SEVENTH HEAVEN AS PALMER RUNS RIOT
HENRY Palmer’s hat-trick inspired Newport as they made it a magnificent seven straight bonus-point wins in the Indigo Premiership at a rain-lashed Merthyr.
The Black and Ambers hooker crashed over twice in the first half and then again just after the restart to set his side on their way to another impressive victory at a wet Wern.
Inside centre Chay Foster-Smith secured Newport a bonus point with try number four on the hour, with outside centre Jon Morris rounding off a five-star performance with another try in the closing stages.
Outside-half Matt O’Brien added the extras to three of the five tries.
The result continues Newport’s impressive unbeaten beaten run at Merthyr, stretching back to March 2018 in what could be their last trip to the Wern for some time.
It’s a league fixture they won’t have next season after the Ironmen opted out of applying for a licence to join the new 10-team Elite Domestic Competition.
Hooker Liam Wiggins and lock Callum Bradbury crashed over either side of the break for Merthyr. Outside-half Josh Lewis improved the latter’s try, having kicked a penalty in the first half.
Newport head coach Ty Morris was pleased to see his side continue their winning run.
He said: “We go into games obviously aiming to win; I think the way we play, we’re attack minded, we’re always going to try and score as many points as we can. But even in conditions like this, scoring three more tries – we’re showing teams that we can win in different ways I think.
“We’ve had that ever since I’ve been there; it’s in our DNA to play that brand of rugby. But even tonight there’s takeaways in this game; I probably thought we didn’t manage our middle third well enough and there were times where we probably had to kick a little earlier.
“But credit to the guys; Merthyr are renowned for their set piece and I thought we did a job today.”
Merthyr joint head coach Gareth Davies was disappointed afterwards.
He said: “We’re a team that pride ourselves on trying to stay in the fight as long as we can, there was one that got away at the end, we’re our own worst enemy at times with the discipline – so there’s one thing we need to look at when we’re reviewing now next week.
“Newport are up at the top of the league and if you give a team like them field position they will punish you, and that’s what we got stung on.”