"RODNEY COMMENTARY"
"SOMETHING ON THEIR MINDS!"
"Although Newport have to play two Heineken League matches before April 4 that date will be very much in the minds of everybody at Rodney Parade! That is the day on which the team will be striving to reach the semi-finals of the Schweppes Welsh Cup."
"Standing between them and that goal is Bridgend. who have already eliminated two Gwent clubs from the competition - plucky Blackwood, who went down 38-7, and first division Newbridge, who were defeated 18-13 at the Brewery Field. Newport will obviously be determined to foil the Mid Glamorgan team of a cup hat-trick in Gwent!"
"Gwent, of course, will have two representatives in the quarter-finals. The other is Pontypool, who, like Newport, will have ground advantage. They will play the Cup holders, Llanelli, who overwhelmed them in last year's final. Who knows, perhaps Newport and Pontypool will be opposing each other in this year's final!"
"Incidentally, when Jonathan Westwood scored the two tries which eliminated Cardiff from the Schweppes Cup he must have convinced Welsh coach Alan Davies that he is one of his country's bright hopes for the future, and should be in the Welsh under-21 team to play Scotland under-21 team at Stirling on April 18. Westwood still has five months to go before he reaches his 21st birthday."
"The present season has already seen Newport stalwarts David Waters, Nigel Callard and Paul Turner reach important milestones in their rugby careers, and now another of their colleagues is hoping to do likewise. He is wing threequarter John Thomas, who is approaching his 100th first team appearance for the club."
"Thomas is not far off the century mark, and with a slice of luck he may reach his target before the end of the 1991-2 campaign. His total now stands at 95, and this does not include the United States tour matches. With those matches he has notched a half century of tries. Twice he has had the distinction of being Newport's top try scorer, registering 25 in one season."
"It was towards the end of the 1987-8 season that Thomas joined Newport from Caldicot. Since then he has played for Monmouthshire, East Gwent, had a brief spell with Abertillery before rejoining Newport in the same season, and played for Newport against Wayne Shelford's all-conquering New Zealanders."
"Thomas, who is married and lives at Caldicot, was elated when he was chosen for the All Blacks match, but unfortunately for Newport the tourists were in peak form and heavily defeated Newport, whose back row forward Andrew Pocock was punched so hard by Shelford that he had four of his teeth knocked out. Frank Hillman, too, was a casualty, suffering from a broken nose."
"W.H."
"WELCOME, TREDEGAR"
"Life has not been easy for Tredegar Rugby Club's committee and selectors in recent years. They have produced some excellent players only to see some of them eventually drift to other clubs, often for no apparent reasons. Yet Tredegar are still recognised as a rugby stronghold in the far north of Gwent, and they have remained one of the country's most respected clubs."
"This is emphasised by the fact that Tredegar remain on the fixture lists of seven of the Heineken League first division clubs, including Gwent's top three, Pontypool, Newbridge and, of course, Newport - their hosts today. They also have fixtures with a number of English clubs, among them Torquay, Cheltenham and Lydney."
"Leading Tredegar today is centre Chris Lake, who rejoined them at the start of the season after a short spell with Newport, during which he succeeded in putting his name on their try scoring chart. With him is another ex-Newport player - prop forward Glyn Moon who switched to Tredegar this season."
"Another link between the two clubs was forged by Keiron Gregory, who broke into first class rugby with Tredegar and later played for Newbridge and Neath before becoming Newport's hooker in 1988. Gregory, whose father also used to play for Tredegar, is now with Ebbw Vale, and when he was with Newport he was picked for the Welsh team's 1990 first tour of Namibia."
"Numerous Tredegar players have turned out for Monmouthshire and the CrawshayXV, and among those who readily spring to mind are Syd Wharton, Frank Jacas, John Dixon, Peter Bolland, Nick Hunt, Gary Moses and Ian Lewis, all of whom gave sterling service to the North Gwent club."
"Today Tredegar have other players who are serving them well, namely that stalwart inside half Martin Burridge, Ian Morgan, a quick-witted wing whose tries this season have reached double figures, Andrew Green, an astute outside half, Jason Powell, Darren Worgan, and David Moore, to mention just a handful."
"Nick Hunt, who has captained Tredegar, is still going strong, though a shoulder injury caused this versatile player to miss several matches during the club's important league commitments."
"W.H"