NEWPORT fought hard at Bargoed to claim all five points in a 33-23 win, but they may consider themselves fortunate after Bargoed’s Rhys Buckley was sent off in the second half when the scores were level, writes Ian Golden.

Newport’s discipline was letting them down in the early stages. They gave away three penalties in the first seven minutes, and Josh Prosser made them pay for the third, kicking directly between the sticks.

But the Black and Ambers attacked from kick-off and were rewarded with a try, Dai Richards successfully picking up a kick chase and diving over the line. Matt O’Brien converted.

Bargoed struck back through a second Prosser penalty, Newport following suit on 20 minutes through O’Brien.

The lead was extended to a converted try seven minutes later following a 40-metre O’Brien penalty, but Prosser’s next kick brought the score back to 13-9.

Newport had the chance for a try seconds before the break as they awarded two penalties fairly near to Bargoed’s line, but O’Brien chose to kick the second from directly in front of sticks to give his side a 16-9 lead at half-time.

Bargoed came out of the traps well at the start of the second period, and after winning a penalty midway into Newport’s half, they scored a well worked try. An excellent passing move was finished off by Jordan Purcell diving over in the corner with Prosser levelling the scores with his conversion.

With the match so delicately poised, it was going to take something special or extraordinary for someone to win the game. Thankfully for Newport that came on 57 minutes when Bargoed’s Rhys Buckley was sent off for backchat.

After that, there was no stopping the Black and Ambers. Andrew Mann scored in the corner with O’Brien converting to put Newport back in the lead.

Bargoed looked like they were going to strike back but Elliot Frewen intercepted and ran the length of the field to score. O’Brien missed the kick for the first time in this game.

Newport weren’t finished yet. The bonus point try came with six minutes to go as Frewen leapt on a loose ball to ground.

But it was Bargoed who had the final say. Purcell got his second try, diving under the sticks, with Prosser converting.

Bargoed: C Jones (J Howells 57); D Dyer, D Humphries, B Nightingale (W Langley 62), J Purcell; J Prosser, J Leadbetter (I Burgwin 67); R Morgan (J Lavender 49), R Buckley, A Gardner-Key (K Bale 40); L Blacker, B Morgan (A Gibson 63), B Fry (G Rogers 49), C Davies (G Edmunds 63), A Powell.

Scorers: Tries: J Purcell (2). Conversions: J Prosser (2). Penalties: J Prosser (3)

Newport: D Richards; H Lang, C Smith, G O’Driscoll, E Frewen; M O’Brien (H Simons 77), R James (T Lucas 68); D Preece (J Williams 62), H Palmer (W Evans 57), T Piper; A Mann, J Bartlett, J Skinner, K Tayler, R Jenkins (M Reed 57).

Scorers: Tries: D Richards, A Mann, E Frewen (2). Conversions: M O’Brien (2). Penalties: M O’Brien (3).

Newport Star Man: Matt O’Brien