Match Report – Newport 38pts v Manchester 7pts

Saturday 8 February 2025 02:15

North West 1

Newport 38pts v Manchester 7pts

Manchester arrived at the Old Showground brimming with confidence on the back of a six-match winning run that had taken them up to second place in the league and with a genuine chance of promotion going into the business end of the season.

Sadly, for them they came up against a Newport side who produced what was probably their best performance to date.

Whilst it is often the glory boys in the back division that take the plaudits this was a victory set up by an outstanding afternoon from the home pack who, to a man, dominated their opponents throughout. The front row of James Tideswell, youngster Oli Bird and Nat Titchard-Jones were well on top at scrum time and there is now real “beef” behind them in the shape of Jake Goulson, Matt Hubbart, George Perkins, Will Galbraith and fresh from his heroics last week the effervescent Chris Taylor.

Switching Uluaki Kale to centre has also proved to be a masterstroke and given the team much more punch and directness from twelve. Rugby can be a remarkably simple game when the set piece goes to plan, setting the tone for the whole team to play off the front foot.

Newport went up the slope first half and after a fairly uneventful first few minutes they began to take control of the game. Benny Elliot put a penalty to within fifteen metres and when Goulson, back to his imperious best at the line out, took the throw cleanly, the pack drove to within a metre of the Manchester line before Kale wriggled out of several tackles to work his way over for the first score after ten minutes, Elliot converting for a 7 – 0 lead and valuable points going against the elements.

The visitors levelled things up when Newport were penalised at the scrum and a quick tap from Josh Jones saw him beat a retreating defence and put Charlie Greene in for the simplest of tries, Joe Davidson adding the extras after nineteen minutes.

It was still the home team enjoying the bulk of possession and territory and when they were awarded a penalty thirty metres out Elliot converted a regulation kick to re-establish the lead 10 – 7 with twenty-five minutes on the clock.

Manchester hit back almost immediately when Charlie Gamble, scrambling back to field a chip through was forced back over his own line giving the visitors a scrum five out but with their front row continuing to struggle they conceded the penalty and

Newport cleared the danger. Port were happy trying to run from their own twenty-two such was the quality of their ball retention on this chilly afternoon and Manchester simply couldn’t get their hands on the ball. Lewis Swann, at prop, was struggling to deal with the technical excellence and experience of Tideswell and another infringement at the scrum saw him despatched to the bin. Elliot then put the penalty to within ten and the pack drove Perkins over for their second try, Elliot again converting right on half time so Newport led 17 – 7 at the break.

Shortly after the re-start Tideswell found himself in the bin to even up the numbers and when his ten minutes were up Jordan Grass entered the fray and Newport’s scrum continued to have the upper hand. Titchard-Jones even found space to make a weaving twenty metre run followed by another shortly afterwards, fair to say he looked truly startled to find himself with such running opportunities.

Tim Waqadau produced an important turnover on half way with Elliot despatching the penalty to within ten whereupon another well-executed line out drill saw Bird driven over for his first try in senior colours, a memorable moment for him. Conversion good again and Newport’s lead extended to 24 – 7 with half an hour still to play.

Newport’s fourth and bonus point try was probably the most pleasing on the eye when Elliot Dolphin hit a great line to take him into space following a Newport scrum on half-way. The young fly-half stayed calm and drew the last defender before releasing Gamble to scamper in down the right and in under the posts, easy conversion and Newport were now moving out of sight at 31 – 7.

Although Manchester tried valiantly to get back into the game they came up against a Newport side whose defence was equally as impressive as their attack and any chances they had were extinguished without the visitors getting too close to the home line.

Still time for another one. Elliot’s penalty to five out set up the position and Newport clearly scored from the resultant pushover but with the referee unsighted couldn’t be awarded. Fear not! Another five-metre scrum saw the Newport pack get the shove on and there was a deserved try for Taylor, Elliot again converting to make it 38 – 7.

Manchester continued to toil but to no avail and with the game well and truly won it was a tribute to Newport that they didn’t give some easy points away at the end. Well done to the Coaching team and the whole squad who performed admirably throughout and have now set standards that need to be repeated over the remainder of the season. Skipper Ricky Bailey was clearly delighted with the way his troops had performed and he will no doubt be insisting on same again please next week.

Newport have now moved into the top half of the table and have an excellent chance to consolidate that position when Blackburn are the visitors for the very first time this coming Saturday. Kick-Off is at 2.15pm

Written by: Chris Wilde