Newport boss Adams hopes for another ‘Great Escape’

The Old Showground outfit return to action for the first time since December 16 knowing there is no margin for error in their bid to pull clear of safety.

Newport are bottom of the table, eight points adrift of their weekend opponents, who sit two places above them, with 12 games to go.

“We are going to need to win five or six of our remaining games to have a chance of playing at this level again next season,” said director of rugby Bob Adams. “Seven of those games are at home and we are hard to beat at home. But we are also going to need to pick up bonus points away from home and possibly the odd win as well to give ourselves a real chance.

“As well as Hornets, we face Bournville and Dudley Kingswinford, who are both around us, in quick succession in the next few weeks. January could be a pivotal month.”

Adams will be looking for a repeat of the form Newport showed in the second half of last season when they pulled clear of danger.

“It’s going to need a monumental effort but have started to score tries and we have to take encouragement from that,” he added. “We have to fix the individual errors.

“We finished the second half of last season well and that has to be the aim again. We brought some new faces in for this season and we also changed the structure, and we have found it difficult. But we have now gone back to what served us well in the past and I have seen some improvements.

“But we have to turn those improvements into points.

“We are still confident about what we can do.”

“It can be difficult to stay positive when you keep losing.

“As leader of the group you can find yourself in some dark places when you are not getting wins.

“But I have to lift the group and to be fair to the lads the spirit in the camp is good.

“They know what’s needed in the second half of the season and it’s up to them to produce.

“We got to 50 points last season and I would be delighted to get to 50 this season.”

n Newport’s second team continued their relentless charge toward Counties Two Midlands West (West) glory.

They kicked off 2024 in style by recording their 12th win in 13 league outings. Oswestry were the latest side to be swept aside as Newport powered their way to a 54-7 success.

The victory leaves Newport, who travel to Bridgnorth seconds on Saturday, 12 points clear of second-placed Willenhall in the standings. The hosts wasted little time getting the job done against Oswestry as they bagged 28 points in as many minutes.

Rob Taylor got the scoreboard ticking when he zigzagged his way across the line with Conor Barker adding the first of five successful first-half conversions.

Finley Barnes was the next Newport scorer, followed by Luke Kendall, Barnes again and William Galbraith.

After the break, two tries from Ross Hemming and one from Fergus Lamb, plus two more Barker conversions wrapped up the win. Oswestry managed a converted try in response.

Elsewhere in the division, third-placed Clee Hill kept up their pursuit of Newport II with a 61-7 win at Handsowrth thanks to four tries from Ben Thomas, two from Charles Evans and one each by Tim Breakwell, Hayden Edwards and Matthew Bowen.