Adams eager to see Newport kick on this season
Director of rugby Bob Adams is kick to see Newport on as they embark on their second season at National League level.
Newport start the Two West campaign with a testing trip to Clifton on Saturday and Adams hopes they can build on what was an encouraging second half to the 2022-23 season.
Adams’ troops were sitting bottom of the table at Christmas, but turned their fortunes around as they climbed out of the drop zone to finally finish 15th.
The appointment of former professional Aly Muldowney as coach has helped bring an extra level of professionalism to the ranks and Adams is hoping that will be reflected on the field.
“The training sessions have gone very well. The sessions have been very well structured and there has been a real attention to detail,” said Adams.
“That is something Aly has brought to the group and the players are buying into it. There has been some real quality on show in training.
“We have advanced the systems we had in place and you can see the players’ confidence growing.
“I think the squad is stronger and we want to build on last year and want to be really competitive.
“We were bottom of the table at Christmas but we climbed five places to finish 15th and the way we performed after Christmas should give the players confidence.
“The goal is to be in and around mid-table, eighth place or around there. But there will be a lot of teams with the same goal.”
One area where Adams and Muldowney will be seeking a big improvement is the away form.
“We were really strong at home from the turn of the year and we have to maintain that,” added Adams.
“But what we also need to do is improve our away form. We only won once away from home.
“We found it hard to adjust for various reasons, three of the games were overnight stays which was new to us.”
Saturday’s opponents Clifton finished third last season, which included a league double over Newport, are expected to be among the title contenders.
“We start at Clifton and we couldn’t have a harder game,” said Adams.”They are one of the favourites for the promotion.
“It’s obviously a tough start but you have to play them at some time.”
