Considering the conditions - the field was heavy and there was persistant drizzle - the two teams gave an excellent display to keep the crowd enthralled. There was never a dull moment with the forward exchanges hard and bruising, and both sides running the ball with some adventure. Newport started well with persistant pressure for the first 15 mins but Pontypridd weathered that. In the 3rd min of the second half Newport broke the deadlock with a great try. David Rogers sold a dummy as he ran across the field, and Burcher came inside him to take the ball and cut the Pontypridd defence with a scything run, second row Mogridge was up in support to take the pass and crash over.
Pontypridd showed their character by coming back and battering the Newport line immediately and it needed tremendous defence from Newport to keep them at bay.
After an early parity in the set pieces Newport lost ground, losing three strikes against the head in the scrums, and David Waters having a lot of trouble jumping against Bob Penberthy. Brynmor Williams had an excellent game kicking Newport out of trouble on numerous occasions. An exchange of penalties and great defence kept Pontypridd at bay until a J Poole try on the stroke of full-time cracked the Newport defence. but the all-important conversion was missed by Jeff Hazzard and Nwport were in the semi's.