Gethin Robinson wants a ruthless Newport (From Campaign Series)

Gethin Robinson wants a ruthless Newport

6:10am Friday 18th January 2013 in Gwent rugby By Iwan Davies

NEWPORT look to tighten their defence and shore up their scrum when they take on Connacht Eagles in the British and Irish Cup clash tomorrow.

The Black and Ambers hope their visit to the home of the Buccaneers club at Dubarry Park in Athlone will to turn into very profitable raid.

They aim to take home the spoils after going seven games without a win following four defeats and three draws.

Last week Newport and Cross Keys played out an enjoyable 27-27 British and Irish Cup stalemate at Rodney Parade.

Captain and tighthead prop Gethin Robinson emphasised the need for his team to start finding those elusive victories after three ties in their last four games, being held 6-6 and 18-18 at home by Cardiff and Llandovery respectively.

“We were disappointed we didn’t beat Keys last week and Cardiff and Llandovery because we let some of those teams off the hook,” he said.

“The approach for this weekend’s game will be same as last Saturday – we want to find some form and put together a performance throughout the whole 80 minutes.”

Robinson added: “We need to tighten up defensively. Up front last week the lineout went well but our scrum suffered a bit.”

Newport Gwent Dragons’ Irish tighthead prop Tim Ryan could be set to boost their scrum by featuring against his compatriots, who gave the mighty Newcastle a real game last week before going down 16-6 away at Kingston Park.

• Fly-half Scott Sneddon has been named by supporters as Newport player of the month for December.