History of Newport RFC :: 1874

"Tonights match with the South Wales Police is Newports last home fixture until the Easter holidays. Next Saturday they will travel to St. Helens to take on Swansea, who are again chasing the league and cup double, and the following Saturday they will be at the Brewery Field doing their utmost to eliminate Bridgend from the Welsh Cup for the second succesive season, and at the same time make amends for their recent run of league defeats."

"To offset these formidable games Newports supporters, who have had Saturday home matches with Bristol and Richmond snatched from them for unavoidable reasons, will be provided with two matches at Rodney Parade during the holidays. On Easter Saturday there will be the league match with Aberavon, and on Easter Monday London Welsh will pay their traditional holiday visit."

"The latter match should, at least, be free of the pressures to which the Newport players have been subjected throughout the season. Even their non-league matches have not been relaxing affairs, for among them were such clashes with the Barbarians, Transvaal, Bristol and Gloucester."

"Still, whatever the outcome of tonights match, Newport, despite their successive league defeats against Bridgend, Llanelli and Pontypridd, are not likely to be threatened with relegation. Nevertheless, there is no point in cloaking the fact that Newports performances in recent weeks have been most depressing."

"Two clubs, Llanelli and Pontypridd, have completed the seasons double over them during this short period, and even a weakened Gloucester team proved too strong for them. Fortunately, the league programme is drawing to a close, but it is obvious that something drastic will have to be done before the 1993-4 campaign gets under way."

"Some allowance, of course, must be made for the glut of injuries Newport have suffered, yet some of the defeats which have been inflicted upon them ? in five matches they have had a combined total of 276 points registered against them ? are not the kind of results we expect from a club of Newport's standing!"

"Incidentally, if Richie Collins does take the field to captain South Wales Police against Newport tonight, he can expect a special cheer from the spectators who will readily remember some of his excellent performances for Newport. He was, in fact, a member of the Newport team when they reached the final of the Schweppes Cup in 1986."

"In that match he operated in the back row with the evergreen David Waters and Roger Powell, one of Newports present coaches. Also in the Newport team, who were narrowly beaten 28-21 by Cardiff, were Rhys Morgan and Nigel Callard, who are now looking after Newports under-21 team. Collins was then a student. He later joined the police force, and as he was stationed at Cardiff he eventually joined the Cardiff club. During his stay at Rodney Parade he made 102 first team appearances, and his dynamic marauding earned him 17 Welsh caps."

"WELCOME, SOUTH WALES POLICE. . ."

"South Wales Police, todays visitors to Rodney Parade, won the second division championship of the Heineken League last season and so gained promotion to the first division after winning twelve and drawing two of their 18 league games. Life in the top division, however, has been far from easy for them, but with typical grit they have striven hard to avoid relegation."

"They suffered some heavy defeats at the start of the 1992-3 campaign before settling down to cope with the more exacting opposition they are now encountering. One of those defeats was inflicted by Newport who won 42-0 at Waterton Cross early in September, but the Police will certainly go all out to prove that they are now a stronger combination."

"This view will undoubtedly be supported by Pontypool, for the Eastern Valley team received a big shock when they went to Waterton Cross a few weeks before Christmas. There they were outplayed and beaten 16-0. Swansea, too, found the Police a resourceful outfit, and it was as much as they could do to clinch a 24-16 victory over the men in blue."

"South Wales Police were formed as recently as 1969, and since then many outstanding players have passed through their ranks. Richard Donovan became their first full Welsh international after the clubs name had been changed from Glamorgan Police. He was a replacement centre for Wales against France in Paris in 1983. Since then South Wales Police, who have won the British Police Cup, have had a number of Welsh senior and B internationals as well as Barbarians and Crawshay XV players in the team at various times. Among them were Bleddyn Bowen, who collected 24 caps, Steve Sutton, who previously played for Pontypool, Ian Hall and Richie Collins."

"Today, South Wales Police have full and B internationals in their squad. H. Williams-Jones played for Wales five times this season, and with John Wakeford, a full cap, and Sean Legge he also played against the Australians for Wales B team. Unfortunately lock forward Wakeford tore ligaments in his leg during the November match with Neath, and is out of action for the rest of the season. To offset his loss, Richie Collins has returned to the team from Cardiff, and centre John Apsee has joined from Bridgend."

"Legge, who played for Wales B against the North of England at Pontypool this season, toured Australia with the Wales team in 1991, as did Williams-Jones, but he did not play in the Test match and has yet to win a senior cap."

"Colin Hillman, a former captain of the Police XV, has played several times for the Barbarians, and has taken part in the Hong Kong Sevens, during which he gave some outstanding displays."