Carmarthen Quins could not have picked a more daunting task for their re-introduction to the Premiership than an away fixture at Rodney parade. The experienced Newport side, backed by their ever faithful and vocal fans, proved too strong for their opponents who were also suffering from injuries in some key positions.
The game could not have started more badly for the Quins, knocking on the kick off and then only handling the ball at the restarts for the next 10 minutes. In that time the home side powered over for two forward tries, the first from Alex Jones and then the second from Dai Patterson. Daniel Griffiths converted the second try with a rebound off the posts and the nervous Carmarthen side really had their backs against the wall being 12 points down without really starting.
For the rest of the first quarter the visitors gradually settled into the game. Their tackling became more effective and they started to show some attacking flair of their own. Only final ball errors prevented them from narrowing the margin.
The rest of the half was a much more even affair. The Carmarthen pack were more than holding their own with some fine work particularly from the two old war horses Paul Arnold and Andrew Thomas. Sililo Martens and John Leyshon made a couple of nice breaks only for an unforced error to break down the move they started and Gareth Cull made a couple of tactical kicks over and towards the try line only to be unlucky with the bounce.
During this period before half time the only scores came from the boots of Daniel Griffiths, who slotted three penalties, and Gareth Cull, who converted a penalty in reply and so the half time score was 21-3 to the Black and Ambers.
The Quins reduced the deficit from the restart, when Cull converted the penalty they were awarded and continued to attack brightly, refusing to kill the game despite still being well behind. At the same time Newport also continued to spread the ball at pace, always looking dangerous, producing an entertaining rugby match on this first day of the season.
After 10 minutes of the second half Griffiths added another penalty and then some minutes later Adam Hughes gained the third try of the match. With only forwards in front of him on the wing, Hughes kicked the ball through and was easily the fastest to the touchdown. Griffiths added the points.
A period of scrappy play now ensued. Open field kicking became ragged and free kicks were becoming abundant at the scrums for each side as the referee seemed uncertain of who was at fault. Arnold, however was continuing to do well in the line outs and back row forwards, Andrew Thomas and Ioan Cunningham, were everywhere in loose play.
It was the sharper Newport backs, however, who got the final score with probably the try of the match. From the breakdown quick ball allowed them to spin the ball along the line before finding Gareth Wyatt free to run over in the corner for an unconverted try.
With only ten minutes to go and the game lost Carmarthen Quins would still not lie down. Alex Pickersgill kicked through only for the ball to go dead before he could get there and substitute Ricky Richards took a couple of quick penalties to push his team closer to the try line before Newport got the ball away. Substitute fly half, James Garland, then initiated a couple of enterprising loop moves with his centres around the opposition 22 only for another knock on to spoil the play. Then with the final whistle imminent, Cunningham broke through and laid off a pass, basketball style, but with the line clear the pass was not accepted and the home side were able to clear and take the game 36 points to 6.
It was a hard first day for Carmarthen Quins especially after a disastrous start to the game but they will learn from this experience. They have got talent but will need to convert more of their chances which will be less frequent at this higher level.
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