Starting the day at the bottom of the table, Bridgend knew a win was vital and they duly delivered in a thoroughly entertaining game. Both sides ran in six tries but it was Bridgend who held on as Newport’s failure to kick their goals came back to haunt them.
The visitors received a double carding after just five minutes. This hindered Newport and although they fought back, they gave themselves too much to do. And with Bridgend having the luxury of Osprey Matthew Morgan at fly-half, the Ravens held on.
With scrum-half Andrew Quick and lock Dafydd Rosser in the bin early on, Newport were always going to struggle and they soon found themselves 15-0 down. After being restored to a full complement of players, Newport recovered their composure but by that stage they were 29-3 down.
Bridgend were good value for their convincing half-time lead and Bridgend head coach Ben Rose could well have been forgiven for thinking the job was done. But to Newport’s immense credit, they came back and dominated the second half and were unlucky not to sneak the win that many thought they deserved.
After the early yellow cards, the first-half was just a question of how many points the home side could score. Hooker Ash James finished off a move on seven minutes and fullback Jamie Murphy raced in for a try after more good work from Morgan. The Osprey converted and also kicked a penalty for an early 15-0 lead.
Newport were now back up to 15 men but struggling to maintain any real shape. Scott Sneddon got the visitors on the board with a penalty but only before Murphy added a second try following a great run by another Ospreys player, Tom Grabham. Morgan converted for a score of 27-3 after just half an hour.
Newport were struggling in the set pieces but the excellent Adam Frampton broke from a lineout and made a determined run to the line. The conversion was missed and then Morgan added another penalty as the sides went in at half-time at 32-8.
It was a different game in the second half as the visitors dominated with Andrew Brown’s introduction for the injured Ryan Prosser allowing the visitors to dominate the set piece. Owen Williams was yellow carded and Frampton added his second try but again the conversion was missed.
A further yellow followed for Bridgend – this time for captain Jon Vaughan then saw Newport’s outstanding winger and league leading try scorer Elliot Frewen run in three superb tries inside 10 minutes.
Only the first was converted by Sneddon and in between Newport gave away soft tries to Chris Williams and former Newport hooker Arthur Ellis. Morgan missed both conversions but Newport weren’t finished and replacement hooker Andrew Brown got over late on for a try which.
Referee Neil Perkins blew up just seconds later and Newport were left to rue once more what might have been.
