16 Sep 2023
RGC 25 Newport 41
Saturday 16th September
The visitors were more lively at the opening of the game, and they took an early lead with a Che Hope try.
RGC didn’t have much but defended well under some Newport pressure.
Penalties-wise, they were giving away a couple and the visitors pinned the Gogs back with kicks to touch.
Newport hitting some good running lines, and punching some holes in the Gogs defence but RGC keeping them out. Dan Owen and Ilan Evans both making some important tackles.
20 minutes in and RGC sparked into action when Newport went for a quick lineout but a chase and turnover led to a Gogs attack and Sam Stoddard touched down in the corner.
Moment shifted and RGC and the crowd were lifted and the Gogs seemed to find another gear of pace.
That seemed to cause Newport a few problems and the error count began to increase from the visitors.
Newport caused panic in the Gogs defence when Westwood broke down the field and the ball was kicked to the line but Matt Buchanan collected the ball superbly and was strong enough to hold before the ball was cleared.
Quick tap penalty and Ollie Wynn was gone before he was tackled at full sprint, but again the scrum half showed how dangerous he can be with ball in hand.
RGC took the lead with a Sam Earl-Jones penalty but a minute later the visitors crossed the whitewash for another try before O’Brien hit the extras just before half time.
The 2nd half couldn’t have started better for the Gogs with Sam Stoddard grabbing his and his sided 2nd try with Earl-Jones converting.
The lead was extended when Earl-Jones hit a penalty from distance that cleared the posts.
Newport then broke down the field and a bounce of the ball caused some mayhem and the visitors got to the line. Pressure told before Ilan Evans was yellow carded for RGC. Minutes later Garin Harris crashed over the line and O’Brien converted.
The scoreboard was in overdrive as RGC answered back with a Huw Taylor try and Earl-Jones conversion extended the lead by 6 points with a man down.
Both sides were searching for some composure as the game was pretty frantic, with breaks tackles and a few errors adding to the story.
Newport grabbed the ball and territory and Harris again went over from close range with the O’Brien conversion making it 25-26.
Sam Earl-Jones and Sam Stoddard combined to carve up Newport out RGC were again on the wrong side of the referees whistle at the breakdown.
Minutes later RGC did win a kickable penalty after some great work at the breakdown but it was reversed when the referee signalled from backchat from the homeside. Newport were again able to clear the ball.
The Black and Ambers worked the ball from left to right and opened up the defence which enabled Jacob Lloyd to dive over for the try.
On the 78th minute a Matt O’Brien dropkick edged Newport to a 9 point lead.
RGC then broke down the field and a Harri Ford pass found Newport hands, and 3 passed later they were over with a try from Oliver Andrews and again O’Brien was on target with the conversion.
Head Coach Ceri Jones spoke about the improvements in the side, even in the defeat to Newport
“First off it was a good performance, and you can see the improvement on last week.
Again it was four 18-year-olds in the squad, with Harri Ford and Jack Davies making their debuts.
Tal and Celt didn’t look out of place and Sam Stoddard looked settled at this level.
Our next learning has to be composure and knowing when and where to play the ball. We got into the lead and just overplayed at times.
When you look at the game a few things turned the game, that penalty which was reversed., the yellow card.
But when you look at the improvement from last week to this week, and if we make the same improvements next week then we will be in a good place.
We saw the improvement in our defensive shape, our attack was sharper and even though it was a defeat today I am as happy as I can be in the performance.”
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