NOT since Gary Teichmann lifted the trophy 17 years ago have Newport gone all the way in Welsh club rugby’s premier knockout competition.

Current Black and Ambers head coach Craig Warlow was working as a television studio pundit the day the Rodney Parade side beat Neath 13-8 to win the Principality Cup.

Tomorrow sees Warlow and his troops head to Aberavon’s Talbot Athletic Ground (kick-off 2.30pm) just 80 minutes away from reaching the final of what is now known simply as the National Cup.

With two defeats in their last nine – one of those was against semi-final opponents Llandovery – there is hope among the Newport faithful that their team could match what the class of 2001 did.

Swansea, Aberavon and Bedwas have all been swept aside en route to the last four and a meeting with the 2007 and 2016 winners.

“It’s difficult to say what kind of game it’s going to be after our encounter with them a week ago,” said Warlow.

“I said before that game that if we had won (Newport lost 24-19) it would have been pretty much irrelevant going into this one.

“The way the game ended down there and the perceived injustice (Llandovery were awarded a controversial late try) certainly sharpens the mind for this weekend.

“And with it being a semi-final there is no doubt that we’ll be fully focused on getting the job done.

“We’ve got a pretty clear picture of what we want to happen and how we go about trying to achieve that.”

He continued: “It’s not a situation we’ve been in many times before.

“We’ve got quite an experienced group of players who have been together for a couple of years.

“We’ve found in years gone by that when we are in a situation where we need to perform under pressure the result has gone against us.

“But we’ve got an experienced spine to the team and that’s very important.

“Losing to Bridgend (on March 16) was the best thing that could have happened to us.

“We were particularly poor in that game and maybe put too much emphasis on playing a certain way which didn’t work for us.

“We didn’t really have a training session for the game after that but we got our mindset right.

“We did what we’re good at and that’s keeping the tempo high and moving on to the ball at pace.”

Warlow reached the semis when coaching at Aberavon but the Wizards came out second best to Neath on that occasion.

“Semi-finals are great occasions if you win them, but if you lose you put it to the back of your mind and forget about it,” he explained.

“We had a little taste of playing for a trophy last year when we won the tier two final.

“With a talented bunch of players it would be good for them to win something tangible this season.

“I’ve got an honest group of guys and a lot of the post-match stuff we do comes from them.

“They know what didn’t go well and what they need to do to get better.”

Prop Garin Harris is ruled out of the encounter through injury and may potentially miss the rest of the season.

But Warlow is hoping back-rowers Kyle Tayler and Alex Everett will be fit to take their places in the matchday squad.

Llandovery, who sit two places and five points behind Newport in the Principality Premiership in seventh, have accounted for Llanelli and Cross Keys in the cup this season.