Newport maul Ebbw Vale

Newport 61 Ebbw Vale 9

South African star Percy Montgomery made light of the pressure he was under with a 29-point haul as Newport routed their great rivals who they will merge with next season.

Monty is under a big cloud waiting for a disciplinary hearing after being sent off for pushing a touch judge over.

But he repaid Newport with a magnificent performance, scoring two tries and kicking five conversions and three penalties.

Vale had scrum-half Gareth Betts sent off after 32 minutes for a dangerous tackle but they were already 28-6 down.

The home side showed them no mercy and were in charge from the start.

Montgomery fired over two early penalties and then the Black and Ambers rattled in four first-half tries.

Flanker Gareth Gravell got the first from close in, ever-popular prop Rod Snow charged across for another, scrum-half Ofisa Ton’u weighed in and winger Alex Cadwallader also crossed.

Vale’s response was limited to two penalties by fly-half Byron Hayward, the second taking his total for the season to 520, though mainly for Pontypool, a Welsh scoring record.

Newport piled on more heavy pressure in the second half despite a downpour. Montgomery struck with two quickfire tries, Gravell added a second and Matt Mostyn completed the rout in injury time.