Newport Claim Win

RGC defeated at home

RGC 8 Newport 15

Saturday 13th October

Stadiwm Zip World

Head Coach Mark Jones gave an honest appraisal in his sides defeat to Newport “We showed a lack of quality the line-out, with poor decision making at half back.  They on the other hand knew when to input pace and kick at the right times."

"We turned over the ball to easily, and we couldn’t have made many phases in their 22. I haven’t looked at the exact stats, but turnovers were through the roof.   The players were caught out today, they didn’t prepare and it cost us.  It could be similar conditions against Carmarthen next week and they will compete at the set piece.  Our scrum is about the only thing I can say worked today.  We were low on energy, we didn't inject speed, so have a week to learn some lessons and learn them quickly.”

In a game played in difficult conditions, monsoon like at times handling and accuracy were always going to be important.

The home side picked up the early try with winger Sam Jones getting on the end of a pass to dive over.

It was a good spell for RGC with Tim Grey offering some good attacking carries, and it was the opportunity for RGC to push on but Newport struck back with a penalty try. Not only did they have the lead, but they had the man advantage when Robin Williams was given a yellow card.

The game stuttered with penalties and knock ons though RGC had an opportunity to take the lead but Billy McBryde missed a penalty.

Like much of the game when RGC worked into an attacking position they gave the ball away, and any pressure on Newport eased.  This would have given the visitors confidence, as the more the game went on the more they grew and built some good phases.

Newport were making sure they recycled the ball well, giving scrum half Tom Lucas a platform to build.

Matt O’Brien extended the Newport lead with a successful penalty to make it a 10-5 lead at the break. The fly-half was making a difference with the boot, not only from a points possession but also making sure the ball was being played in the RGC half.

The visitors picked up another penalty after the break, but the game took a predictable form for RGC.  At times they looked to force the pass when they should have kept possession and from an attacking position ended up back in their own half. Giving away the ball cheaply has been one of RGC's downfalls in recent games and that trait continued as the match went on.

McBryde struck a penalty to get them back in the game, but Newport crossed the line for a try for the final score of the day. Winger Morris was the one to claim it after some good work from the backline.

RGC’s scrum was about the only positive and it did cause damage as the game went on, but Gogs never looked like breaking through Newport’s line.   A big problem was that when RGC claimed field position and ball with the line-out, it misfired and were gifted possession.

As the final whistle went, once again more questions have been raised from the performance, and like in the past few weeks the challenge for the players is to answer them at Carmarthen next Saturday.