Newport grabbed their first win of the season in a dramatic, if surprisingly low-scoring Gwent derby.
This was a rematch of last season’s final where the Black and Ambers were also victorious, however, since then the two sides have had contrasting fortunes.
Ebbw had won all of their first four matches this season, with maximum points in each, meanwhile Newport were winless in their first five games.
11 minutes in, it looked as though the result would follow the form book as Ebbw Vale wing Ewan Bowden scored in the corner.
However, Newport struck back in the second quarter as Finn Baker found space to go over with the conversion successful from Dragons’ own Jac Lloyd.
While Ebbw dominated the remainder of the half, they were unable utilise their driving maul to full effect with Newport and Dragons’ Barny Langton-Cryer earning man of the match for his disruption work in that department.
Defences remained on top into the second half and the scoreboards wouldn’t change until the last 10 minutes where Baker sped in to score his second and give the Black and Ambers a 12-5 win.
The result sees Ebbw Vale slip a point behind Llandovery at the top of the Super Rygbi Cymru table, although they do have a game in hand on the Drovers.
Meanwhile, Newport have closed the gap at the foot of the table and now sit on 11 points, along with RGC.
Elsewhere, following back-to-back home victories it was a disappointing loss on the road for Pontypool who suffered a 31-3 defeat at Cardiff RFC.
In fact it was Pooler who would score first through a Kieran Meek kick from three metres inside the Cardiff half to give the visitors a 3-0 lead after a quarter of the game.
Cardiff dominated possession and territory, but were unable to break Pooler’s defence until hooker Alun Rees went over on the back of aa driving maul.
Despite Cardiff’s dominance the score was just 5-3 in their favour at the break, however, 10 minutes into the second half and the tries came for the home side with Tom Cottle capitalising on a Pooler error before Joe Goodchild’s acrobatic finish in the right corner.
Former Dragons flanker Ben Fry powered over from short range for Cardiff’s bonus point before the hosts returned to the driving maul with Gavin Parry scoring their fifth try of the day.
Pontypool will look to bounce back quickly as they host Aberavon at Pontypool Park on Thursday night, in a game which will be live on S4C Rygbi’s YouTube channel, meanwhile Newport travel to Bridgend on Saturday and Ebbw host Swansea.
Newport: Carwyn Penny; Morgan Williams, Iestyn Galton, Chay Foster-Smith, Finn Baker; Jac Lloyd, Che Hope; Tom Devine, Wade Langley, Garin Harris, Josh Skinner, Barny Langton-Cryer, Hunter Ward, Kyle Tayler, Ben Roach (c).
Replacements: Henry Palmer, Jordan Morris, Ollie Drake, Cerrig Smith, Josh Reid, Tiger Chatham, Lucus Welch, Noah Morgan.
Ebbw Vale: Evan Lloyd; Dafydd Thomas, Ethan Phillips, Dom Franchi (c), Ewan Bowden, Dorian Jones, Rory Harries; Luke Garrett, Ieuan Morris, Adam Williams, Alfred Bateman Lloyd, Curtis Gregory, Jack Pope, Sion Parry, Owen Conquer.
Replacements: Joe Franchi, Adam Court, Morgan Bosanko, Ben Main, Lewis Young, Gruff Tough, Dylan Edwards, Cameron Davies.
Pontypool: Walker Price; Rhys Cole, Pat Lewis, Joel Mahoney, Marcus Jones, Kieran Meek, Logan Franklin; Sam Cochrane, Evan Wood, Owain James, Joe Davies, Liam Antrobus, Scott Matthews, Mike Herbert (c), Morgan Allen.
Replacements: Ewan Burrows, George Tuckley, Owen Popple, Ieuan Jones, Dan Hill, Harri Ford, Ioan Evans, Evan Minto.
