After two pre-season wins of two, Newport’s next assignment was a trip up the A470 to face an interesting Brecon outfit. Dale McIntosh’ side had recently gained promotion to the newly-formed Championship West and had added some valuable Premiership experience to their squad over the summer.
The Black & Ambers were also full of confidence having won their first two pre-season encounters, with a 59-point win at Bedwas and a closely-fought battle in Bristol against Dings Crusaders.
With old and new faces in the team eyeing up a place in our much-anticipated curtain-raiser against Pontypool in two weeks’ time, this was a good opportunity for many to make their mark. The first half an hour though belonged to Brecon. After their Dion McIntosh, son of Dale, opened the scoring from a penalty kick, a driving maul which started 15 metres or so from the endzone got the better of the powerless visitors and, together with McIntosh’s boot, the hosts had leaped to a double-figured lead.
The B&As were not without their chances however; the dangerous Carwyn Penny broke the defensive line before an eventual loose pass and knock-on forced a turnover, before a ball out wide to Lloyd Lewis whose grubber kick on the right wing earned some valuable territory, but nothing more. Soon after that, Newport’s efforts did prevail. A line-out in Brecon’s twenty-two saw the ball fed to Penny who had little more to do than to stroll through and over under the sticks.
Just before the half-time whistle, the visitors took advantage of a Brecon sin-binning for a high tackle on number 8, Louis Pullen, when Jon Morris danced through the defence to score his team’s second try. Penny’s two conversions meant Newport went into the break four points ahead.
HANNER AMSER: Brecon 10-14 B&As
Straight from the restart, Brecon were immediately put under pressure in their own twenty-two and could do nothing more than concede a line-out in that area which led to devastating consequences. Newport patiently ran through the phases after a lineout before passing the ball out wide to Elliot Frewen, playing in his twelfth season for the Black & Ambers, who scored his first of the afternoon. Minutes later, he doubled his tally when Penny was gifted the freedom of Parc de Pugh, making a good 40 metres of territory, before finding Frewen, via Luke Crane, to touch down in the corner.
Newport had turned it up a notch and the hosts had become helpless. It was soon to be a fifth for the Premiership side when another lineout on their opposition twenty-two-metre line saw club captain, Ben Roach, catch and feed the ball to Dafydd Buckland who made it all the way to the try line with no serious defensive challenge. Jacob Lloyd got his side’s only second-half conversion with the Mid Wales wind having significantly picked up during the afternoon.
Subsequent tries then came for Lloyd Lewis who finished off a wonderful backline phase ignited by Jordan Howells and substitute Lewis Bates, before hooker Aneurin Jenkins earned himself an early 19th birthday present after capping off a simple catch-and-drive move to end the day’s scoring.
SGÔR TERFYNOL: Brecon 10-41 B&As
Newport aim to make it a clean sweep of wins this pre-season when they take on their final warm-up opponents, Esher, on the outskirts of Greater London (Friday, 7pm).
Then it’s the big one, the Black & Ambers’ Premiership opener against fierce rivals, Pontypool.
Get your tickets now for what will certainly be an enthralling encounter before a bumper crowd at Rodney Parade. Ticketing information is found here on the website in the news section.
There has never been a bigger time to get behind…
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Your COLOURS,
Your CLUB.
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