After a 20 day break from Super Rygbi Cymru action, Cardiff RFC fell to a 19-12 defeat against Newport RFC at Rodney Parade.
Tries from hooker Alun Rees and returning Elijah Evans, proved insufficient as the Black and Ambers recorded their third win of the season.
Josh Skinner crossed early in the first half, and lwas then accompanied by crosses from Garin Harris and Chay Foster-Smith, which claimed the spoils in Newport.
Speaking after the game, Sean Moore who made his 100th appearance for the club said: “It’s a privilege to make my 100th appearance, for a club with the history it’s got.
“Come away on the wrong side of the result tonight. We left too much to do in the second half, give them two early tries and you can’t do that against Newport.”
Story of the Game
Outside half Jac Lloyd got proceedings underway on a cold, Baltic evening at Rodney Parade.
Winter had officially arrived, with the pitch in places hard underfoot, but still the historical tradition of Newport against Cardiff continued.
During what was a competitive 15 minutes, the visitors were penalised after a scrum in front of the posts.
Ty Morris’ men opted for the corner, but after some heroic defending on the line from the Blue and Blacks, the encounter remained try-less as the ball was held up.
But, Cardiff found themselves down to 14-men shortly following this. Openside Nathan Hudd was sent off for ten minutes, and this was quickly followed by the deadlock being broken.
Second-row Skinner crossed over from close range and Lloyd added the extras, which put the hosts 7-0 up after 17 minutes.
Minute later the try-scorer, with the Black and Ambers on the front foot again, offloaded out wide to Ben Roach, who was also celebrating his 100th appearance.
The skipper, put Newport metres from the whitewash. Scrum-half Che Hope produced a timely offload to Garin Harris, as the hosts’ lead quickly double.
As the first half went on, so the scoreboard remained unchanged.
In fact, when the pair last met at Rodney Parade in March 2024, it was the same story as Fish’s side were 14-0 down in that encounter as well.
HT: Newport 14-0 Cardiff
Perhaps some of the messaging at half-time from the Blue and Blacks was about reacting quickly and making sure they were next to score. That was crucial, if the visitors had any hope of reducing the deficit.
Within six minutes that deficit was seven points. After becoming a centurion in his last appearance, Rees from a catch-and-drive scored, which means he has scored 200 points for Cardiff RFC.
However, the try itself came from a brilliantly crafted kick into the corner by outside half Lloyd Lucas with Lucas de la Rua being the receiver at the lineout.
Then after a high ball by Lucas, Tom Williams wearing the 12 jersey kicked in behind, as Dewi Cross won the foot race against Hope, but referee Carwyn Sion brought play back as the winger was deemed, perhaps surprisingly to be in front of the kicker.
The 2025/26 Captain for Cardiff RFC, Craig Hudd made his first appearance of the season as he came off the bench to replace Tom Cottle before the hour mark.
Foster-Smith then quickly extended the hosts’ lead further. This came from a long pass out wide by Lloyd which was taken by Iestyn Galton who offloaded back inside for the inside centre to score.
Lloyd was unable to add the extras, as the Blue and Blacks entered the final quarter down by 12 points. That did change before the final whistle, as the visitors claimed their second.
In his first game of the season since Cardiff Rugby’s pre-season contest against Richmond FC, Evans scored on his return.
Only moments earlier suffering with cramp, the outside centre put a brilliant kick in behind and showed some great footballing skills to score his first of the season.
Then to finish off what was turning into an evening to forget for Cardiff, Moore received a red card for an infringement around the breakdown area.
From the resulting penalty, Lloyds shot went wide, but then it saw Newport claim their second home win of the season.
The Blue and Blacks welcome Swansea RFC who’ll head to the Cardiff Arms Park next Friday (KO: 19:15), after a dramatic draw against Bridgend Ravens which finished 29-29.
FT: Newport 19-12 Cardiff