Season’s best gives Newport some hope in survival fight

The Forton Road outfit fired out a warning to their relegation rivals by downing promotion hopefuls Dings Crusaders 32-26.

The win lifted Newport a couple of places in the table and they now have a weekend off to recharge before a crunch home clash with bottom-of-the-table Stourbridge the following Saturday.

“It was a good weekend and a very pleasing performance,” said director of rugby and head coach Bob Adams. “The performances have been getting better since Christmas and we seemed to be a lot more mature and we didn’t rush things on Saturday.

“We led 17-7 at half-time, but then they scored two quick converted tries at the start of the second half. But we didn’t panic, we had the slope with us and we got the message on to keep playing how we had been playing.”

Tries from Perez Raqio, Daniel Brough and Jacob Leonard, plus a conversion from Leonard gad put Newport in front at the break.

High-flying Dings responded early in the second half with 12 unanswered points nosing them in front.

But Newport didn’t panic and stuck to their gameplan.

Brough added his second try of the day followed by one from Charlie Gamble, which was converted by Leonard, who then added a penalty.

Dings responded with a converted try three minutes from time but Newport comfortably saw out the game.

“Our game management was very good,” added Adams. “We saw the game out at the end and it was one of those days were everything came together. I was at the ground when Dings arrived and they appeared to have an air of confidence about them and I just wondered if we could catch them off guard.

“And credit to the lads because it was by far our best performance of the season.

“The forwards and the backs gelled very well, we were in sync as a team. We were compact, the forwards were really physical and the backs were clinical. That win should give the players confidence.

“We now have a weekend off and we will make sure that we train and prepare properly for the Stourbridge game.”

Meanwhile, Bridgnorth are aiming to make home advantage count as the Regional One Midlands promotion race hots up.

The All Blacks’ push for glory suffered a setback last weekend when they were beaten 25-19 by second-placed Bromsgrove.

That defeat left Bridgnorth sitting fourth in the table, seven points behind the Worcestershire outfit, but with two games in hand.

Dudley Kingswinford are favourites to secure the title, but the second promotion spot is very much up for grabs with just 10 points separating Bromsgrove and seventh-placed Kenilworth.

And now Bridgnorth face a crucial run of three home games on the spin, starting with Nuneaton on Saturday.

“The boys are excited about getting back at home and hopefully having a good run,” said head coach Bryan Smallman, whose side are unbeaten on home soil this season.

“Form says that we play some of our best rugby at home.

“It’s still very tight at the top and a lot of the leading sides will be playing each other in the next few weeks. There are some interesting fixtures coming up. It’s going to be an exciting run in, but the best team will end up on top.”

Smallman’s selection hand will be boosted for Saturday’s clash after a number of players missed last weekend’s defeat.

“It was a rearranged game and both ourselves and Bromsgrove had a number of players missing,” added Smallman.

“We had seven players missing but you are going to get that at times.

“We will have a few people back for Saturday who were away last weekend.

“But it made for a pretty exciting game to be fair.

“We had a really good second half and had the opportunity to win the game but it wasn’t to be.”

Bridgnorth trailed 20-5 at half-time, Connor Nicholls touching down for the visitors.

An improved second-half display saw Oghenetejiri Ajuchi and George Newman score tries which were converted by Will Bishop.