Albion draw as weather rains on Newport Parade
A deluge of heavy rain in the hour prior to kick-off had threatened to call off last night's Pool A game.
However, referee David Wilkinson declared the pitch playable and, credit to both sides, they did all they could to play entertaining rugby.
Graham Dawe's side, who were beaten 16-13 by Leinster in their opening match of the competition last weekend, went in at the break tied at 3-3, with a Kieran Hallett penalty accounting for their points.
Albion dominated the second period and looked the most likely to emerge victors.
But they couldn't turn their possession or territorial superiority into points and had to be content with the draw and two, match points.
Albion made five changes to the side who started the match against Leinster.
In the backs, centre Matt Hopper came in to make his first start of the season, Gary Kingdom replaced the injured Liam Gibson on the wing and Hallett returned to his customary fly-half position.
Among the forwards, George Porter lined up at prop to make his first start for the club and Darren Clayton came back into the side at flanker.
It was Hallett who had the first chance of the game with just two minutes gone when Newport were penalised at the scrum.
However, the outside-half's 30-metre penalty attempt dropped just short of the posts.
Three minutes later, Newport were handed the same opportunity when Mark Lee was penalised for a high tackle on Chris Wannell.
Wannell stepped up and made no mistake with the resulting penalty to hand the Black and Ambers a 3-0 lead.
With the rain continuing to fall, both sides were doing their best to try and generate some control in tricky conditions.
And Albion drew level on 16 minutes, having stolen the ball at a Newport line-out.
The hosts were penalised for use of the boot and Hallett stroked the resulting penalty high and through the centre of the posts.
Back came the Welsh side and they were awarded a penalty on 23 minutes when Clayton was harshly penalised for holding on.
However, Wannell's kick sailed wide right.
With conditions underfoot rapidly deteriorating and making it difficult to run with the ball, both sides were struggling to generate momentum.
Albion did have an opportunity on 28 minutes to go in front when Newport centre Richard Payne was penalised for holding on.
But Lee's 45-metre penalty attempt dropped short and a difficult chance to score went begging.
The remainder of the half saw both sides doing all they could to establish an advantage.
But neither could find a way through and went in at the break level.
The second period began with no let up in the rain and it was Albion who began the better.
They controlled the opening seven minutes and forced their way into Newport's 22 on two occasions.
But they were unable to turn their possession into points.
It took until the 51st minute before the hosts made it out of their half, but when they did they found Plymouth's defence difficult to break down.
As the rain continued to fall and the pitch began to cut up further, it was becoming more and more apparent that the next score was likely to prove crucial.
Albion were looking the more likely to get their noses in front and their forwards drove towards Newport's 22 on 70 minutes.
They mauled their way to within 10 metres of the whitewash, but then knocked-on and a superb opportunity to establish a stranglehold was wasted.
The closing stages of the encounter saw Albion continue to look the more dangerous.
But they were unable to find the one score they needed to snatch the win their performance deserved.
MATCH STATS
Newport: Gareth Wyatt, Ryan Owen (Matthew Pewtner 48, Kyle Barrett blood 56-72), Richard Payne, Tom Cooper, Alan Awcock, Chris Wannell (Dan Griffiths 63), Andrew Quick, Dai Pattison (Ian Evans 58), Andrew Brown (Mike Leaman 58), Gethin Robinson, Dafydd Rosser, Alex Jones (Adam Frampton 66), Richard Dale (Toby Faletau 52), Paul Williams, Andrew Coombs (capt).
Albion: Mark Lee, Ben Mercer, Matt Hopper, Sione Tu'ipuluto, Gary Kingdom, Kieran Hallett, Ruairi Cushion (Keni Fisilau 61), George Porter (Martin Rice 48), Joe Clark (Graham Dawe 80+1), Ryan Hopkins, James Waterhouse (Mike Lewis 76), Tom Skelding, Wayne Sprangle, Darren Clayton (Rory Watts-Jones 65), Kyle Marriott (capt). Reps (not used): Alex Davies, Tom Kessell.
Scorers: Newport: Pen: Wannell. Albion: Pen: Hallett.
Cards: None
Referee: David Wilkinson (IRFU).
Albion man of the match: Kyle Marriott: Albion's number eight and captain for the night led by example with a hard-working display. Marriott produced several, strong attacking runs and his defensive work was spot-on, epitomised by a number of well-timed tackles.
