might have thought having played against the elements first up.
Connor Adams was another having a good day, having taken on the captaincy for the day and clearly relishing the responsibility. He will have been delighted by the way in which Newport started the second half when under threat of Clifton adding another score, Gamble intercepted on his own twenty-two before linking with both Chris Taylor and Castledine and although the ball went to ground Barnes was on hand to hack through and win the race to touchdown, albeit by a fingernail but more importantly it was the bonus point try in the bag. Castledine landed a crucial conversion to make it 24 – 26 and the confidence and belief now running through the Newport veins was there for all to see.
Clifton simply couldn’t get a foothold in the game. They were doing the sensible thing and kicking for territory but this merely played into the hands of Newport full back Ricky Bailey who gave a magnificent man-of-the-match performance throughout running the ball back countless times and putting Newport in the better field positions.
Clifton then enjoyed what appeared to be a stroke of good fortune when everyone other than the match officials thought that Blake Boyland had knocked on at the base of the scrum before scampering through to score by the posts but after some lengthy deliberations the try was awarded, Cozens converting to make it 24 – 33.
Newport continued to impress and looked the more likely to add to their score when a number of chances were just about thwarted by the visitor’s scrambling defence. Danny Brough was bundled into touch a couple of times just metres from the try line but on sixty-seven minutes Bailey launched yet another counter attack from deep before feeding Castledine who did extremely well to fight off three defenders and battle over. He couldn’t convert but the gap had now narrowed to 29 – 33.
The news came through that Barnstaple, who’s game had kicked off half an hour earlier, had lost to Redruth so Newport’s future was secure. Newport threw everything at it and with a bit of luck might have snatched it at the end but in the bigger picture it was a significant two points and a magnificent team performance that augurs well for the three remaining games and, indeed, into next season.
Congratulations to all concerned but the work is not yet done and Newport will, doubtless, want to finish the season with a flourish starting with the visit of Luctonians next Saturday. Anyone attending please note Kick-Off will revert to 2.15pm
Written by: Chris Wilde
Please enter your page detail here. This can be HTML or text. To edit click the first menu icon on the small HTML menu that appears when you click on this text. Please use the elements on the right if you wish to construct a richer page content with headers, images and layout grids.
.JPG?v=638050476508783149){kind=link}
.JPG?v=638050476516421137){kind=link}
.JPG?v=638050476527323943){kind=link}