Finally 29th March brought around the long awaited re-match against Wolverhampton - the away fixture in October having been one-way traffic and Newport's worst performance of the season by a long way !!

 

 

 

Despite missing a few regulars Newport were keen to show their visitors that the last meeting was an aberration ! And so it turned out to be with a far more evenly balanced fixture as in previous seasons.

 

Newport showed their intentions from the kick off with Luke making a break down the right wing to be finally stopped by Wolverhampton's full back, making the first of a number of try saving tackles.

 

 

 

 

The Newport scrum, which had been a disaster area on the trip to Castlecroft, going backwards every time, reproduced the form they'd shown against Lichfield and Stafford, and held their own against a bigger pack. The rucking was much improved over the previous week with the ball delivered more quickly and cleanly.

 

The opening score came from a stolen lineout. Wolverhampton's full back again covered back excellently but had insufficient room to stop the ball being touched down.

 

 

 

The backs too showed a return to form and began spinning the ball wide quickly and, but for a handful of attempted intercpetions, could have scored more tries out wide.

 

However, this was by no means one way traffic - Wolverhampton's full back, outstanding in defence, showed his attacking abilities making a superb break down the wing. He showed great tactical awareness chipping ahead when closed down by the Newport full back but had no support and was outnumbered by the home defence.

 

 

The second half saw all the substitutes introduced for both sides and whilst this presented more space in which to play it was still a keenly contested affair. Both sides now found space in which to score - the highlights for Newport being some great attacks by the centres and a fine kick & chase by Stefan. However, in addition to the attacking exploits, we mustn't forget a superb chase back by Matt to save what looked to be a certain try.

 

So a good return to form for Newport and some great individual performances from the visitors - but they failed to show the team play we'd seen 5 months earlier.