Powell's score sustains surge by Newport

Newport 25 Swansea 19

Newport moved into second place in the Welsh-Scottish League last night courtesy of this hard-fought victory over the reigning champions at Rodney Parade.

Successive wins in the Heineken Cup, over Newcastle and Stade Toulousain, have given Newport even greater focus of late. And though Swansea are still regarded by many as Welsh rugby's most potent force, it was the home side who took the spoils albeit with precious little room to spare.

Buoyed by a vociferous crowd of 7,592, the Black and Ambers, who are flourishing these days under the astute guidance of former Springbok coach Ian McIntosh, are starting to realise their obvious potential and there were signs of that during the opening exchanges of this rousing encounter.

Confident and ambitious, something that certain Newport sides of the past can hardly be credited with, they sought the Swansea jugular in a first half that should have brought greater reward. Had they have done so after the break, when Swansea displayed a far more ruthless edge to their game, it might have been an altogether more comfortable evening.

Shane Howarth and Arwel Thomas swapped penalties inside five minutes before the former brought the house down with a drop goal on 18 minutes.

He and Thomas once again exchanged penalties around the half-hour mark but a third from the Newport stand-off and then, on the stroke of half-time, a try from full-back Matt Pini did at least put 11 points between the sides.

A penalty from Thomas, three minutes after the restart, gave Swansea a significant lift and a fourth, in as many minutes after that, had Newport looking over their shoulders.

The home side showed signs of nerves after that and it took a fourth penalty from Howarth five minutes from time to give the home faithful a chance to breath a little easier. However, when Scott Gibbs kicked on and touched down for Thomas to convert in the final minute, there was still a bit of tension to endure. With the final move of the game, 20-year-old No 8 Andrew Powell shrugged off two tackles to surge over.

Newport: M Pini; M Mostyn, A Marinos, J Pritchard (N Brew, 68), M Watkins; S Howarth, O Tonu'u; R Snow, J Richards (P Young, 68), C Anthony (A Garvey, 58), S Raiwalui (capt), M Voyle (I Gough, 68), P Buxton, J Forster, A Powell

Swansea: G Henson; M Robinson, S Payne, S Gibbs (capt), B Lima; A Thomas, S Martens (Robbie Jones, 58); D Morris, C Wells, B Evans (J Marsters, 70), T Maullin (L Jones, 60), J Griffiths (A Moore, 48), G Lewis, D Thomas, H Jenkins (C Charvis, 48).

Referee: P Adams (Blaina).

* The All Blacks' World Cup hopes received a boost yesterday after the winger Jonah Lomu committed himself to the New Zealand Rugby Union for another two years. Lomu's decision to extend his contract, which expired next month, means he will be able to play in the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.