INDIGO PREMIERSHIP

LEADERS Newport had to dig deep to hang onto their unbeaten record at St Helen’s with a 24-17 win.

Swansea put them under so much pressure that it took two tries in injury time to earn them an eighth straight win. The late tries from Ioan Davies and skipper Matt O’Brien were enough to cut a five-point deficit into a winning margin and push the Black & Ambers 12 points clear at the top.

A superb lineout steal by Lennon Greggains gave Newport the platform from which to launch their first try-scoring move. O’Brien split the home defence and his pass to Davies yielded the first score to the wing.

It fell to outside half James

Davies to get the home side on the scoreboard with a penalty and he then converted a 60-metre solo try from Josh Carrington try give the Whites a 10-5 interval advantage

Newport drew first blood once again in the second half when Greggains was on hand to complete a thrust from centre Jon Morris. Reed added the extras.

Davies and Connor Tantum combined superbly to almost earn Swansea try, but the only reward they got was seeing the Black & Ambers then lost George Young to the sin-bin for killing the ball at the breakdown. Morris soon followed him to the side for a dangerous tackle.

Liam Seaward’s try, and Liam Popham conversion, then made it 17-12 to the home side with less than five minutes to play, but there was still a ting in the tail of a highly competitive game.

Newport caught a break at the re-start when Hanno Dirksen made a mistake. Moments later O’Brien crossed for a try which he also converted to regain the lead. Then Davies bagged his second try to secure an unlikely bonus-point.

Elsewhere in the league, Aberavon secured a 31- point home win against Llanelli, 45-14. Home side front rower Ieuan Davies got on the scoresheet with two tries for the afternoon.

Llanelli put up a fight with a lightning run from winger Amir JiwaWaji which saw him get over the line. However, the home side were too strong and secured a comfortable win.

Ebbw Vale carried on their winning streak after securing a 12- point win at home to Llandovery. Ebbw finished the heavy work in the first half and went in 17-0 at the break with tries from Matthew Flanagan and Joe Westwood. The visitors looked to fight back in the second half but it was too little, too late.