Monday 19 October 2026 10:23
Goulson Leads Newport to Emphatic Victory
Newport were back in action at The Old Showground for the second of three consecutive home games and were keen to get back to winning ways after the defeat inflicted by Bromsgrove last weekend. Previously unbeaten Oak suffered a similar fate after being thumped at home by Burton so it was 2nd versus 5th in what was expected to be another tight game.
Jake Goulson, making his 250th appearance was given the honour of leading out the team on what was a great personal milestone for both him and the club. He didn’t disappoint either putting in a man of the match performance as he dominated the line-outs from start to finish, just as he has done for many a year.
Newport had a similar line up to last week other than Tom Clark returning at prop with Henry Lockington starting in the back row and Tom Clifford moving from No8 to openside flanker. There was also a welcome return to the fold for Jordan Grass who has been unable to feature for some time due to work and family commitments.
The wind, unusually, was blowing straight across the pitch and upon winning the toss Newport skipper George Boughey chose to play with the slope for the first half. Oak kicked off and when Newport failed to collect the visitors were able to exert some early pressure. Oak were energetic and lively throughout but never really looked to have the cutting edge to unlock a stubborn and robust home defence, Port able to soak up anything the visitors threw at them.
The home side suffered an early setback when Henry Williams was forced off with an ankle injury, Charlie Gamble coming on to the wing and the experienced Tim Waqadau moving to inside centre. Gamble soon made good ground after a fine break from Lockington but Oak were able to clear the danger after his chip and chase was collected by the cover defence
Lockington, Clifford and Waqadau were all prominent after Charlie Pugh had won a crucial turnover at the breakdown, Waqadau making the final break before producing a lovely inside ball to the supporting Billy Dinning who raced in under the posts, Elliot Dolphin converting and Newport led 7 – 0 after thirteen minutes.
The penalty count was mounting against the home side but despite several periods of field pressure the visitors just weren’t able to take advantage, a credit to Newport’s well organised and physical defence. With twenty-four minutes gone Goulson claimed the line out on half way and after several phases it was Cliffird who charged through to score, Dolphin adding the extras to extend Newport’s lead to 14 – 0. Newport always looked dangerous with ball in hand but will rue a number of missed chances due to poor execution and maybe a wrong choice or two.
There were good charges forward from Tom Furnival and Clifford before the latter was held just a metre from the line but was then penalised for rolling on after the tackle. Mose managed to clear but Dolphin then spotted space in behind to nail an excellent 50/22 from which Newport took a quick throw that caught the visitors napping, Pugh putting Gamble away to finish under the posts, Dolphin’s conversion bringing the half to a close at 21 – 0
A set of repeat penalties right from the off set up a Moseley line out in the danger zone and whilst Newport were able to hold the initial drive Sammy Erskine squeezed in at the corner for the visitors to make it 21 – 5, to give them a glimmer of hope maybe but Newport soon snuffed out any such worries when Dinning made a searing break into the opposition twenty-two and although brought down short, Newport re-cycled and Clark was driven over for the bonus point try and a score line of 26 – 5.
Grass, Luke Kendall, Fin Barnes and Charlie Saunders were all introduced and it was now really a question of how many more points could Newport add to their tally. There was a catch and drive try for Ollie Bird after Goulson had taken yet another line-out on fifty-four minutes to make it 31 – 5 and then following another great break from deep Dinning was able to feed Jake Reynolds from fifty out, the winger needing no second invitation to finish off the move under the posts, Dolphin converting to make it 38 – 5 with eighteen minutes remaining.
Newport didn’t manage to add to their score and when both Barnes and Bird were issued a yellow card in quick succession there was a certain inevitability that Mose would make it count, driving over from short range, Jaden Colvin’s conversion drawing matters to a close with a final score of 38 – 12 and another five points bagged to keep Newport in second spot behind unbeaten Stourbridge
Newport will be pleased to have got back on track after last week’s disappointing defeat but they face another challenge when they face Syston who despite being currently rooted to the bottom of the table were playing National League rugby last season and will be no mugs. Kick-Off is at 3pm.
