This game clearly impressed Dromio, W. J. Townsend Collins writing in Rugby Recollections published by R. H. Johns Newport in 1948.
A SENSATIONAL CLUB GAME
Perhaps the most exciting club match I ever saw was between Newport and the Harlequins on April 9th, 1910. The Harlequins were playing football which delighted the crowd. Their backs were speedy, daring, clever, confident?their faith in attack was unwavering. They had won many astounding victories, had piled up scores, and had lost only three games. Newports record was remarkable also: they had lost only one match, but had drawn eight?it was a season of close shaves in which many games had been snatched out of the fire. Newports forwards were rightly reckoned a great pack?as great in their way as the Harlequins backs were in theirs. So the stage was set (without some of the principal actors in both companies). At the commencement of the game the Newport backs seemed nervous?the quickness and speed of the visiting players seemed to undermine their confidence, and the first hint of possible disaster came when Fred Birt (playing at centre) had a kick charged. J. G. G. Birkett, the big fast Harlequin centre, got the ball at his feet and dribbled through. He kicked hard over the Newport line, followed up, scored in a good position, and D. Lambert converted. So the Harlequins early led by five points. Newport were faulty in their passing, and failure to hold the ball saw Birkett dribble away again, with a chance similar to that from which he scored. But this time W. H. Gunstone (playing at centre as substitute for Jack P. Jones, who was absent hurt), managed to get back and fall on the ball. Newports superior heeling led to nothing. Though they tried all they knew to break down the defence by running and cross-punting, the Harlequins had the heels of them, and they could do nothing effective till Walter Martin made a brilliant run through. The opening was made if the passing was accurate and the wing had the speed. A wide pass gave Birt possession; and he transferred to Melville Baker, who took the ball safely, made a great burst for the line, and got the ball down wide. Stanley Williams, Newports full-back, only just failed to convert. This score was the first rift in the cloud. Martin was almost through again; but it was the Harlequins who scored next?and next. They started a combined attack, and an adroit move got the defence out?manoeuvred, Plummer had to come in to deal with Birkett, or let him score, and that left the way open for D. Lambert. From Birketts pass he made one of those powerful, long-striding runs for which he was famous, swerved away from Stanley Williams, and scored in a good position. To convert his own try was childs play, and the Harlequins led by ten points to three. Full of confidence, they started another attack?a real Harlequin effort. The inside half (S. H. Lambert, playing in place of Sibree) gave Adrian Stoop possession. He ran cleverly, and at the right moment gave up to his brother, F.M. There was a gap in the defence; F.M. went through it, and returned the ball to Adrian, who was too fast for Melville Baker. A try under the bar was converted by D. Lambert; and half-time came with the score : Harlequins, three goals, 15 points; Newport, one try, three points.
Many an uphill game had been played by the Usksiders during that season; often they had been in arrears, but never had so many points been scored against them with so small response. Most of us thought the game was hopelessly lost. Yet there was a ray of hope in the fact that the Newport forwards were a truly great pack and that the visiting front rank were not only much inferior but obviously tiring. Newport heeled, and heeled again; but their threequarters were out-weighted and outpaced; and aggressive defence broke up their combination or smothered man and ball. The home forwards varied their tactics?dribbling, thrusting forward. They assaulted the line, and were repulsed. Would a score never come? Yes, the ball was kicked to Birt, and, breaking back towards the posts he dropped a lovely goal: seven?fifteen. Into their efforts to break through, the Newport backs put all their strength and skill, and the clashes of attack and defence were breath-taking. Martin and Baker were hurt, and there were stoppages of which account had to be taken at the end of the game. Both went on playing, and Newports pressure was accentuated. They were definitely on top, but they seemed to have no policy of attack which could compensate for the com?parative slowness of their threequarter line. And then, just as Birts charged kick had played into the hands of the Harlequins, an unconsidered pass by D. Lambert was the forerunner of a Newport score. Plummer intercepted, ran right through, and passed to Vile. He scored wide?an unconverted try: Newport 10 points; Harlequins 15. The Harlequins backs defended desperately, for it was a desperate situation, with their forwards beaten; but they were not content merely to defend. They tried to turn to account half chances in attack; D. Lambert raised the siege with a dribble to half-way, and tackled the full?back when he fielded; but these were only spasmodic efforts. Again Newport went to the attack; again speed and resolute tackling held them up. It was a time of painful suspense both for Newport's supporters and the flagging Harlequins. Once more Birkett made a great dribble, and was only stopped at the Newport 25; Birt responded with a similar effort (every shot in the locker was being poured into this battle royal), and again Newport got to the Harlequins quarter. Somehow the ball went to Vile, and he dropped a neat goal: Newport 14 points, Harlequins 15. Nothing could have been more plucky than the efforts of the visitors to stave off defeat, and it looked as if they had done it when, with time at hand, they once more reached the Newport 25. But the ball was skied to the open, the Newport players stormed after it, and nearly scored. A moment later, for Newport heeled every time, Vile and Martin worked one of their clever moves; but a groan went up?the latters pass was just out of Plummers reach. We thought it was the last chance; but no! the whistle did not sound. With beating hearts and throbbing heads, Newports thousands hoped for some miracle of successful attack; and the miracle happened to crown a superlative effort. The forwards heeled, Vile got the ball to Martin, and with a great burst the outside half went through the defence for the winning try. Birt kicked for goal, and the ball which seemed to be travelling for the bar curled just outside an upright. But nobody was much concerned at the failure to convert; Newport had put on fourteen points to nothing in the most thrilling second half I have ever seen, and had won by 17 points to 15?two dropped goals three tries to three goals.