Newport Rugby Club have a chance to claw their way towards safety - or slip further into trouble - tomorrow at the league’s bottom club Bedford Athletic.
Newport have now won two games on the spin for only the second time this season following a 26-0 Shropshire Cup victory at Shrewsbury last weekend.
But Newport’s management team know that those glimpses of light will count for nothing unless they pick up maximum points against a lacklustre Bedford outfit.
Athletic are rock bottom of National Division Three Midlands having lost all 11 of their opening league fixtures, conceding a league’s worst 499 points in the process.
Newport director of rugby Ray Price is not underestimating the importance of the match.
He said: “A win would give us some breathing space - lose and we’re in trouble.
“They are bottom of the pile and having a torrid time, so we really should get something from it.
“We’re expecting a real battle but we’ll just prepare in our usual way and be ready for it.
“We’re starting to play some neat rugby and the lads are really battling hard to lift us out of trouble.”
Two teams are expected to be relegated from rugby’s fifth tier this season, but that could rise to three.
Newport are the league’s second-lowest scorers after fellow under-achievers Kettering.
But howling winds and driving rain could not stop them from racking up 26 first half points against Midlands Two West (North) side Shrewsbury last weekend.
Touch down
Back rowers Tomasi Tanumi, Neil Weston, Matt Curgenven and Dan Duggan were all able to touch down with the elements in their favour during the first 40 minutes.
Curgenven kicked three out of the four coversions.
Local rivalry threatened to turn sour in the second half with two players from each side, Sam Lewis and Adam Greaves from Newport, yellow carded over the course of the afternoon. But, despite being pinned back for long periods, Newport kept a morale-boosting cleansheet, their first of the campaign, to seal progression.
They will now face a young and spirited Bridgnorth side in the last four of the competition at Forton Road, probably towards the end of the season.
Price added: “It wasn’t really a dirty game and I would say that the referee over-reacted a but, but it was a messy encounter and these things happen.
“It was a workmanlike performance. We expected Shrewsbury to battle hard and they did give us a tough game.”
