Newport offer rivals cash incentive to switch

The Forton Road club, who won the cup in 2011 and were finalists a year later, offered their opponents £500 to switch venues so the match can be played to ease Hereford's growing fixture congestion caused by the floods.

But Hereford, who are third in Midlands One (West) – a division below Newport – have so far refused the offer and the game looks like being postponed.

Newport's director of rugby Chris Wilde confirmed: "We have offered Hereford £500 to come and play the game at Newport but they have declined.

"It was a cheeky suggestion but a genuine one because their last two games have been postponed due to flooding and they will have a backlog.

"No one wants to give up home advantage, so I can understand them saying no, but it was a genuine attempt to help them out of a fixture pile-up."

Wilde said Newport won't be increasing their incentive however, adding: "If they wake up tomorrow morning and look at their ground and want to play here them fine, but we won't be increasing our offer."

That leaves the game, which will produce winners to play either Malvern or Worcester Wanderers in the final, in serious danger of being called off.

Wilde admits Newport would have preferred to have been in league action after stopping the rot with their best performance of the season which earned them a 20-17 win over promotion-chasing Sutton Coldfield last week – only their second victory in eight.

"We're facing a cup game just when we've got things sorted out in the league," he said.

"We'd have preferred the league programme to continue because we feel we have confidence, belief and momentum."

On reflection, Wilde believes Sutton weren't expecting such a tough encounter after Newport raced into a 20-0 interval lead despite five changes against a team who had lost only one in 11.

"They fancy promotion and they probably thought they were in for an easy afternoon and took us lightly," he said.

Wilde however is cautious as to whether they have turned the corner.

"I'd like to think so but we've been consistently inconsistent," he admitted.

"The signs are there but we've tinkered with the side and it's not been clicking but maybe we've found the right combinations."

Should the game go ahead, Newport welcome back Aaron Doignie to replace Phil Rogers at prop after he had to work last week.