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Lacklustre showing sees Exiles settle for a point


NEWPORT County AFC failed to build on Saturday’s victory at Torquay Unit- ed as they were held to a 0-0 stalemate at home by lowly Bury. Sloppy defending allowed visiting skipper Craig Jones two glorious op- portunities inside the County box, the first went wide of the goal while the second came off Jones’ knee and was knocked into touch for a goal kick. At the other end Robbie Willmott forced Brian Jensen into a smart save with a fierce drive from just inside the box and captain Mike Flynn tried his luck from 30 yards out but Justin Edin- burgh won’t have been pleased with his side’s first half showing. County improved after the break but with two big men up front in Chris Zebroski and Aaron Holloway they tended to hit the ball long and the Bury defence rarely looked unduly troubled. The frustrated home fans called for


a penalty on the hour when Zebro- ski went down in the box but Jensen scooped the ball away and referee Chris Sarginson showed no interest in point- ing to the spot. Encouraged by the fans County did raise their game a little in the latter stages but neither side did enough to win a low quality game, and Edin- burgh’s introduction of Max Porter for Lee Minshull suggested that he was happy to settle for a point.


Hall of Fame dinner No. 3


THE third Newport RFC Hall of Fame dinner is being held at Rodney Parade on Thurs- day, April 17, an event which will honour more great play- ers from the club’s glorious history. A popular date in the Black and Ambers’ calendar, it is organised by the Friends of Newport Rugby Trust (FoNR). Last year’s glittering sell-out


event saw tributes paid to a host of heroes, some posthu- mously. The first two players to be admitted in 2013 were the late Walter John Martin and Fred Birt, who both starred for Newport in their 9-3 victory over mighty South Africa in 1912.


CLOSE CALL: Mike Flynn beats Bury’s Andrew Tutte


Dragons still eyeing top six finish after Connacht loss


CENTRE Ashley Smith says Newport Gwent Dragons cannot afford to waste the efforts of an improved season by letting it slip in the RaboDirect Pro12 run-in. Of the region’s current roster,


only scrum-half Wayne Evans can better the 27-year-old’s tally of 144 appearances. Smith has experienced the ups


and downs of life at Rodney Parade since making his debut against Worcester in 2005 and believes strides have been made


chance to stay right in the mix for the Pro12’s final spot in the new Rugby Champions Cup with quickfire fixtures at bottom club Zebre on Saturday and against


defeat to Connacht was certainly a low for the Dragons, who wasted an opportunity to put pressure on the sixth-placed Scarlets and saw their Irish conquerors leapfrog them in the table. But all is not lost and they have a


after a disastrous 2012/13. However, last weekend’s home


eight-placed Edinburgh at Rodney Parade a week on Thursday. “Connacht was a massive missed


opportunity, but it has gone now and we have to move on,” said Smith, who was called from the bench early in the second half of the 24-8 loss. “There is still a lot to play for and


have the Scarlets to play [in the penultimate game of the season] and we have to finish strongly. “We owe that to ourselves


we need to put things right against Zebre. We don’t want the season to peter out and we spoke as a group right after Sunday’s game and said there is still a massive opportunity.


because it has been a decent season; not an amazing one but there have been improvements.” Saturday’s hosts were the only


“It is still in our own hands, we


club that finished below the Dragons last season and Lyn Jones’ side have already matched their 2012/13 tally of six wins and 28 points. Smith wants a tangible


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Second row partners Ian


measure of their progress. “As players we want to be as high


steps this season and more next year. Lyn talks about his plans and we are going in the right direction, but we can’t have performances like against Connacht.” Zebre succumbed to a 30-7 loss at Rodney Parade earlier this term.


up the league as possible,” he added. “We know that we are not going to jump from 11th to first, but we want to see an improvement. “We want to progress, take some


Ford and Brian Price, who played in Newport’s proud- est moment, the 1963 3-0 win over New Zealand, were also inducted. Others who joined were for- mer Newport official Colin Taylor, England prop Colin Smart, who led the club to their 16-15 1977 Schweppes Cup final triumph over Car- diff, back-row stalwart and captain Glenn George, dual international full-back Shane Howarth, who played in four Tests for the All Blacks be- fore going on to win 19 caps for Wales between 1998 and 2000, and popular lock Mark Workman, the current team manager. lTickets (£30) can be bought from the FoNR stall in the Newport clubhouse on match days or the Rodney Parade ticket office on 01633 670690.


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