From the match programme, for a game that saw previous season's Saracen captain, Bryan Davies, make his debut for Newport, and an interesting article about the way the game of rugby was developing:-
"CLUB NEWS"
"Saracens strong Welsh links"
"Tonight's opening Anglo-Welsh fixture against Newport is a first for Saracens in more ways than one."
"Forgetting the handful of floodlight matches on the fifth carriageway of the M1 at Luton, it is our first genuine floodlight match at home."
"It also heralds the first of some attractive fixtures outside the Courage League, and it is our first match with our visitors from Wales."
"That in itself is quite surprising because Saracens have played most leading clubs in Wales and at one stage were playing almost as many sides in Wales as London Welsh. Newbridge, Ebbw Vale, Pontypool, Bridgend, Neath and Abertillery were the regulars while there have also been one-off matches with Swansea, Llanelli, Pontypridd, Cardiff and Maesteg."
"The format of the Anglo-Welsh competition is that ourselves, Orrell and Northampton play Newport, Treorchy and Caerphilly on a home and away basis with Treorchy the visitors on 6 November and Caerphilly on 2 April. How the competition positions are gauged is at the moment unclear."
"Newport over the years have boasted some of the great Welsh players and have long been one of the leading clubs in Wales. They have also had the distinction of being on the Barbarians fixture list."
"Sadly, reputations in the new tough commercial world of professional rugby count for nothing and Newport are working hard to rebuild their side. They will be looking tonight to help repair some of their confidence after the hammering they took last week against Swansea, and on Saturday they had another tough match against Pontypridd."
"Tonight's Saracens team"
"Tonight gives the opportunity for some of Saracens first team squad who have not featured in the opening Courage matches to show their paces."
"Newcomers from Cardiff institute, full-back Matt Evans and scrum-half Darren Edwards, make their debut, in the centre there are two former Campion pupils in the experienced campaigner Dan Dooley and the younger Kevin Sorrell, an England schools international. Tom Ashworth makes his debut after an impressive performance for the Crusaders at Leicester last week. In the second row, there are two more of last season's first team in Mark Langley and Craig Yandell."
"Mark Burrow recovering"
"Second row Mark Burrow is recovering from a shoulder operation following an injury in training and is expected to be back in action in October."
"Third fixture in tough opening"
"This fixture comes in the midst of a tough programme for Saracens. After that wonderful win over Leicester, we then played Wasps on Sunday and on Saturday Gloucester are here for our third Courage League match of the season."
"Every Saracens supporter would have been on cloud nine after that second successive home victory over the Tigers. After having gone 20 years without a win over the Midlands side, we have now beaten them twice inside ten months."
"Before the match some league previews in the press were tipping us as relegation outsiders and Leicester as title contenders. Its remarkable how the same pundits have swung their predictions on the basis of one match. The astute acquisitions Saracens have made are going to be more than a match for most in the league and while one swallow does not make a Summer, we could be up there come the end of the season on 3 May."
"Saracens have clearly worked hard on the training field and at their training camp in Scotland to enable their new-look side to get together so well. As the weeks and months unfold, the team is sure to develop further."
"Good and bad of professional era"
"It continues to stagger everyone how in the space of 12 months Rugby Union has been turned on its head. There are extremely worthy benefits of this change such as seeing the likes of Michael Lynagh and Phillipe Sella gracing the country's top grounds and the improvements in facilities."
"But this should not be to the detriment of rugby still being a sport founded on strong social traditions, where a pint with old friends is as important as a memorable win. There has to be a delicate balance and the money moguls have to keep this in mind and avoid pricing the sport out of the market with expensive ticket prices."
"Solution - at last!"
"Every rugby follower will have been relieved that last week the sport's administrators finally came up with a solution for the Five Nations Championship. The sport would have been all the poorer if England had been excluded. You cannot beat national passion and the meeting of old friends from France, Scotland, Wales and Ireland."
"IN MY VIEW"
"Peter Bills Rugby Writer"
"The brave new world of rugby faces myriad difficulties. But just as many challenges too. in the current climate of change and uncertainty, it is all too easy to allow the doom and gloom merchants to seize the stage. Emotive headlines and phrases forecasting rugby's demise are given credence yet most such views are held by those clinging vaingloriously to the past. Whatever we may all feel at the sudden and dramatic changes thrust upon the sport, should we not embrace them with as positive a will to succeed as possible? Simply burying one's head in a sandpit named tradition is not facing the reality of the situation."
"One topic alone contains sufficient contentious debate to fill a lecture hall full of passionate devotees. The issue of overseas players or rather non-English rugbymen in the Courage League has been either the portent of disaster or the heralding of an exciting new order, depending upon your viewpoint. I adhere firmly to the camp of the latter. For me, the presence of players of world class like Michael Lynagh and Philippe Selia offers English players a unique opportunity to learn from the masters."
"These players bring proven quality, experience and commitment to their English clubs - other names such as Robert Jones, the brilliant Welsh scrum half at Bristol, Gregor Townsend, the outstanding Scottish threequarter at Northampton and the highly combative Gareth Llewellyn at Harlequins come to mind."
"Yet what would the old stagers, the critics of the system like to see? Keep English clubs for English players alone? Send Johnny Foreigner off home and close the door to him and his pals?"
"As an exercise in the business of isolation, such a view is impeccable. But England, however proud and brave cannot stand alone. And if they did?"
"Let us examine such a scenario for England's rugby clubs. They would be denied the best talent from other countries and retreat into the cocoon which the Courage League had become before this season. And would it benefit the English national team, the so-called object of the exercise?"
"Well, for those of us who sat in that mighty Newlands rugby ground in Cape Town last June and watched England's finest humiliated by the rampant New Zealanders, a longing for the old order invokes a certain amount of derision. Furthermore, since that day, the New Zealand side has improved immeasurably. Has England raised its standards similarly? I doubt it."
"The point about inviting non-English players into English club rugby is that they will provide a marvellous master-pupil relationship for the younger members of the squad. Is anyone suggesting it is mere coincidence that Manchester United won the League and Cup double last season with a bunch of talented youngsters and that the presence of the great Frenchman Cantona in providing the core experience, the guiding hand, the role model had nothing to do with it? Who honestly believes that the Tottenham youngsters such as Glenn Hoddle did not benefit enormously from the example of those two fine Argentinian footballers, Ardiles and Villa?"
"To close one's doors is to close one's mind. Is it not inevitable that any young centre of promise in the Saracens club will glean a wealth of information and practical experience from seeing at first hand all season Philippe Sella, a player with 111 caps to his name."
"And what of the young player studying the impressive manner in which Michael Lynagh goes about his rugby duties? There could be no finer teacher from whom to learn."
"I believe in English club rugby this season we will see a higher standard, infinitely more excitement and many outstanding matches. As the players come to terms with the new laws, the entertainment should increase considerably."
"The fact is, we are fortunate to have so many talented rugby players exhibiting their skills before us each week. As long as English rugby continues to attract proven talent, international class performers, it can only enhance our own standards."
"And the argument that good young players of our own will be denied their chance is bogus, in my view. Those good enough will always find a place on the stage even if it requires a change of club, a situation for which the modern game now caters."
"Sooner or later, clubs will need to address the issue of admitting southern hemisphere stars without the restrictive, draconian period of 180 days which is a nonsense. Fine, limit the southern hemisphere contingent to two per club if you fear a flood tide of Kiwis anxious to escape a wet summer at home! But welcome with open arms the likes of Tim Horan, Jason Little, Chris Cullen, Andrew Mehrtens and Joost van der Westhuizen, if they are willing to come and someone can afford them."
"Professionalism is a whole new world. We should seize it and make it work for us now it is here."