Newport 32pts v Hereford 14pts

Nerves were jangling on and off the pitch as a bumper crowd gathered at Forton Road for this final league encounter against Hereford. Newport entered the match as one of four teams that could be forced into the final relegation spot and as the “Statos” discussed all the possible permutations Newport set about the task of trying to achieve a bonus point win that would provide the best possible chance of surviving the drop.

An early setback was the late withdrawal due to injury of influential prop Morgan Sikanen forcing Sam Lewis to fill the gap, a role that he excelled in after a few early difficulties in the set piece. The game started at a lively pace with both teams keen to play an open running game and it was Hereford who drew first blood when Loughman converted a penalty after Newport had strayed offside. Newport hit back almost immediately when after a number of phases the home side generated enough space to allow Andy Whieldon to sprint over in the corner for a 5 – 3 lead.

Midway through the half Newport went over the top of the ruck and a quickly taken tap caught the hosts napping and Phillips crossed for an unconverted try wide out to restore Hereford’s lead. Again Newport’s response was almost immediate as they fought their way up field and James Curgenven slotted over a penalty to bring the scores level at 8 – 8. Tim Hockin found himself in the sin-bin soon after and a further penalty from Loughman took the visitors ahead once more.

Again the response was instant as Curgenven made a searing break and put the supporting Toby Mann over between the posts for an easy Curgenven conversion and back in front at 15 – 11. The move was almost repeated minutes later when Sam Egerton this time broke the defensive line and fed Curgenven whose return pass to Egerton just failed to go to hand.

The early exchanges in the second half were extremely even as Hereford made a determined effort to take charge but when Hereford tried to run from their own 22 Toby Mann intercepted and was able to put Curgenven in under the posts and after converting his own try Newport had some daylight at 22 – 11 and now needed only 1 more try to secure the crucial bonus point. It came with 20 minutes remaining but only after Loughman had added another penalty for the visitors, Toby Mann adding his second try of the day and Curgenven adding the conversion to give Newport a seemingly unassailable lead at 29 – 14 but then Rob Clymer was sent to the sin-bin and Hereford had a try disallowed but as Newport ran down the clock they were awarded another penalty which Curgenven duly converted to give them a victory by 32 points to 14.

As news came through that Malvern, Kenilworth and South Leicester had all lost the celebrations truly began as Newport moved up to a comfortable 9th in the League.

Most of the players will now be featuring for North Midlands or Shropshire before coming together again to contest the Shropshire Cup towards the end of April and early May.

Charity Cycle

Kevin Burke and two others will be cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats this September, to raise money for the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease (NACC). To help support their efforts please visit justgiving.com/lejogdavetimkev