By Zippy
April 13 2006

Review of the action in the Welsh Premiership on Tuesday. Pontypridd suffered a loss at Rodney Parade against Newport, for details read on.

Newport 21 Pontypridd 17

The Western Mail

FLY-HALF Daniel Griffiths contributed all 21 points as Newport last night got back on track in gaining a sixth successive victory over Pontypridd at Rodney Parade, writes Tony Poole.

Having bowed out of the cup at Maesteg the week before and lost at Bedwas last Saturday, the Black and Ambers turned it round by overturning a 39-26 defeat at Sardis Road in back October.

Ponty last won at Rodney Parade back in September 1999 when former Wales fly-half Lee Jarvis contributed 28 points in a 33-28 success.

But they only threatened to bring the losing streak to an end midway through the half when centre Matthew Nuthall got the game's only try.

Newport dominated the opening half, but try-scoring opportunities were few and they relied on the boot of fly-half Griffiths, who landed four out of six penalty attempts before the interval.

The lone Ponty visit to the home 22 yielded a seventh-minute penalty from full-back Jason Pocock, making it 12-3 at the interval.

However, they upped the ante on the resumption and, after full-back Pocock placed a second penalty, replacement wing Chris Clayton had a try ruled out for a forward pass.

A third Pocock penalty narrowed the gap to 12-9, but in the 50th minute the visitors had No 8 Nathan Strong yellow-carded.

While still down to 14 men, Ponty went ahead when Newport replacement full-back Will Kershaw-Naylor had a kick charged down by centre Matthew Nuthall, resulting in him claiming a ninth league try of the season.

During the final quarter, two penalties from fly-half Griffiths took Newport back in front, but another Pocock penalty reduced the deficit to 18-17.

However, the Black and Ambers rounded things off during injury-time when fGriffiths slotted over a 40-metre drop-goal to seal the victory.

Newport	21 - 17	Pontypridd
		Tries: M Nuthall
Pens: D Griffiths 6		Pens: J Pocock 3
Drops: D Griffiths

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	PTS
1	Neath	24	23	0	1	803	321	69
2	Bridgend	27	22	0	5	629	476	66
3	Aberavon	26	18	0	8	681	483	54
4	Pontypridd	25	17	0	8	658	458	51
5	Llanelli	25	15	0	10	474	495	45
6	Newport	24	14	0	10	486	479	42
7	Swansea	24	12	0	12	612	564	36
8	Cross Keys	26	12	0	14	460	501	36
9	Bedwas	24	11	2	11	431	449	35
10	Glamorgan Wanderers	26	9	2	15	514	609	29
11	Carmarthen	25	8	1	16	446	654	25
12	Cardiff	26	8	0	18	510	658	24
13	Maesteg	24	7	1	16	420	601	22
14	Llandovery	25	7	0	18	478	571	21
15	Pontypool	25	6	3	16	367	483	21
16	Ebbw Vale	24	6	1	17	402	569	19