Nothing about Newport?

[html junkie]

Great win at Newport, buttock-clenchingly exciting! Well done players and coaches with a special mention for Rhys at 10, turning 1 point to 4 with a stunning DG.
I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned anything yet, though.

[jadegoodiesfridge]

Yep ! Certainly gone quiet since we lost to Drovers (saw THEM on tv last night,they slaughtered Ponty,we did well to get a bonus point on reflection).Anyway ,back to Newport.What a game !!To be fair ,I thought we played well throughout,even when we were two scores down.Couldn't understand why the officials were the only ones who didn't pick up on Newport's " tactic ' of deliberately wheeling the scrum to gain a penalty.They must have gained at least six penalties out of that,three of which O'Brien kicked.Frustrating as hell.Their second try was a total gift,nobody went for the high ball only to see it bounce all the way to our try line,and an easy seven pointer.But that was the negatives.The boys turned up the heat after that and Newport were clinically demolished,we stopped using the high ball,got the backs running ( Dai and Dom really were very good)and Newport were chasing shadows.Huge shift from the pack,reshuffling the front row when we did was a stroke of genius from Greg and the boys ,totally turned the tide in Ebbw's favour.A special mention to Paul King.His size always worries me,up against those big lads of premiership rugby.But what Paul lacks in stature he makes up for in pure guts and determination.It was obvious from the start that he was in some discomfort.His opposite number made him look silly in the early stages,then he comes up with a cracker of a try late in the first,and then left the Newport defence flat footed straight after their second try putting us back in the game.And he nearly got a third !!! And then came the drop goal.Why on earth Newport opted for a long throw at a final play line out stunned everybody,the last person they wanted to pick the loose ball up was Joe Franchi,who naturally got us to the try line.We were all baying for a penalty,until somehow or another Rhys found himself standing on the 22 screaming for Sam to give him the ball.Great pass from Sam and BANG ! Over she goes !! Boom!!! Ebbw Vale !!!! Great stuff.

[Stevey]

I agree about the scrums, their loosehead and flanker were stepping out and the one time they didn't we had a good nudge on. Also their 10 milked a ever so slightly late tackle for all it was worth........worthy of Italian soccer I think. Our boys showed a lot of character to come back from two scores down and I know we just nicked it at the end but I think we deserved the win as well.