Brynley Toms and his Bedwas teammates and Newport served up an entertaining, fast paced nine Try thriller in a game full of spills and thrills with Newport emerging victors in the first Gwent pool match of the 2016-17 Fosters Challenge Cup.
Two early Matt O’Brien three pointers-a drop goal and a penalty got the scoreboard moving for Newport as Bedwas were starved of possession.
Both sides tried to run the ball when the opportunity arose but opportunities were lost as players lost control at the crucial time. Bedwas scored the first try of the evening after 16 minutes, Phillip Pariyo turning on the afterburners to leave the visiting defence floundering as he ran in from 70 meters out under the sticks. James Dixon added the simple conversion.
Their second try wasn’t long coming as hooker Nathan Huish crashed through a gap to score, again Dixon added the extras.
Newport responded with some flowing running rugby and two tries in two minutes from hooker Henry Palmer and lock forward Andrew Mann both converted by Matt O’Brien restored their sides’ lead.
Bedwas hit back as Josh Hayward ran through to notch a try, Dixon adding the extras. Bedwas lost Robson Blake with an ankle injury shortly afterwards before a sweeping Newport move ended with Matt O’Brien cruising through a hole in the Bedwas defensive line for a try; the same player adding the conversion.
After the whirlwind first half the second started more sedately but Newport drew first blood as left wing Llywarch ap Myrddin found space to cross, O’Brien kept up his 100% kick success by adding the conversion.
Bedwas responded two minutes later as full back Garyn Payne crossed out wide for an unconverted try.
Several substitutions by both sides disrupted the flow of the game but Newport had the last say as prop Tom Piper completed the scoring with four minutes remaining, O’Brien adding the conversion to end an entertaining game of rugby.
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