A visit by a South Sea Island team brought violence to the pitch at Rodney Parade once again culminating in a 'sending-off'. This time it was Fijian second row Savai after a huge fight broke out amongst four different sets of players. Savai was seen butting Newport captain Mike Watkins and was dismissed by referee Owen Jones. Shortly afterwards, Watkins was flattened by a kick to the stomach, which also received plenty of coverage in the press at that time and an exchange of words between the officials of both teams.

Newport played well and controlled the match through their forwards but were only rewarded with two successful penalty kicks from seven attempts from Jon Callard. Newport persisted with attacking via kicks to touch and then a lineout orientated game at which David Waters and Andrew Perry dominated but it never looked like bringing a try. With only five minutes of play left, Newport lost a lineout in their own '22' and Fijian tight-head prop Namoro claimed the loose ball and bundled his way over the line for the decisive score.

There was much speculation at the time about the team selection for the game with many observers convinced that Newport should have picked the more trusty boot of Arwel Parry at '15' and this may have resulted in a more successful penalty count.