The home side, proud winners of the Indigo Premiership Cup last season and runners-up to Cardiff in the league, were most people’s favourites to take the title this campaign, but they got a shock in their first outing.
Every time they made a mistake, Lloyd’s deadly boot punished them as he helped himself to 20 match winning points. Newport may have outscored the Steelmen by three tries to one, but they couldn’t get the better of Lloyd.
The game got off to a frantic start, with both sides desperate to take the initiative early on. The teams traded blows, before Wales U18 centre Harri Ackerman broke the deadlock for Newport with a try that Matt O’Brien converted.
It was a great start to Newport’s campaign, even if they did lose lock Josh Skinner to the sin-bin for 10 minutes. Lloyd and home skipper O’Brien traded penalties as the teams struggled for superiority and it was anyone’s game as the first half came to an end with Newport leading 10-6.
Lloyd kept on hitting the target to lift his side into an 18-10 lead with four more penalties, but Newport fought back by going to their maul game. Craig Hudd emerged with the first of his two tries, but Ebbw came straight back and scored.
Some excellent work down the left wing by Jonathan Evans created a try for Morgan Richards and that man Lloyd added the extras. Hudd crossed once again to set up an exciting finish, but it was too little, too late for the home side.
Scorers: Newport: Tries: C Hudd 2, H Ackerman; Cons: M O’Brien 2; Pen: M O’Brien. Ebbw Vale: Try: M Richards; Con: E Lloyd; Pens: E Lloyd 6
PONTYPRIDD 12 – 26 CARDIFF
Wily old Dan Fish proved the difference as reigning Indigo Premiership champions Cardiff beat rivals Pontypridd at the House of Pain.
The veteran navigated his side to an impressive victory with an astute and deadly kicking performance to launch Cardiff’s defence of their league title in some style at Sardis Road.
Fish’s personal tally of 13 points, and his hand in the tries by centre Arron Pinches and full-back Cameron Winnett, proved the difference between the two sides in a classic Welsh derby.
Ponty’s high-profile new signing Nikola Matawalu, the Fijian international, had a hand in his side’s second try by Joel Raikes to mark his debut. But this was largely a dour and scrappy affair with a five-minute spell before the break proving the difference between the sides with Cardiff scoring two tries.
The home side scored the game’s first try after Cardiff flanker Olly Robinson was yellow carded for persistent infringing at the tackle area. Ponty flanker Sion Parry took full advantage and crashed over for a try from a driving lineout with Cardiff down to 14-men.
Parry was then yellow carded himself for offside and the floodgates opened for Cardiff to lead 23-5 half-time with those tries from Pinches and Winnett After the break, scrum half Raikes crossed for Ponty’s second try and replacement Ben Burnell replied with a penalty to secure the victory for Cardiff.
Scorers: Pontypridd: Tries: S Parry, J Raikes; Con: D Stuckey. Cardiff: Tries: A Pinches, C Winnett; Cons: D Fish 2; Pen: D Fish 3, B Burnell
MERTHYR 22 – 15 RGC
New head coach Rowland Phillips kicked off his tenure at The Wern with a hard-fought victory over RGC.
Former Welsh international scrum-half Tavis Knoyle’s contribution off the bench in the second half proved to be the spark for a second half fight-back by the Ironmen. Tries by Dafydd Thomas, Adam Hoskins and Rhys Williams secured Merthyr’s home win to kick off their new Indigo Premiership campaign.
RGC No 10 Dion Jones crossed for two first half tries for the visitors and scored all his side’s points, but it was not enough to take the spoils in the end.
The visitors took an early lead with Jones’ first try but he failed with the conversion. He later added a penalty to give his side an 8-0 lead.
The RGC playmaker then crossed for his second try which he converted to stretch the lead to 15 points before Merthyr finally got themselves on the scoreboard with a penalty from another of their summer recruits from the Dragons, Josh Lewis. That completed the first half scoring leaving the Gogs ahead 15-3.
After the interval, the Ironmen closed the gap with a quick try by Thomas early to kick-start a major comeback. Both sides went down to 14-men midway through the second half when RGC’s Bryn Jones and Merthyr’s Paddy McBride were shown yellow for violent play.
With time running out, tries from Hoskins and Williams helped seal victory for the home side and get the Ironmen off to a winning start.
Scorers: Merthyr: Tries: D Thomas, R Williams, A Hoskins; Cons: J Lewis 2; Pen: J Lewis. RGC: Tries: D Jones 2; Cons: D Jones; Pen: D Jones
