Newport strengthen their pack as RAF forward flies into Shropshire

Director of rugby Bob Adams has added front row forward Kev Raqio to his ranks.

Raqio has joined from Old Albanian RFC and follows his brother Josh, who made the switch from Hinckley a couple of weeks ago, into Forton Road.

Adams has been keen to add some ball-carrying power to his side and hooker Raqio fits the bill.

“Raqio plays for the RAF and is an established combined services player,” said Adams. “We have lost a few players to injuries and were keen to add some more ball carrying power in certain areas.

“Hendy Vaka is missing through work commitments and Kieran Forbes is out injured so we are also missing ball carriers in the centre and at number eight and that is something we are trying to address.” Adams will be hoping new-boy Raqio makes an impact on Saturday against a Bournville side sitting 13th in National League Two West, one place and three points behind Newport.

“It’s a very big game for us on Saturday,” said Adams. “With our game called off last weekend, a couple of sides leapfrogged us.

“Bromsgrove are just below us in the table but we beat them earlier in the season and hopefully we can go there and put in a good performance and come out on the right side of the scoreboard.

“There were some good points to take from our last game against Luctonians and we want to build on those.”

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Bridgnorth will be keen to sample more home comforts when they bring 2022 to an end on Saturday.

The fourth-placed All Blacks host a Burton side sitting one place below them in Regional One Midlands.

Bridgnorth edged a tight game 18-12 away to this weekend’s opponents earlier in the season and head coach Bryan Smallman is expecting another tough afternoon.

“I have said before there are no bad sides in this division and for me Burton are one of the best,” said Smallman. “They will come with a lot of armoury and they are a well-coached side.

“We managed to grind our way into the game at their place. We denied them ball and managed to control the game. It will be very difficult to replicate that but that’s what we need to do.”

Smallman’s men will go into the clash having won all their home games this term and he is keen to see them maintain that form.

“The players highlighted our home form before the season started and said that we must make it a difficult place for sides to come,” added Smallman. “And so far we have managed to do that and our home form will be a key factor, especially as have more homes than away games after Christmas.

“Hopefully we can continue in that vein.

“After having last weekend’s game called off it would be nice if we could get some rugby in before the break.”

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Ludlow head coach Mikey Jones is looking for his side to get back to winning ways and end 2022 on a high.

Jones’s side head to Regional Two West Midlands rugby rivals Wolverhampton on Saturday for their final game of the year having suffered a recent dip in form.

After kicking off the season with seven straight wins, four defeats in their last five outings have seen Ludlow slip to fourth in the table.

Injuries and availability issues haven’t helped and Jones is set to be without six players on Saturday due to a skiing trip.

“Wolverhampton is a hard place to go and get a result but it would be nice to end the year with a victory,” said Jones. “The boys have trained well are looking forward to it and are keen for some action after last week’s game was called off.

“We set ourselves high standards and we have to respond to this recent run.

“I genuinely don’t think the sides we have lost to are better than us. They just were on that particular day.

“We have got a good group of lads here and there is no reason why we can’t turn this around and get back up there at the top challenging.

“The top five or six is going to be very close all season.”