"Chairman's Welcome"
"Hoffwn croesawi Clwb Rygbi Casnewydd yma heddiw i Caeau Bank yr Eglwys ac edrychwn ymlaen at gem cyffrous iawn yn erbyn ein gwrthwynebwyr byd enwog. I would like to extend the usual warm welcome to everyone associated with Newport RFC for what is a very unusual kick off time of 12:15pm. We certainly hope that the player's body clocks will have properly adjusted and that we can look forward to a rip-roaring match against the most consistent of all the Gwent teams in the Principality Premiership. We certainly owe the black and ambers one following our disappointment at losing in Rodney Parade back in October 27-18 having gone in at half time 18-3 ahead! Let us hope that we are able to reproduce some of our best form today for the entire 80 minutes and on that note I believe that parallels can be drawn in many ways between Llandovery and the Wales team in this years 6 Nations at the moment, - in so far as both teams like to play high tempo, high risk rugby but are not quite able to deliver over the full 80 minutes. Both teams are extremely fit and never know when they are beaten and really enjoy scoring tries (only Swansea and Neath have scored more in the PP so far this season). In Lee Rees we have a our very own Shane Williams and in Joe Ajuwa (now affectionately christened by our Welsh speaking contingent as Joe 'Juw Juw' Ajuwa) we have two real entertainers and crowd pleasers, who, when they get the ball, initiate a tangible surge of anticipation and expectation that delights our home supporters. Joe made a tremendous impact for the Scarlets in last weeks crucial win over Ulster and his 50 metre run was instrumental in creating the opening try after only three minutes and Josh Turnbull also made his customary tireless contribution added to by another key Drovers performer, Jonathan Edwards, for the last quarter. Let's hope that Llandovery and then Wales can both produce stirring performances today and both emerge victorious!! Ymalen Y Porthmyn! Ymlaen Cymru!"
"In April we are proud to host the Six Nations Under 18 rugby festival over three days at Church Bank with Wales v Ireland and Scotland v England on Good Friday 2nd April, England v Ireland and Scotland v Italy on Tuesday 6th April culminating with Wales v Italy and Scotland v Ireland on Saturday 10th April. A super sequence of games and testimony to the facilities we have at Church Bank, now formally recognised by the WRU through their allocation of this tournament to our Club."
"Also we have the Wales Schools invitation 7's here on Wednesday 17th March, organised by our own lestyn Thomas and John Kendrick, where 32 of Wales's best school 7's teams will compete for the top prize at what is an ever increasingly popular annual event. The pitches are certainly in top condition at the moment and highly conducive to fast and open rugby v thanks to the sterling efforts of the three musketeers Roger, Dai M and Idris!!!"
"I would also like to extend a special thank you to today's match sponsors, Melin Energy Consultants and in particular to Jamie and Mel Best who i believe are the first sponsors to be camping overnight! We hope you thoroughly enjoy the game and the after match occasion as much as last years! Thanks also to our matchball sponsor today Gwilym Jones, diolch yn fawr iawn am eich cefnogaeth eto eleni."
"Finally we thank our match officials without whom of course we would have no game! Mwynhewch y diwrnod, sy'n fwy hir nag arfer! - a gobeithio bydd y ddau tim sy'n gwisgo coch yn fyddugoliaethus eto heddiw! Er Gwaethaf pawb a phopeth Ni Yma o Hyd!!"
"Handel Davies"
"Our Visitors Today"
"With ourselves battling to try and make the top 8 in the league and enter the play-off's for the British and Irish Cup next season it will be good to talk to Newport and find out their experiences in this season's competition."
"Newport in Pool A are along with Cornish Pirates, Leinster, Exeter, Plymouth Albion and Gael Force. To their great credit Newport have done really well winning 3, drawing 1 and losing 1 of their 5 games. It must be remembered that most of these sides are from full time professional clubs as against the Welsh Premiership sides as part time professionals. So well done Newport. Obviously there is a great deal of travelling involved and one questions that needs to be asked is how the finances pan out - a very important question."
"Last weekend our visitors were involved in this cup deep in Cornwall at the Cornish Pirates. They lost this crucial battle and therefore the chances to make progress into the later stages by the narrow score of 26-20. After falling behind to an early penalty he Black and Ambers never gained parity on the Scoreboard."
"In the Principality our visitors lie in 3rd place with 60 points but they do have 2 games in hand over the leaders Swansea on 72. They have scored the same number (476) of points as the Drovers but with far fewer points against. There is however in the list of results a great discrepancy between their home and away records which might cause a degree of optimism amongst the Drovers supporters. Newport have impressively won all their home games (11 victories) showing Rodney Parade as a fortress for opposing teams. They have fixtures against the Wanderers and Neath to come and no doubt they will fight tooth and nail to keep their record."
"On the road it is a different matter and here they have lost 5 times. Their colours have been lowered by Cross Keys, the Wanderers, Neath, Pontypridd and Swansea. Two victories away have been recorded against Aberavon and Bedwas."
"Earlier in the season when the sides met at Rodney parade the Drovers threw away an 18-3 lead to lose 27-18. A strong run by ex-Drover and Dragons centre set up a second half try for Alan Awcock and then even worse a late penalty by Dam Griffiths robbed the Drovers of a bonus point which their efforts so richly deserved."