Newport Let 16 Point Lead Slip In Second Half

NEWPORT 25, GLASGOW 31
In his programme notes, Newport’s head coach Leigh Jones said that people in Wales are good at “turning a drama into a crisis overnight – or even in an afternoon” and that there was no panic yet at Rodney Parade.
But if his side suffer any more defeats like this then someone will have to find a panic button to press.
Quite how Simon Raiwalui’s side contrived to lose a game that was in the palm of their hands will haunt players and coaches alike until they can rediscover the winning formula. Having notched their thrid try a minute after the restart, and marched into a 16 point lead at 25-9, it looked like there could only be one winner.
How wrong everyone was to write off Glasgow before the game was over. If defeat shocked Newport, and once again revealed how low they are on confidence, it also spoke volumes for the new spirit and determination in the ranks of the unbeaten Scottish side.
“We have got a few broken hearts to mend afte rthat defeat – starting with mine,” admitted a shellshocked Jones.
“Everyone knows it was a game we could and should have won. One more score and I think Glasgow would have fallen apart, but we didn’t get it.
“We lost our shape a little and we fell into their trap when, after playing 60 minutes of controlled rugby, we began to play party stuff. For 60 minutes we were by far the better side, but we just couldn’t finish them off.
“We are creating more and more chances in every game, but we have got to learn how to turn our pressure into points.”
With three tries on the board – first half efforts from Andrew Powell and Jason Forster followed by a Rod Snow special at the start of the second half – everyone was expecting the losing run to come to an end and a fourth try to bring a bonus point.
Instead, Tommy Hayes sparked an amazing fightback that saw Glasgow score 22 points in 12 minutes to maintain their unbeaten run. His fourth penalty was followed by quickfire tries from himself, Stuart Moffatt and finally Gordon Simpson.
Glasgow ended on a high, Newport were out for the count. Now they have to pick themselves up to travel to face unbeaten Connacht in Galway on Friday night.
Scorers: Newport: Tries: A Powell, J Forster, R Snow; Cons: J Strange 2; Pens: J Strange 2. Glasgow: Tries: T Hayes, S Moffatt, G Simpson; Cons: T Hayes 2; Pens: T Hayes 4.