Next up for Newport is a trip to The Park to face a Pontypool outfit having a very good season. Some people thought that they would struggle in the Premier Division but they have proved these people wrong and they are in fourth place and going well. When these teams met at Rodney Parade at the start of the season they played in front of a crowd of over 2,300 and proved that these are the games that rugby people want to see. A big crowd is expected in the return fixture.
Pontypool hasn’t played since they surprisingly lost at Bridgend, going down 27 – 23 on 25th November whereas Newport’s last game was also away to Bridgend with the Black & Ambers achieving a 27 – 57 win in a very entertaining game. I don’t think too much should be read into these results as form goes out of the window when these two teams meet.
With Pontypool not having played for nearly a month and Newport starting to get players returning from injury, both sides should be at full strength. It should be a cracker!
The Newport match-day squad will be selected after Thursday’s training session.
Newport: Thomas Davies, Henry Palmer, Nathan Evans, Josh Skinner, Rynard Landman, George Young, Kyle Tayler, Ben Roach Captain, Che Hope, Matt O’Brien, Elliot Frewen, Harri Ackerman, Jon Morris, Oli Andrew, Ioan Davies.
Replacements: Brodie Coughlin, Tom Workman, Dan Suter, Nick Thomas, Rhys Jenkins, Luke Crane, Carwyn Penny, Lloyd Lewis.
Referee: Simon Mills
AR1: Ben Connor
AR2: Gareth Jablonski
Kick-off: 2:30
- Pontypool has advised that a big crowd is expected for this game. Supporters should arrive early as queues are expected at the limited number of entrances to the ground.