Garin Harris led out the Newport side as he celebrated his 100th game for the Black & Ambers and had something to celebrate within two minutes of the kick-off as Will Griffiths went over for the game’s first try.
Dragons wing Ewan Rosser replied for the Steelmen and Evan Lloyd’s conversion briefly gave them the lead. After that, though, it was pretty much one-way traffic.
A penalty try for pulling down a diving maul sent Newport back in front and cost the visitors their prop Dave Whiting for 10 minutes. Smelling blood, the table-toppers made the most of their advantage as prop Lewis Smout went over from close range for a try that Will Reed converted.
Lloyd cut the deficit to seven points just before the break, but flanker Josh Reid brought up the bonus-point 10 minutes into the second half for Newport and Reed added the conversion and a penalty to stretch the lead to 17 points.
Kyle Taylor, skipper Matt O’Brien and Ben Roach rounded things off with three more home tries. O’Brien also added a conversion as he took his points tally for the club to 925, the fifth highest in history.
Storm Arwen blew this vital RGC v Pontypridd WRU Premiership East Cup game off course and then a Twitter row blew up over the reasons why the game was cancelled.
A statement from the home club said: “We had hoped to play the game behind closed doors, with a 3.30pm kick-off, but Pontypridd were unable to agree on the later kick-off time due to player commitments in the evening.”
Meanwhile, there was an angry response from Pontypridd, who had travelled to north Wales for the final fixture in the pool stages, when they read the comments on the official RGC Twitter account.
“Despite rumours circulating, Pontypridd RFC did NOT call this afternoon’s match off. The host club could NOT guarantee the safety of the players in the ground and therefore the arena was deemed unsafe,” claimed Ponty.
“RGC could not fulfil the fixture at 2.30pm because of health and safety concerns. A massive thank you to all of our supporters that have made the trip, we are equally as disappointed as you all are that the match hasn’t gone ahead.”
There were 74 points and 12 tries at the Arms Park as Merthyr completed the double over Cardiff with a 45-29 triumph. Ben Jones got the game off to a breakneck start as he kicked and regathered in his own half and sped clear for a try that Cardiff old boy Gareth Thompson converted.
Thompson would go on to convert four more tries for the Ironmen as he guided his team to a stunning victory and into the cup quarter-finals. Paddy McBride, Aaron Pinches and Justin Jones ensured there was a bonus-point before the break as the visitors went into the interval 26-17 ahead.
Cardiff clawed the gap back to two points at one stage, but further Merthyr tries from Chris Phillips, Dayfdd Stonelake and Adam Hoskins kept them clear. Ioan Evans, Alex Everett, Cameron Winnett, Ryan Wilkins and Jacob Beetham scored the home tries and Jack Maynard added two conversions.
Indigo Premiership Cup Quarter Finals – Saturday 22nd January 2022
Newport v Bridgend
Cardiff v Carmarthen Quins
Aberavon v Merthyr
Llandovery v RGC/Pontypridd
