Monday 2 December 2024 10:17
Away to Stoke 30th November 2024
Stoke 22-47 Newport
Two early counter-attacking tries put Newport first XV firmly in control of this fixture and once ahead never looked in danger of loosening their hold. Stoke’s travails found reward when they managed to exploit Newport’s significantly reduced errors and provided Newport with courageous opposition, but Newport here deserved their handsome victory.
The first opportunity to score though fell to Stoke when their flanker’s successful feign and sixty-yard romp was foiled with a knock-on. Newport’s escape from deep in their left-hand corner was engineered by Ricky Bailey and Tim Waqadau, who released the flying Reece Beddows to a full-pitch-length try.
Stoke again pressured Newport into falling deep. A James Tideswell turnover and shortly after, Chris Taylor’s nous gave Fin Barnes the chance to blast forward, this time a half-pitch foray terminating in a camera-dive finish.
Stoke persisted, determined to utilise their continued territorial advantage, creating themselves the opportunity to maul menacingly toward Newport’s tryline. After sucking-in Newport’s defence, Stoke broke free on their blindside with a 2v1, to halve the deficit. Having conceded, Newport upped their tempo and pounced on Stoke’s lineout overthrow; moments later, the weaving Waqadau restored Newport’s fourteen-point cushion.
Stoke kicked a further three points from a short penalty but their attacking threat was handled comfortably by Newport. Jack Ingram collecting Stoke’s cheeky chip and slipping under another challenge to gain twenty yards, Waqadau’s block and Gamble characteristically, after recovering a Newport’s mishandle, added further Newport ground to see out the half.
Newport’s full-throttle restart put the game out of reach for Stoke. Rob Taylor collecting Stoke’s attacking chip, instigated Newport’s warp-factor attack. Finding Bailey and then onto Beddows’, whose blistering pace earned Newport their bonus point. Benny Elliot, eager to show his own turn of pace, gathered his own chip-and run, accelerated toward Stoke’s tryline; his stop-start dismantled Stoke’s full-back, allowing Elliot to finish in the corner.
Under advantage from Newport’s knock-on, Stoke ruthlessly worked their sudden turnover, finding Newport out of shape, and their way to Newport’s tryline. Stoke, buoyed by their fortune underwent revival, keeping prolonged possession and forcing Newport to tackle relentlessly. Newport’s resistance however, held out till Chris Taylor’s tackle and Ingram’s jackal won back possession. Ingram then carried a quick penalty under protection of ten yards, cleared Stoke’s pack till free to skedaddle to their tryline.
Although the result was undoubtedly in Newport’s favour, they still contrived to give Stoke opportunities with a series of mishandles. Kade O’ Neil’s lineout steal and Elliot’s interception twice preventing a dangerous Stoke from gaining a foothold back into the game. It was however Newport who struck next. Electing to scrummage from their left-wing, ten-yard penalty, Newport swiftly moved the ball out right, through Rob Taylor and Beddows to find Gamble who stretched over the line on his fiftieth senior appearance, to put Newport just shy of their half-century score.
Newport endured a final six minutes of constant Stoke pressure and inevitably Stoke were rewarded at the final action to secure a merited consolation try for their undying efforts.
A distinguished victory for Newport from, at times, a consummate performance. Despite being less frequent, there remains some areas requiring development to achieve consistency throughout, but many aspects of Newport’s play was top-drawer. Their scrum was dominant, their defensive tackling robust and attacking flair breathtaking. A joy to watch.
| First half | Second Half |
| TriesReece BeddowsFin BarnesTim Waqadau | TriesReece BeddowsBenny ElliotJack IngramCharlie Gamble |
| Conversions Elliot 3/3 | Conversions Elliot 3/4 |
