NEWPORT boss Craig Warlow was disappointed that his players didn’t do themselves justice on the big stage after their journey in the WRU National Cup ended in a crushing loss to Merthyr in the final.

The Black and Ambers’ bid to lift the trophy was ended comprehensively by the Ironmen, who ran in five tries in a 41-7 triumph at Principality Stadium.

Newport have played some stirring rugby to earn a first final date since 2003 but after beating beating Swansea, Aberavon, Bedwas and Llandovery found the Premiership champions far, far too strong.

“It was frustrating,” said Warlow. “We’ve worked really hard to be on an upward curve and this was a chance to showcase what we are about, but unfortunately we didn’t do that.

“A lot of credit has got to go to Merthyr, they stopped us on or before the gainline while conversely they got over it when they had the ball.

“In a collision sport it doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that if you get beyond the gainline you can create quick ball and play to the edges. We didn’t do that at all and were a little bit lateral because of that.

“We knew that Merthyr would come hard there but they made a mess of the breakdown and (flanker) Osian Davies rightly had man of the match – he is an absolute pain in the backside.”

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Newport scored a glimpse of their talent with an excellent consolation try by centre Chay Smith at the death, but their pride at making the final was mixed with disappointment at their Principality Stadium performance.

“It’s a strange feeling because that didn’t really reflect what we are about as a team,” said Warlow.

“We got so many well-wishes and people passing on good luck that you know there is a wealth of support behind you.

“It’s just frustrating when you get a chance to showcase what we are about and it doesn’t come through.

“It’s disappointing and you can’t exactly say onwards and upwards, we start against next week because this was a one-off.

“Hanging on to everything up until kick-off is key; the wealth of support, the enthusiasm from the locality, the positive feeling from the players and everything associated with the club.

“We’ve got to maintain that and finish the season strongly, because for it all to finish in a negative way would be a shame.”

“Getting to the final is really difficult. The journey to the final is exciting because you want to get there and showcase what you are about, and we didn’t do that,” he continued.

“I think that we are one of the better teams in the league; we didn’t show that in the final because we played against the best team.

“On their day they are capable of beating any side by a fair margin and they were excellent.

“Our game was littered with errors but that is testament to Merthyr. They accelerate into collisions, didn’t give us the chance to win quick ball and we coughed it up trying to force things.

“But all season we have been about trying to play the ball out of contact and create quick ball. With high risk comes errors, so we are not going to say we played the wrong way, we just didn’t play it well enough.”