Black & Ambers Prove too Strong

By Paul
January 2 2003

Cardiff paid the price for sending an inexperienced side to Rodney Parade last night, but although they lost the match by a comfortable margin the Blue & Blacks side containing no less than eleven players under the age of 23 were far from disgraced.

The Black & Ambers fielded a full strength side, with only captain Simon Raiwalui, Shane Howarth, Rod Snow and Andy Powell dropping to the bench.

With their Celtic League semi-final only three day's away Dai Young took the risk of naming a side with the likes of under 21's such as debutants full back Leon Andrews and inside centre Richard Jones.

The difference in experience between the sides was very much evident in the first half, open side flanker Jason Forster got the scoring underway, driving over from short range. The try coming after a sustained period of pressure by the Cardiff line.

A Nicky Robinson penalty was quickly cancelled out by Mike Voyle, the lock who spent much of his time as a Cardiff player on the bench, powered his way over the line leaving defenders trailing. Strange converted. Strange also kicked a penalty to make it 17-3.

The midfield combination of Marinos and Pritchard was cutting the visitors defence to pieces. Pritchard himself got the score that killed the match off as a contest realistically.

The expected repeat of the first half slaughtering failed to materialise, as Cardiff began to get back in the game. So much so that open side flanker Robin Sowden-Taylor almost burrowed over from short range, only to knock on over the line. Sowden-Taylor a regular with the sevens squad, toured with Wales to Japan two seasons ago, but missed most of last season and the beginning of this one.

Newport full back Percy Montgomery produce a piece of magic, from his own 22 the former Springbok danced his way round several Cardiff players before chipping the ball down field, with the line in his grasp all he had to do was to gather the ball a touch down. But in a moment of madness South African born Wales under 21 wing Hal Luscombe got in his way, and the ball cannoned of his shins and Cardiff touched the ball down for a 22 drop out.

For all their effort an endeavour the Cardiff youngsters never had the killer instinct to score, but it must have been heart breaking to see Port's Kiwi scrum half Ofisar Tonu'u dart over from short range.

The score in truth flattered the home side. Whether the Black & Ambers could have beaten a full side from their city slicker rivals is unlikely, they still have a lot of work to do. But a win is a win and they could only beat what was in front of them.

It was a shame that this match had to be played when it was.

Entertainment value: 5/10

Considering the weather conditions the pitch was in a good state. There were some enjoyable aspects of the game such as Nicky Robinson & Percy Montgomery's breaks. However both sides were far to negative, which meant ball in play in time was less than half the match.

Man of the Match: Adrian Garvey

The Zimbabwe born, South African prop had a great game in the loose often finding himself in space. His scrummaging tore the Cardiff front row apart.

Newport: P Montgomery (S Howarth, 74); H Luscombe, J Pritchard, A Marinos (L Nabaro, ht), A Cadwallader; J Strange, O Tonu'u (capt) (D Burn, 74); C Jones, (D Pattison, 69) J Richards (P Young, 55), A Garvey, I Gough (S Raiwalui, 44-45), M Voyle (Raiwalui, 55), G Gravell, S Ojomoh, J Forster (A Powell, ht).

Scorers: Tries - Forster, Voyle, Pritchard, Tonu'u; cons - Strange (4); pen - Strange.

Cardiff: L Andrews; A Sullivan, D van Vuuren, R Jones, D Dewdney; N Robinson, R Powell; J Yapp (A Jones, 76), G Woods (L Collins, 76), D Young (capt) (T Payne, 66), A Jones, L Tait, C Stamatakis (N Hampson, 66), D McShane, R Sowden-Taylor.

Scorers: Pen - Robinson Referee: Nigel Williams .

Attendance: 7,503.