Mistakes continue to sting Newport in National League

Exeter were a well drilled side who executed with precision and at speed, inevitably the product of many hours on the training paddock. With a pool of over four hundred potential players they were never going to be short of talent and so it proved. It was not all one way traffic however with Newport having a number of visits to the Exeter twenty-two that unfortunately went unrewarded. The penalty count was certainly against Port at both ends of the field which will surely be an area that the team will likely be looking at over the coming week.

Exeter opened the scoring in the sixth minute when they set up a driving maul within Newport’s twenty-two following a kick to the corner from a Newport penalty. The maul was pushed over for the try by Thomas. The pattern was repeated in the eighteenth minute when the excellent number eight Ben Grubb went over following a driving maul, again from a kick to the corner following a penalty. Port answered in the twenty third minute when George Castledine put an exquisite kick behind the Exeter defence which was picked up by the speedy Tristan De Jager for the score. Exeter answered almost immediately when Grubb made a great line break up the middle of the park into the Port twenty-two. It was then simply a numbers game through the hands for Bralsford to go in in the corner. The ability of Exeter to break the Port line up the middle was a feature of the game all afternoon and was testament to their ability to move defenders around. Port’s Ricky Bailey answered on 33 minutes with a break of his own to feed De Jager who got to within five metres of the Exeter line. Patient play was then rewarded with Bailey crossing for the try. Exeter were right back however with some excellent handling and powerful runs up the middle seeing Murray in at the corner on thirty six minutes and Rolls on the stroke of half time. Half time score Newport 10 Exeter Students 27.

Exeter continued their pattern of play in the second half seeing Bailey cross on fifty seven minutes, Thorne on seventy minutes and again on seventy seven minutes. Port then rallied superbly when they stopped Exeter in their own twenty-two which served as the springboard for a foray downfield with De Jager again crossing on the seventy eighth minute. Port kept up the momentum from the restart with Kent crossing on the eightieth minute to secure the try-scoring bonus point at the death. A review of the table demonstrates how important bonus points are in this league so credit to Port for battling to the end.

The next game at the Old Showground will be on November 12th when Newport host Hinckley.