Newport need to be ruthless against Ebbw Vale - boss Morris

The Black and Ambers were beaten at Cardiff in the semi-finals last season but have home advantage against the Steelmen on Saturday evening (kick-off 5.15pm).

The Spytty Park showdown comes three weeks after Newport finished their regular season with an 89-26 rout of Bridgend.

They watched on as Llandovery pipped them to top spot and a tie against fourth-placed Cardiff.

The Black and Ambers are on a 14-game winning streak and Morris is confident that the short break won’t hit their title hopes.

“Initially I had concerns about not being able to continue our momentum but it has worked really well,” said the head coach.

“We had a bit of down time in the first week, with a meal out all together to relax, and then in the second week we started our preparation.

Newport beat Pontypool on their way to a 14-game winning streak to finish the regular season (Image: NCR Photography)“If I am completely honest, we thought that we would be playing Ebbw Vale. We didn’t deliver anything to the team about them but as a coaching group we started looking towards that.

“But the main focus has been around us and making sure that we are accurate in what we deliver, which we feel we haven’t done in the two previous games with Ebbw Vale this year.

“We won up there but still feel we were only in third gear so we have been focused on delivering a ruthless performance and this week the intensity has been high with spicy sessions.”

Newport know that they will need to be at their best against an Ebbw side that are a tough nut to crack and won at Spytty early in the season.

“What Jason is very good at along with his coaching team is building that family ethos,” said Morris, who played for the Steelmen.

“That Ebbw Vale team really do play for each other and it’s always a battle against them. This weekend will be no different.

“We want to play at a high-tempo and with a high ball-in-play time, that suits our game, but if that doesn’t materialise then we just need to be really accurate whether that’s with our exits or starter plays.

“We are very hard to beat when we are at our best, so we need to get the little details right.”

Morris stepped up from forwards coach to replace Craig Warlow as boss in 2019 and led the club to Premiership Cup glory in 2022.

They were pipped to the title by Cardiff that year in a Covid-shortened season then lost to the Blue and Blacks at the Arms Park in the semis last year.

Nonetheless, Newport are used to being challengers and Morris has experience of making tough calls.

“I have probably had some criticism in recent years with the squad rotation but it comes down to this business end of the season,” he said.

“It gives you selection headaches but I would be comfortable with putting every one of our players in the XV, we’ve not had the same team every week and everybody is fresh and raring to go.”