History of Newport RFC :: 1874

"Byron Hayward has ruled himself out of rugby until at least the New Year following his serious neck injury against Cross Keys on October 22 which nearly cost him his life."

"The 25-year-old outside half has told of his relief following medical opinion that he was "lucky to be alive"."

"The horrific injury, which forced Hayward to spend five days in hospital in a neck brace, was sustained when his head stuck glue-like in the quagmire which was Pandy Park that day and the forwards went crashing over him. Hayward is now recovering well at home in Blaina but recalled, "When I got tackled, the forwards went piling over me. I was lucky, really, because the doctors said if I had been hit on my body, that would have been it. "If they had hit my body, my head would have stayed in the same position but the rest of me would have moved. That would have snapped my spinal cord"."

"I've got to go and see the doctor again in a week's time for some more X-rays but I cannot see that I will be back playing before the New Year." An injury like that would be enough to put anyone off risking it again - but not Hayward. He adds, "I have played rugby since I was seven, and I have had other injuries. I broke my jaw once. This will not put me off playing again - in fact I'm frustrated because I cannot do any training". "

"... but 'Dugs' is on the mend already!"

"Sean Duggan was getting used to a whole new environment just three days after he was stretchered off in Newport's vital 29-17 away win at Pontypool a fortnight ago."

"Loyal prop Duggan's terrible ankle injury took the sparkle out of the Black and Amber's win. But, just three days later, Duggan was back at Rodney Parade hobbling up to the Brecon Lounge on his new chariot - a pair of Royal Gwent Hospital crutches - having just watched the club win 48-8 against Transvaal Pirates."

"Surgeons operated on Duggan on the Saturday night he did the damage and he said after the Pirates match that he seriously hopes to be back playing before the end of the season."

"Get your stand tickets for the big SWALEC Cup tie"

"Newport's big SWALEC Cup match at Sardis Road, Pontypridd, is one of the biggest matches of the next round of the competition this season - but seats in Ponty's impressive stand are likely to be hard to come by. So, tickets for seats in the stand for the December 17 match are on sale now. Please note that this is NOT an all-ticket match but it is advisable for Black and Amber fans wanting to sit in the stand to buy their tickets in advance. Entrance to Sardis Road for the match will cost £7 for the stand, £5 for the field, and half price for OAPs."

"THE COACHES' VIEWS"

"PAUL EVANS AND TONY FAULKNER PREVIEW TODAY'S MATCH"

"Paul Evans, Head coach of Newport"

"It is quite obvious that we are going into this game as underdogs and we know we have a difficult task facing us"."

"But, if they have any weaknesses, we will expose them during the game. At Pontypool, in our last league match, we looked at various aspects of their play. We have worked hard in training this week and the coaches went through videos of Cardiff. We know where their strengths lie."

"I think there might be a few interesting individual contests in the various departments. The line-out will be an important area of the match. I am sure that Mike Voyle is keen to have a go at the Cardiff middle jumpers. Also the back row will be another area to watch out for. Cardiff also have some tremendous boys on the wings which we will have to defend against. They are keyed up for it so we know it is going to be a tough one for us"."

"Tony Faulkner, forwards coach of Cardiff"

"I would say we are the best rugby side in Wales and give us a bit of respect! "It is obvious what we have got to do against Newport and that is to win lots of ball and use it"."

"Everyone wants to beat us but it is just another league game to us. Newport are no different to any other side. If you talk about target games, every one of them is a target. All this talk about target games is something which has crept in this season". "