"Cardiff v. Newport"
"After being away for nearly three weeks, its good to be back home again and, who better could we have as our visitors today than our friendly enemy from the other end of Newport Road, The Black and Ambers. Indeed you may be wondering perhaps where Newport were in 1983-84 as we last played them on The Park in October '82. Well our Cup commitment was responsible for that as it was in season 1981-82 when the semi-finals were scheduled on what should have been our fixed dates in March. So having lost both home matches it adds to the fact that Newport have become rather rare visitors to The Park these days. Also, if either of us get to the semi-final again this year it will again interfere with our game at Newport on March 23rd,1985."
"This is of course a very different situation from days of yore when we regularly played them four times a season. This has resulted in the fact that Newport are our most played opponents with 347 games already behind us. Of these, we have won 163 to their 127 with the remaining 57 ending even. Points wise we have scored 2521 to The Port's 2132. Now, of course, as every conscientious Cardiff supporter will know we have managed the Grand Slam of winning all four games on four occasions. This accolade has been denied to the great Newport Club however and it can now never be done as fixtures were reduced to two per season from 1976-77."
"Mind you, there have been the narrowest of squeaks. There was the heart stopper of season 1968-69 when Brian Price brought his three times victors side to The Arms Park for the final onslaught. After many hair raising escapes during the last half-hour we finally managed to thwart their ambition by holding out to a 9-all draw however."
"Season 1950-51 must have been the rugby disappointment of the century for the Black and Ambers however. With what is described in their own history as arguably the best all-round team the Usksiders have ever fielded, they also could not manage to hammer home the final nail in the coffin. The side was captained by the great Ken Jones and we arrived at Rodney Parade on the 3rd March, 1951 for their 27th game of that season with all their previous 26 being won. That obviously included three wins over us, so surely they could have been forgiven for thinking that the elusive quadruple was at last theirs. The gods destined differently, however, because after a titanic struggle the game ended with each side scoring a penalty goal. The scores of the three previous games had been 8-3,8-6 and 8-3 and testimony to Newports defence was the fact that even with the great attacking players we had at that time, we failed to cross their line for a try in all four games."
"Again, quoted in their history concerning that last game at Rodney Parade was the fact that twice in the last ten minutes, their outstanding outside-half of that era, Ray Burnett, was put in possession with wide gaps in front of him which normally should have led to tries. Instead he made feeble attempts to drop a goal. It was only discovered afterwards that for most of the second half he played on with a broken collar bone. Now I wonder if that had anything to do with the attention paid him by a certain Cardiff wing forward of the era who has the initials of C.D.W.??"
"Another interesting sequel to that season was the fact that for the third game at The Arms Park on 17th February, 1951 a crowd of 48,500 spectators paid some £2,600 to see the game. It was played in bitterly cold conditions and during the second half a biting hailstorm descended and players were forced to bend into a crouched position to prevent the hailstones hitting them about the face. The crafty Billy Cleaver, however, sought refuge downwind behind the goalposts. A pleasant sequel to the match was the fact that the W.R.U. sent letters to both club expressing its thanks and admiration for the sporting and commendable manner in which the match was played."
"In contrast to the 48,500 gate of £2,600, on 8th March, 1879 Cardiff lost to Newport in the old South Wales Challenge Cup before a record gate of that time which produced takings of £72. Again will we ever see a crowd of 48,500 at a club match and what sort of gate money would that provide. It would certainly bring a smile to the most hard faced treasurer. How about Cardiff v. Newport for this years Schweppes Cup Final."
"Enough of the past and reminiscence then, what of the present. It is a genuinely held belief by most Cardiffians that the best thing ever to come out of Newport is the road to Cardiff. I have no doubt that the reciprocal is the same as far as Newportonians are concerned, until the arrival at Rodney Parade of Mike Watkins. There has been, in the past, a movement of to-ing and fro-ing between the clubs but none has made the tremendous impact on his new club as Mike has. After taking over the captaincy last year, he made such a good job of it that he graduated via Wales B to the ultimate honour of captain of his country. In harness with Charlie Faulkner he has built the Newport pack into a very formidable unit indeed. Now players of established quality are being recruited behind the scrum so it certainly looks as if Newport's lean days could be well and truly over. Mike Watkins can take great pride in his part of that success."
"Obviously what Mike and Charlie will now be concentrating on is a better success rate away from home. On other peoples' patches they have gone down to Pontypool, Swansea and last Saturday, albeit rather weakened, Llanelli. At home however they have accounted for the likes of Bristol, Coventry, our conquerers Neath and only last Tuesday the mighty BaaBaas. For that last game Mike Watkins was back after his Twickenham stint to make all the difference to his side although still suffering from effects of bronchial trouble. The 46 points was a record score against famous Nomads and no doubt put them in the right frame of mind for today's game. Mike the motivater will certainly pull out all the stops to end their poor away results and extend Newport's winning sequence in the series to three games. Terry Holmes I'm sure will also have his own thoughts on that however."
"To Newport then, welcome once again to The Arms Park, may you enjoy your visit."
"Finally, a pat on the back for Gareth Davies on his achievement of over 100 points in September. It's quite a remarkable feat and accounts for well over a third of our total of 275 from 9 games."
"P.N."