Jason Strange Gets Nod To Face Old Boys At Stradey Park

Wales A stand-off Jason Strange will return to the No 10 jersey for Newport
when they travel to Llanelli on Boxing Day to face the Scarlets at Stradey Park in the Welsh Premiership (kick-off 3.15 pm).
Having lost the vote to play against Bridgend last Friday, Strange finds
himself reinstated ahead of Shane Howarth for the Christmas holiday clash.
Strange replaced Howarth in the 13-12 home defeat against Bridgend after
Howarth missed with three kicks at goal.
Alex Cadwallader takes over from Hal Luscombe on the left win in the only other change to the back division, while there could be changes to the back two rows of the scrum.
With skipper Simon Raiwalui and fellow international lock Ian Gough both
carrying injury niggles, a final decision on who packs down in the second row
will be left until the last minute. Former Stradey favourite Mike Voyle is
ready to take over. In the back row, Andy Powell is bracketed with the three starting players against Bridgend, Gareth Gravell, Jason Forster and Steve Ojomoh. A decision on who will start from those four players will be made on the day of the game.
“It was difficult to pick the players up after the defeat against Bridgend.
They did everything except score tries in another game we dominated in terms of
possession and territory,” said the Newport coach Leigh Jones.
“Sometimes it is hard to put your finger on the reason why a team can’t score
tries. All the vital ingredients are there in our team, although I still think
we are lacking a bit in confidence.
“Going to Llanelli at any time in the season is a tough assignment and I don’t think Ebbw Vale did us any favours by shaking them up last weekend. It is going to be a really hard game for us.
“We’ve made the change at outside half because of Jason’s higher success rate as a goalkicker. He also knows Stradey Park pretty well having played for the Scarlets.”