2000-01 saw Springbok legend Gary Teichmann continue as captain. Springbok prop Adrian Garvey, former Newport lock Ian Gough, flanker Peter Buxton, hooker James Richards, Irish wing Matt Mostyn, utility back Emyr Lewis (son of coach Allan), scrum-half Darren Edwards and ex-Italy / Australia fullback Matt Pini all joined Newport RFC while Justin Thomas, Mark Workman, Andrew Gibbs and Gary Hicks left and joined other clubs. Franco Smith returned to South Africa and hooker Damien Cummins returned to Australia.
Performance in the Welsh Scottish League was disappointing. In September Newport lost at Llanelli and Cardiff but had good wins against Neath, Swansea, Ebbw Vale and Bridgend as well as a rare win at Pontypridd 22 v 44. By the end of the year Newport had also beaten Cross Keys, Llanelli, Edinburgh and Ebbw Vale but had suffered a further two defeats at Cardiff and at Edinburgh.
The New Year saw wins against Pontypridd, Bridgend, Caerphilly (twice) and Cross Keys but defeats at Swansea and two at the hands of Glasgow Caledonians meant Newport finished 4th in the Welsh Scottish League compared to runners-up the previous season.
Newport made their first ever appearance in the Heineken European Cup. They went to Munster full of hope but never recovered from a slow start. They then met Bath, former holders of the European Cup at Rodney Parade, and a magnificent performance in front of a capacity crowd of just under 11,000 gave them a 38 v 10 win and kept their hopes alive. A last minute penalty by outside half Shane Howarth just held off Castres 21 v 20. However the return match in France was lost. Defeat at home to Munster, after a floodlight failure interrupted the game, in a match that they should have won finished Newport's European Cup hopes.
In the Welsh Principality Cup Newport had comfortable wins over UWIC, Aberavon and Dunvant to meet Ebbw Vale in the S/F. After a tough fight they won 19 v 12 to play their 4th ever final where they met Neath at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. On the Saturday 72,500 watched Liverpool win the FA Cup while this time on the Sunday approx 20,000 watched the final of which some 12,000 were Newport supporters. In a tense final Newport under the inspired leadership of Gary Teichmann got home 13 v 8 thanks to a try by prop Adrian Garvey and 1c, 1p and 1dg by outside half Shane Howarth for their first trophy in 24 years.
The team returned to Rodney Parade with the Cup and were greeted by a delirious 2,000 crowd who said one final farewell to the retiring Gary Teichmann.
Lock Simon Raiwalui played in 31 of the 33 games and other leading appearances were Andy Marinos 30, Shane Howarth 29, Matt Mostyn 29, Rod Snow 29 and James Richards 29. Shane Howarth scored 411pts which had only been beaten by Paul Turner with 442 pts in 1986-87 although this included 74pts on a tour to Cyprus. Leading try scorer was wing Matt Mostyn with 21 of which 5 were in the Principality Welsh Cup.
2000 saw the publication by Tempus Publishing Ltd. of the second historical volume 'Images of Sport Newport Rugby Football Club 1950-2000' compiled by Steve Lewis.
The week before the cup final also saw Newport produce a 48 page Official Commemorative Brochure, Gary Teichman Souvenir Issue. With an opening Welcome by Tony Brown the Brochure contained articles and match photographs celebrating progress that had been made at the Club in the time that Gary Teichman had been there.