Head coach Sven Cronk has stressed the importance of quality rather than quantity for Newport this pre-season.

The Black and Ambers had planned to fit a home friendly into their schedule before the Premiership kick-off against Llanelli at Rodney Parade on August 28. However, they were unable to find oppositition of suitable standard so opted to stick with what they have got rather than line up a game against a lower league outfit.

The Black and Ambers start their pre-season with the Men of Gwent Sevens on Saturday, August 7 before a pair of 15-man encounters.

They will travel to Worcester on Tuesday, August 17, a fixture that had originally been pencilled in as a Dragons friendly, before heading to take on Launceston the week before the season opener.

"We tried to get a couple of good English Championship side down to the Parade but they fell through," said Cronk. "But we already had taken up the Worcester fixture and that means that we have got a good pre-season. We didn’t want to just play a fixture against any opposition for the sake of it."

Newport will also play the Warriors at Sixways in the British and Irish Cup.

However, the West Midlanders are likely to treat that competition as a development one while they focus on getting back into the Aviva Premiership at the first attempt.