Delight for Pascoe as Newport edge past Ponty

PONTYPRIDD ..................... 12 NEWPORT ........................... 17

TOM Pascoe couldn’t hide his delight after the former Pontypridd centre helped Newport storm Sardis Road for the first time in 13 seasons.

At his old stomping ground Pascoe was a key man alongside the excellent Andrew Mann as the Black and Ambers inflicted only a second home defeat of the campaign on the hosts.

Newport tries came from Matt Dwyer, Mann and replacement prop Garin Harris.

“It was a really good win. We knew what Pontypridd would bring. We beat them in pre-season, but before this game they had only lost once at home this season,” Pascoe said.

“It’s a big scalp for us to come here and win. We started the season pretty slowly, but we’ve pushed on from there and got a couple of wins on the bounce. Now we need to push on again to the end of the campaign.”

Diggy Bird kicked an early Pontypridd penalty, but Newport hit back when Dwyer was driven over.

Two more kicks from Bird put the hosts back in front before the outstanding Mann raced over following

Ben Jones’s failure to take a high ball. Matt O’Brien converted.

Pontypridd were poor and didn’t deserve to win as their only points of the second half came from a late Jones penalty.

Justin Burnell’s men hadn’t played for five weeks before this game and it showed as they were rusty throughout.

Newport saw wing Elliot Frewen receive two yellow cards. The first was for a high tackle soon after halftime and the second – for a deliberate knock-on – came with just seconds left.

But even that couldn’t stop them winning as Harris was driven over for the game’s crucial try late on following another impressive Newport rolling maul from a line-out.

“It was good for me to come back to Pontypridd. I loved my time playing here a couple of years ago and there is always a great crowd here. It’s a great place to come,” said Pascoe.

Pens: Diggy Bird

(3), Ben Jones.

Tries: Matt Dwyer, Andrew Mann, Garin Harris. Con: Matt O’Brien.