Newport RFC v RGC 1404 by John Evans
Happy New Season! Super Rygbi Cymru season three is upon us, and the baked, yellow pitches of summer have already made way for greener, grassier playing surfaces. Autumn has arrived! The Black & Ambers were lucky enough to get a home draw to start their season, and RGC were our guests. The Gogs, as they term themselves, are usually a nuggety, difficult-to-beat unit, especially at their place, so a stern challenge lay ahead, and the first chance for a visiting team to claim the Challenge Shield from the club.
The weather was mild, sunny intervals breaking through heavy cloud, but a reasonably strong wind blew in its usual south-westerly direction, off the estuary. For their first game of the regular season, Newport would defend the Cricket Club end of the ground during the first half.
Will Ford kicked off for Newport, the young 10 making his debut after impressing during pre-season. Sam Williams, RGC’s number 8, spilled the ball backwards, but his team cleared the ball to touch inside their own 22. Newport were direct from the lineout, Wade Langley going well, but a spill gave the visitors possession. However, the Black & Amber scrum pressured the RGC front row to fold in, leaving the referee, Mr Lucas Yendle, little option but to award Newport a penalty. Carwyn Penny stepped forward and put the Black & Ambers 3-0 ahead on 2 minutes.
Josh Skinner, starting at 6 for the first time in ages, mopped up the restart allowing Newport to clear to touch. Sam Williams took the ball at the tail before prop Gareth Parry biffed his way forward, drawing a Black & Amber shirt over the ruck and coughing up a penalty. Billy McBryde, the veteran 10 for RGC, casually slotted the kick to equalise the scores at 3-3 with 5 minutes played.
Newport tried to break free of the RGC defending, but a lot of their passes were so flat as to be predictable, ultimately getting picked off before Billy McBryde pinned the hosts back into the corner.
Dafydd Thirsk, the visiting openside, cleaned up an RGC lineout, but Hunter Ward did very well to rip the ball from him and launch an attack. Dafydd Buckland kicked long and a sound follow-up tackle by debutant winger Sam Morgan kept RGC on the back foot.
Billy McBryde engineered a path back upfield for his team and, again, Newport were caught laying across a ruck. Instant penalty, McBryde making it Newport 3 RGC 6 on 16 minutes.
Newport responded to falling behind immediately. Chay Foster-Smith lay the groundwork, barging and bullying his way forward before Will Ford spotted the RGC defence lying flat. A neat chip saw Sam Morgan run onto it, reach up to collect the ball above his head, before loping into the corner to score. Carwyn Penny added the two-pointer to make it Newport 10 – RGC 6 on 17 minutes.
RGC edged back in front on 23 minutes with Sam Williams doing well to cross under great pressure. Following a penalty on the halfway line, a solid maul from the resulting lineout provided a good platform to launch an attack from. Newport conceded another penalty, allowing RGC to kick to the corner. Their set play from the line out went awry, but they quickly reorganised to launch at the Newport line in pairs. Wave upon wave of RGC thrusts launched forward, but with another penalty coming, Williams did extremely well to retain possession and twist out of the tackle and dot the ball down. Billy McBryde slotted the conversion to make it Newport 10 RGC 13. In the melee, Newport prop Ed Thompson was shown a yellow card.
Tom Workman replaced Josh Skinner on 32 minutes, for the purposes of filling-in for the otherwise engaged Thompson. He made his mark straight away, too, carrying hard alongside Luke Yendle (no relation to the referee, we understand), and Ethan Phillips as the Black & Ambers attacked. The ball spilled forward, RGC opting to play the advantage, but the suffocating defence from Newport meant that they simply shipped the ball across field until Chay Foster-Smith timed his run to perfection, picked off the pass and cantered in to score under the posts, unopposed. Carwyn Penny added the two to make it Newport 17 RGC 13 on 36 minutes.
Newport had a scrum on the RGC 22; Ben Roach picked up the ball in one hand and broke left, popping it on to Fin Baker. The big winger cut inside twice before finding Chay Foster-Smith, but Brogan Leary could only juggle the final pass and inevitably spill forward, unfortunately. Under pressure, RGC tried to run out of defence. Following a good tackle by Will Ford, the ball popped up, rather than be wrapped in for the ruck. Dafydd Buckland secured it before the Black & Ambers sniffed blood. With a penalty coming, Carwyn Penny eschewed the three points to go to the corner. A long throw to Callum Bradbury set up the maul and Ethan Phillips was rewarded with his first try for his new club. Carwyn Penny jogged back into the changing rooms for halftime having just put his side 24-13 ahead
Half Time: Newport RFC 24 RGC 13
Billy McBryde restarted the game, Sam Morgan taking the catch before popping the ball to the rampaging Josh Skinner, Rugby League-style. Chay Foster-Smith added to the chaos by bulldozing a path forward, but the game broke down with a brief fracas which ended with RGC centre Delwyn Jones being sent for a 10-minute cool off.
Newport produced probably the try of the game on 45 minutes as Will Ford executed an outstanding cross-field kick to Fin Baker, the winger climbing for the ball before finishing athletically in the corner. Unfortunately, the angle was too great and the conversion was missed. Newport 29 RGC 13. A super way to claim the try-scoring bonus point.
The game became very open around 49 minutes, Newport throwing the ball around with abandon. Fin Baker cleared 50-metres with ball in hand before finding support, but the resulting indecision was fatal to the move and RGC stopped it in its tracks. They then set off themselves, managing to create room for their own pacy wing, Jac Williams, to have a canter forward. Sam Morgan got himself in position to delay the play allowing back up to get in position and cover the RGC support runner, handily yielding a penalty himself for not releasing in the tackle.
Ty Morris made the first changes on 51 minutes, Callum Bradbury making way for Josh Reid, Wade Langley coming off for Henry Palmer, and Ollie Drake replacing Luke Yendle.
RGC were trying to open Newport apart, playing flat passes onto runners; they weren’t gaining much yardage but, equally, Newport were struggling to stop them doing it. They gained the try that their persistence deserved on 58 minutes as Billy McBryde scrambled across out wide. From a disrupted field, fullback Dion Jones almost broke clear, Sam Morgan dealing with him, but the outside half was on hand to finish the move off. McBryde’s own conversion bounced off the left hand upright making the score Newport 29 RGC 18.
Cerrig Smith came on for Josh Skinner, while Lucas Welch relieved Dafydd Buckland of duty and Tom Workman took over from Ed Thompson up front. Will Ford, his first shift over, made way for Matt O’Brien just moments later.
Billy McBryde shaped to kick clear, but Cerrig Smith read the situation and charged the ball down. Newport clicked into gear with Carwyn Penny looking for space. A tackle in the RGC 22 saw centre Delwyn Jones playing the ball on the ground from the Newport side; quite how that didn’t warrant a second yellow card is anybody’s guess. If he hadn’t seen one already, he’d have definitely seen one on this occasion. Anyway, Matt O’Brien put Newport in the corner, Cerrig Smith claimed the ball before a mighty heave, including Lucas Welch and Matt O’Brien adding their muscle, saw hooker Henry Palmer claim the try. The conversion was missed making the score Newport 34 RGC 18 on 68 minutes.
For the final replacement, Steff Davies replaced Brogan Leary.
Newport were attacking constructively, progressing well, until a pass went to ground and RGC seized upon it. They hacked ahead but, yet again, Sam Morgan was the last line of defence. However, it was illegally done this time, the youngster, having had a terrific debut, was about to spend the final few minutes in the sin bin. RGC went for the corner, but a terrific defensive effort shut the visitors down.
RGC were being forced to live off scraps, to a degree. Another kick ahead following a mistake by Newport was easily dealt with by Carwyn Penny. However, they did get the final score of the game through Sam Williams again. Persistent drives at the line, prop Pedr Jones doing a fair amount of damage, before Williams crossed by the narrowest of margins. Billy McBryde took the conversion hastily making the score Newport 34 RGC 25 on 78 minutes.
The Black & Ambers had a final burst, Hunter Ward claiming the restart, Carwyn Penny looked for attacking avenues before Henry Palmer and Ollie Drake had lunges at the line, but Mr Yendle judged that a knock-on had occurred, denying Newport the chance to bag the elusive 6th point for winning by a margin of 15 points or greater.
Full Time: Newport RFC 34 RGC 25
Next Saturday, the Black & Ambers make the journey up to mid-Wales to face Llandovery RFC, kick-off at Church Bank at 2.30pm. Always an entertaining game, it will be interesting to see how the Drovers deal with the loss of their talisman, Lee Rees. Following that, Newport RFC are at home on Friday 25th September, when the Wizards of Aberavon RFC come calling. Kick-off is at 7.15pm
Season Tickets for Newport RFC are on sale now! Please visit https://blackandambers.co.uk/2026-27-ticket-prices for more information.
There are also plenty of sponsorship opportunities available for the coming season. If you’d like to know more, please email Kevin Jarvis at commercial@newportrfc.co.uk.
Onwards and upwards Newport.
Your City. Your Colours. Your Club
#cotp
Final Score – Newport RFC 34 RGC 25