Suter injury spoils a fine show by in-form Newport
NEWPORT beat Aberavon 27-10 to make it four consecutive bonuspoint wins in the Indigo Premiership.
But this latest win was marred by a serious Achilles injury sustained by Black and Ambers prop Dan Suter.
Three of Newport’s four tries were scored in the first half courtesy of lock Josh Skinner, scrumhalf Che Hope and wing Elliot Frewen.
Centre Jon Morris secured maximum points after the restart with Jac Lloyd adding a penalty in added time to round off the win.
Carwyn Penny converted the Hope and Morris tries.
Aberavon captain Joe Gage’s seventh-minute try, along with Aled Thomas’ conversion and subsequent penalty, had earlier given the Wizards 10-0 lead.
This was Newport’s first home match since November 18, but was the first of three consecutive matches at Newport Stadium with Carmarthen Quins and then RGC to come next.
With Ebbw losing narrowly at Llandovery, this win moves Ty Morris’ men, who lie third, to within five points of the Steelmen with three games in hand.
It also sees Newport gain a point on Llandovery and they are now 10 points behind the champions with a game in hand.
However, the joy of victory was tempered somewhat after the injury sustained by former Wales U20, Ospreys and Dragons prop Suter in the closing stages. It came after he had come on as a replacement in the second half against Aberavon, a club he has also represented in the past.
“Unfortunately he’s snapped his Achilles in the scrum,” said Newport head coach Morris. “The players knew instantly it was a bad one.
“Marc Breeze (Aberavon forwards coach) lives near Dan and offered to drive his car home while Dan went to hospital with the paramedics which was a great help.
“They were fabulous, Aberavon, it was a top-class gesture.”
On the win, Morris added: “I felt it was potentially a little bit scrappy and, having looked back over the game, there are definitely areas of our performance that need improvement.
“But we set up to get five points, so really pleased in terms of the result.
“It’s not often three home games on the bounce come around so we’ll try to take advantage of that, make Spytty a bit of a fortress and hopefully get some points.”
Cardiff won 35-17 against Neath at The Gnoll to make it six wins from their last seven league matches.
Wing Joe Goodchild gave Cardiff a fifth-minute lead when he received full-back Jacob Lloyd’s pass to touch down. Arwel Robson converted.
That was the way it stayed until Kristian Jones kicked a penalty for Neath just after half-time.
On 53 minutes Cardiff scored their second try through loosehead prop Cam Tyler-Grocott, who was making his first start. It was again converted by Robson.
Neath hit back just before the hour through Sion Crocker, who scored after a powerful driving maul, with Jones converting.
The visitors were soon over again when Tom Habberfield spotted a gap and crossed for their third try, with Robson again taking care of the extras.
Neath, buoyed by recent wins over Aberavon and Merthyr, refused to lie down. They were back to within four points after being awarded a penalty try on 72 minutes, with the visitors penalised for bringing down a driving maul, with Craig Hudd yellowcarded.
But hopes of another memorable win for Neath were dashed on 77 minutes as it was Cardiff’s turn to be awarded a penalty try, with Neath’s Lewis Evans yellow-carded for deliberately knocking-on, stretching the lead to 28-17.
Robson put the seal on victory for Cardiff two minutes later and he converted.
It was an emotionally charged afternoon at the Brewery Field, where Bridgend recorded a 15-13 victory over Pontypridd.
There were tributes aplenty as Bridgend remembered the great JPR Williams, who no doubt would have been looking down with a smile as the club he represented with such distinction halted a slide of six consecutive defeats in all competitions.
Jamin Hodgkins was handed his first start at fly-half and he repaid the faith with four crucial penalties, three in the first half and one in the second. Replacement Paul Short also sent over a penalty to secure a memorable win.
There was also a standing ovation for Ravens’ inside centre Rhys Williams when he came off after 65 minutes in what was his final match before heading into retirement.
Josh Phillips kicked two first-half penalties for Pontypridd while Kyan Lewis scored a late try, converted by Joseph Scrivens, but it couldn’t prevent another narrow loss.
The matches between Pontypool and Merthyr at Pontypool Park and Swansea’s clash with RGC at St Helen’s were postponed because of frozen pitches.