2004-05 saw Newport having to almost completely rebuild once more. They lost no fewer that 14 players from their highly successful side with many being offered more lucrative deals in England including captain Gareth Gravell and coach Darryl Jones. Coach Leigh Jones was made assistant coach with the regional side and Newport brought in former player and Wales U21/Cross Keys coach Dai Rees. Sven Cronk became player-coach and new players included former Newport back Gareth Chapman (Cross Keys), utility back Ricky Williams (Llandovery), scrum half James Ireland (Wales U21/Cross Keys), former Wales A lock Neil Edwards (Ebbw Vale), lock Nick Kelly (Cross Keys, Pontypridd and Celtic Warriors) promising Wales U19 lock Ben Thomson (Harlequins A).

Of the first 16 games played an incredible 12 games were played away and this resulted in 5 defeats and it was always going to be difficult to regain the Premier league title from then on especially as the WRU deducted 3pts for failing to play Llandovery at home. Newport stuck manfully to the task and started to play some very attractive rugby. They also beat the new Premier League champions Neath once more at Rodney Parade 31 v 14 on 30th April 2005 with a tremendous display.

Disappointingly they were knocked out of the Welsh Cup at Aberavon in the quarter final by 18 v 17 having been 18 v 0 down at one time. Many felt that the non-availability of key scrum-half James Ireland, on regional duty the day before, was one of the key factors.

Newport can feel very satisfied with their season ending with the runners-up place in the Welsh Premier League. It was a very difficult season which started with a rebuilt team and new coaches and captain.

Fixture clashes with the regional Newport Gwent Dragons side resulted in Newport having long runs of away games and the loss of key players at times. They scored 1053 pts and 152 tries from their 36 games and stretched their unbeaten home record to 37 matches - the last home defeat being against Neath on 5th February 2003.

The pack was again outstanding with Matt Veater, Sam Waldron, Nick Kelly, Neil Edwards and Rhys Jones to the fore but a lack of cutting edge behind at times proved to be costly although Gareth Chapman always looked dangerous. Young lock Ben Thomson proved to a real find and played for Wales U21 while Dan Griffiths also started to show well after an indifferent start to the season while scrum-half James Ireland, although at times erratic, showed some real qualities. Wales U21 fullback Ricky Williams also looked a star in the making.

Leading try scorer was Gareth Chapman with 15 tries while Dan Griffiths was again leading points scorer with 304pts.

Popular Canadian and more recently Newport Gwent Dragons regional prop Rod Snow announced his retirement. He played 1 further game for Newport RFC against Swansea in April 2005 and then played in a testimonial match at Rodney Parade in May 2005. It was a very emotional farewell to Rod who had become one of the most popular players ever to wear the famous Black & Amber jersey. He had made 189 appearances and scored 29 tries for Newport RFC since 1995.