The visitors trailed by 22 points early in the second half after tries from Percy Montgomery, Paul Young and Matt Mostyn.

Five-pointers from Jamie Ringer and Shane Williams got Neath back into the game, before a late effort from veteran flanker Rowland Phillips - converted by Shaun Connor - put the All Blacks ahead for the first time.

Montgomery had a chance to win the match with the last kick of the game, but his angled penalty sailed wide.

Match details:

Newport:
Tries: P Montgomery, P Young, M Mostyn
Cons: Montgomery (2)
Pens: Montgomery (2)

Neath:
Tries: J Ringer, S Williams, R Phillips
Cons: S Connor (3)
Pens: L Jarvis, Connor

The Springbok international had started the scoring with a penalty after just 90 seconds.

A tired-looking All Blacks side lost possession in the 14th minute and - with the referee missing a suspected Newport knock-on - Matt Mostyn was able to break clear and put Montgomery in at the corner.

Lee Jarvis put Neath on the board with a 40m penalty, but soon after their defence made a hash of a Shane Howarth up-and-under.

All the pre-match talk had been about Neath prop Duncan Jones' switch to hooker, but it was his opposite number Paul Young who gathered the loose ball to sprint in from 25m.

Jones had a mixed game in the unfamiliar position. His line-out work was reasonably reliable, but the stocky front-rower did not perform his usual tackling and ball-carrying roles.

A Montgomery penalty made it 18-3 at the half-way point, and when Mostyn gave Newport their third try after an excellent break early in the second half it looked like game over.

But the spirited All Blacks fought back. First a Dave Tiueti break put replacement flanker Jamie Ringer over for his first try for his new club, converted by fellow-sub Shaun Connor.

On the 60-minute mark Shane Williams was presented with an overlap, and the diminutive winger pushed his case for a Wales recall by beating three defenders before crossing for a fabulous score.

The vocal support were baying for the blood of referee Paul Adams, as Newport flanker Ian Gough was sin-binned after some vigorous use of the boot.

A Connor penalty reduced the gap to five points with just 10 minutes to go, then five minutes later Phillips piled over from close range for the crucial converted try.

The Black and Ambers mounted a desperate last-ditch assault, but Montgomery and Howarth saw drop-shots at goal fail to find their mark.

With six minutes of injury time gone Montgomery was given one last chance to win the game, but he could not find the target.

Neath move to joint second in the Welsh Premiership with Newport, three points behind leaders Bridgend.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newport: P Montgomery; M Mostyn, J Jones-Hughes, J Pritchard, A Cadwallader; S Howarth, O Tonu'u; R Snow, P Young, A Garvey, S Raiwalui, M Voyle, I Gough, J Forster, S Ojomoh.
Reps: C Anthony, Pattison, A Powell, R Jones, D Burn, H Luscombe, J Strange.

Neath: A Durston; G Morris, J Storey, D Tiueti, S Williams; L Jarvis, A Moore; P James, D Jones, A Jones, A Newman, L Bateman, A Mocelutu, S Tandy, R Phillips.
Reps: R Richards, S Connor, A Bateman, Matthews, Davies, J Ringer, Howells.

Ref: Paul Adams (WRU)

Att: 6,056

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