Neath 11 Newport 19
Saturday, 15th September 2001, 5.30pm Kick-Off

MATCH REPORT
© Alan Williams, Neath RFC

Neath fullback Shaun Connor was on target with an early penalty following the visiting defence being caught offside. Newport’s former New Zealand and Wales Outside half Shane Howarth equalised with a penalty of his own, following one of referee Gareth Symonds more obscure decisions.

The home side went ahead after twenty minutes, full back Shaun Connor burst into the line at pace, Connor was tackled a metre short and managed to feed the ball to Allan Bateman who scored in the corner.

Howarth was on target with his second penalty foe the visitors, just before the half time whistle

The second half started with Connor again successful with a penalty. Late in the game a freak injury to Wales wing Shane Williams led to Newport’s only try of the match. Shane was forced to kick after pulling a stomach muscle. Pini caught the ball in his own half, and set up a counter attack, replacement centre Nathan Brew and Shane Howarth both played a part in freeing wing Emyr Lewis for a try in the corner, Howarth added the extra points for the conversion. With the game deep in injury time Howarth took his match total to 14 points with another penalty.