"Good Afternoon and welcome to Newport"
"A very warm welcome this afternoon at the start of a brand new season to old friends indeed Newport; A club we have been meeting almost unbroken for many years. Many uncertainties still surround our club fixtures both in England and Wales, not least when and on what dates will we all be playing our league fixtures from next season onwards. Certainly many administrators, your writer included, are very concerned about the possible long term affects notably of Anglo-Welsh fixtures. Hopefully, all will be satisfactorily resolved by our respective hierarchy, we must certainly hope so if long standing traditions like today's meeting are to remain."
"There was indeed a break of some years until 12 years ago when fixtures recommenced between Cov and Casnewyedd, to give them their Welsh name. Since then Newport have won 7 and Coventry 5. Indeed last season we gained our first win at Rodney Parade for many years by 15pts-13, that result following our 19pts-9 win here in the corresponding fixture the previous season. We should mention prior to that Newport had won the three previous meetings, including their last success here in September 1985 by 13pts-27."
"Like ourselves, today is Newport's first match of the season. Towards the end of last season however, they showed real signs of returning to some of their real glory days of 20 years ago when they produced an eight match unbeaten run. 247pts were collected when the notable scalps of Bath, Bristol, Moseley and Pontypool, amongst others, were gained. Successes which certainly gave a lot of heart and hope to joint coaches Keith James the former fly half and Jim McCreedy."
"The Black and Ambers' skipper is once again flanker Glen George, who forms a lively back row with Andy Pocock and Roger Powell. Another well known name in the pack is experienced second row man David Waters. Turning to the backs, a very youthful unit, Damion Griffiths on the wing ran in 19 tries last season and subsequently toured with Wales B this summer. Former Wales Youth full back Matthew Silva joined last season, which certainly offset the loss of Jonathan Callard to Bath, whilst on the opposite wing to Griffiths, John Thomas ran in 21 tries to top the list for his club. Centre Anthony Evans is also a former Wales Youth cap."
"The scene would appear to have been set then for this opener to the new season. Like ourselves, Newport face a busy start with 13 matches in September and October leading up to their meeting with New Zealand on 31st October. With both our clubs anxious to do well this afternoon, it promises to be a most interesting 80 minutes or so."