After taking the lead early in the first half from a Shane Howarth penalty, Newport never looked in danger of losing against a much-changed Llanelli side.

A Jason Forster try in the 73rd minute secured the two points for Newport after Howarth contributed 15 points from penalties.

Before then, the lifeless match descended into a kicking battle between Howarth and Stephen Jones as both teams were guilty of persistent offending in the rucks and in midfield.

Llanelli decided to rest most of their international players, and their backs failed to make any impact against a highly organised Newport defence.

Strong wind

Newport ended the half leading 9-0 courtesy of Howarth's boot, as neither side managed to create any meaningful try scoring opportunities.

Stephen Jones missed two crucial penalty opportunities late in the first half as he struggled to deal with the strong head wind.

Howarth kicked another penalty early in the second half before Llanelli finally got on the scoreboard from a Jones penalty.

The visitors' best move of the match came after 50 minutes when a surging run from prop Martyn Madden set up a promising field position.

They managed to get within two meters of the try line before Newport conceded a penalty in front of the post which Jones duly converted to make the score 12-6.

Ten minutes later, Llanelli closed the gap further with another Jones penalty as they tried to increase the tempo.

Sin bin

The turning point in the match undoubtedly came with 13 minutes left in the match.

Llanelli's Tongan winger Salesi Finau was sin binned after a high tackle.

Newport began to make the most of their numerical advantage and eventually managed to free right winger Martyn Llewellyn.

His in-field kick was chased by Forster, and as Llanelli seemed to have secured posession, the flanker pounced on the ball to score the decisive try.

Howarth's conversion attempt was charged down, but the home side kept out Llanelli's desperate attacks late in the match to the delight of the home crowd.

Scorers - Newport: Try: Forster. Pens: Howarth 5

Llanelli: Pens: S Jones 3

Llanelli: M Cardey, G Evans, A Lawson, N Boobyer, S Finau, S Jones (capt), R Moon, P Booth, R McBryde, M Madden, V Cooper, C Gillies, D Jones, I Boobyer, D Hodges
Replacements: J Davies, M Thomas, C Wyatt, M Buckingham, D Peel, Fisher, W Proctor

Newport: M Pini, M Llewellyn, J Jones-Hughes, A Marinos, M Watkins, S Howarth, D Edwards, R Snow, P Young, A Garvey, S Raiwalui, I Gough, P Buxton, J Forster, G Teichmann (capt)
Replacements: C Jones, J Richards, G Taylor, A Popham, E Lewis, J Pritchard, D Burn

Referee: David R Davies (Llanbrathach)