The Welsh side took the lead with a converted try on 18 minutes. Park equalised with a fine individual try by winger Dave Vincent, converted by Scott Sneddon. But the home side grabbed a 3-point lead with a penalty that was the final kick of the first half.

Park fielded a completely different team in the second half. They pulled away with tries from hooker Charlie Piper and winger Sam Aspland-Robinson, converted by fly half Harry Leonard. Newport hung on gamely, but centre Andrew Henderson put the game beyond them with a neatly worked try.

A late penalty try for the home side made the final score of 24-26 closer than the balance of play.

RP First half: Henderson; Field, Grove, Morgan, Vincent; Sneddon; Weir; Lilley, Vaughan-Edwards, Lovell; Boyle, Spivey; Broadbent, Rowland, Martyn-Smith.
Bench: Phillip, Elrington, Gleave, Edmonson, Bosley

RP Second half: Robinson; Aspland-Robinson, Henderson, Reay, Vincent; Leonard; Crow; Nwakor, Piper, Maguire; Frampton, Inglis; Hudson, Harries, Ovens.
Bench: Phillip, Elrington, Gleave, Edmonson, Bosley.

Rosslyn Park Attack Coach, Andy Holloway, (pictured above) said:
“We’re generally in a good place to be. It was good to get a game into 30-plus players, and we came through unscathed in terms of injuries - which is a tribute to the strength and conditioning work we’ve done under Andy Reay’s guidance.

“There were many aspects, in both attack and defence, that really pleased us, but there was just enough that didn’t go quite right to give us plenty to work on in training. We began to get on top up front in the second half after the hard work of the boys in the first half wearing Newport down”.

Looking forward to Saturday’s clash at Richmond, Holloway said:
“Our job is just to get better each week in these pre-season matches, so that we’re where we need to be when the season proper starts.

“It’s likely that we’ll take a smaller squad to Richmond, though no one is yet ruled in or out yet - and there are some good players who haven’t yet been available.

“We’re still looking at potential combinations of players, but we have to narrow things down. That’s really difficult - but a nice problem to have.”

Charlie Addiman

August 15, 2016