Rugby: Newport 36 Manchester 9

Rob Clymer was the hat-trick hero as Newport recorded their first victory of the National League Three Midlands season.

The Forton Road men had gone down 7-5 at Hereford in their league opener a week earlier but this week got off the mark with a 36-9 success at home to Manchester.

Clymer, making the most of a return to his preferred position of outside centre, scored three tries to take the lion's share of the plaudits.Tom Westwood, on his home debut, added a fourth try to seal a precious bonus point, while Joe Doyle weighed in with a fifth.

Jamie Simpson kicked three conversions and one penalty before being replaced, allowing Aly Little to take over kicking duties and add one more conversion.

"Manchester are a young side and they like to throw it around a little bit but we didn't let them," said team manager Gareth Davies.

"They've been struggling for a few seasons and you could see why. They don't have a lot of experience but you can only play what is in front of you and we beat them quite comfortably.

"Other teams will probably score more points aga-inst them," added Davies. "But we wouldn't have got any more points if we'd scored 60 or 70."

Hereford suffered a crushing 71-0 defeat against impressive Rugby Lions at Webb Ellis Road.

The Wyesiders had no answer to the free flowing Lions who ran in 11 tries without reply.