Will it be Cardiff or Newport who capture the silverware? The Blue & Blacks lead the table by a point from their oldest rivals, while the Black & Ambers are still eying up a possible league and cup double.
Ty Morris’ Newport side face Aberavon in the Indigo Group Premiership Cup final at Principality Stadium on Sunday and will be hoping to get their season back on track after losing back-to-back home games to RGC and Merthyr.
They were the first defeats Newport had suffered after winning eight games in a row and seemingly coasting to a first league title since. Then the injuries mounted up, Will Reed got moved up into the Dragons senior squad and there was major disruption.
“We’re hoping to have Will back for the cup final. His partnership in midfield with Matt O’Brien has been really good for us and we also hope to get Elliot Frewen back after his broken jaw,” said Newport team manager, Mark Workman.
“The league title is out of our hands now and we just have to hope Merthyr can rise to the occasion and beat Cardiff again in what will be an emotional game for them given it will be Dale McIntosh’ last game in charge.
“They play on the Friday night and we finish up in Carmarthen later that weekend. We’ve got two games to go this season and we have to win both of them to try to get our hands of some silverware.
“We’ve had a week off, we’re refreshed and ready for a big games against Aberavon at the Principality Stadium on Sunday. We’ve regrouped since those two league defeats and everyone is focussed on winning something.”
However their season ends, Newport have already delivered an historic four wins in a season over Cardiff for the first time in 143 years. The older members can feel satisfied with that, but the younger players want medals.
As for Cardiff, having been knocked out of the cup by Newport in the semi-finals in what was the fourth defeat to their arch-rivals, they have made the most of the opening given them in the league by those successive home defeats suffered by the Black & Ambers.
It left Steve Law’s side needing to secure three bonus-point wins in a row to guarantee capturing their first title since 2009. They deliver the full five-points with a 27-20 win over Swansea at St Helen’s and then blasted Pontypridd 42-10 at the Arms Park last week.
Now all they have to do is beat Merthyr with four tries at the Arms Park on Thursday, 28 April, and the trophy will be in their hands. Any kind of win could also do the trick as they currently lead Newport by a point and have a seven try and 31 points difference advantage.
Even if they fail to get the bonus-point it will leave Newport with a mountain to climb over and above winning with a bonus-point in Carmarthen to overtake them. Not that that is giving Cardiff head coach Law any real comfort.
“It will be the same story against Merthyr as in the last two games. We have to try to win the game first and then take stock of where we are,” said Law.
“We can’t afford to go chasing another bonus-point without getting the main job done first. We’ve already lost twice to Merthyr this season and we know what a good side they can be at their best.
“It is going to be an emotional day for them with Dale leaving at the end of the season, so we expect them to come down determined to spoil our season. We always knew it was going to be a fight to the end and we intend to stay in the battle.
“It would be great to end the season on a high, especially after we had the chance to win the title taken away from us by COVID two years ago.”
ALL THE ACTION FROM THE INDIGO GROUP PREMIERSHIP
BRIDGEND 17 – 13 ABERAVON
As dress rehearsals go, this was very much a mixed bag for Aberavon, who meet Newport in the Indigo Group Premiership Cup final on Sunday.
Having sped into a 13-0 lead, and looking very much in control against a side glued to the bottom of the league table, they then conceded 17 unanswered points. Bridgend tackled like demons and found a way to counteract the powerful Wizards’ scrum
Aberavon centre Joe Gage opened the scoring when he started and ended a move with a good try and then Aled Thomas added a close-range penalty. A series of thrilling runs by full back Jonny Phillips finally saw his chip beautifully caught by left wing Stef Andrews and it was suddenly 13-0.
Having only won one game in the league all season, the fear from the home fans was that their team might not be able to hit back. This time they were able to, thanks to the example set by former Wales U20 No 8 Morgan Strong.
The Ospreys tyro burst out of a maul to race to the line for the first of his two tries and Paul Short added the extras. That made it 13-7 at the break.
Short kicked a tricky penalty to cut the deficit to three points early in the second half before he was replaced by former Wales outside half Matthew Jones. Strong’s second try proved the winner, with Jones adding the extras to lift his side off the bottom.
CARDIFF 42 – 10 PONTYPRIDD
Rising schoolboy star Harrison James scored two first-half tries to set Cardiff on the road to another bonus-point win that took them to the top of the table and kept the clinching of the title in their own hands.
When long-term leaders Newport were beaten in successive games by RGC and Merthyr it left their Arms Park rivals needing three bonus-point wins to guarantee a first title since 2009. They’ve picked up two of them and now host Merthyr on Thursday, 28 April, in the final game of the season.
James was in the right place at the right time to finish off two first half tries that had a third from skipper Morgan Allen sandwiched in between. He converted all three to make it 21-10 at the break.
Proud Ponty were still in contention at that point thanks to a Dale Stuckey penalty and interception try, which he also converted. But the second half was all Cardiff and three more tries flowed to carry the home team to their target.
Harri Millard crashed through to score the bonus-point try in the right corner before replacement hook Evan Yardley converted a driving line-out maul into try No 5. Millard then rounded things off in the 77th minute with a 80 metre score that went through six pairs of hands before the centre touched down.
SWANSEA 31 – 21 LLANELLI
Swansea rounded off their season with a bonus point victory over historic rivals Llanelli at St Helen’s.
The All White’s took an early lead when wing Harry Houston brushed off some weak Llanelli tackling before showing his pace to touch down for a try at the far left-hand corner. Ospreys outside-half Cai Evans added the extras, but Llanelli responded by laying siege to the Swansea try line.
After a period of sustained pressure Llanelli prop Ryan Davies powered over from short range, with Josh Phillips adding the extras. The home side regained the lead when centre Gareth Rees sliced open the Llanelli defence before putting Llien Morgan over for their second try which Evans converted.
Swansea were soon celebrating their third try when Evans ran in unopposed from 40 metres out. Llanelli turned down a straightforward shot at goal just before half-time, and it proved to be the correct decision with No 8 Nathan Hart showing his power to smash his way over the line.
Swansea secured their try bonus point in the early stages of the second half with a sensational 60-metre break from Wales U20 full back Iestyn Hopkins putting them on the front foot with second-row Matt Dodd eventually scoring. Llanelli claimed a consolation try at the death when replacement hooker Rhys Cherry touched down off the back of a well-worked driving lineout.
CARMARTHEN QUINS 12 – 38 LLANDOVERY
A hat-trick of tries from Aaron Warren fired Llandovery to a big away win over their west Walian rivals at Carmarthen Park.
