THE game is on though Ebbw Vale may wish after today's encounter that Marcus Russell had gone through with his threat not to play Newport at Rodney Parade.

That threat had nothing to do with the teams in Premier Division action today, of course, but was the result of yet another row at regional level.

All now appears sweetness and light on the regional front and today's match should not involve any bad feeling as the players were in no way involved.

Another decent crowd is expected, though it's unlikely Vale will bring as much support as Pontypool did last week when the crowd was over 4,000. Newport won that match quite comfortably in the end, though they could have been two or three tries down after half-an-hour.

They dominated the lineouts, took control in the scrums and behind looked to have youngsters with pace and a fine goal-kicking outside-half in Daniel Griffiths.

But the three-quarters did not really function until Rhys Shorney entered the fray and he is again a replacement today.

Instead, Sione Tuipulotu is moved from full-back to centre and he too is a fine attacker and is defensively strong.

A young and inexperienced Vale had a fine home win over Pontypridd last week, the result boosted by Pontypridd's Wednesday night win over Pontypool.

But Vale will be without the guiding hand and goal-kicking of the injured Byron Hayward, and that is a massive blow.

So with Newport expected to improve, it looks like a comfortable home success.

In many ways a more interesting match is that at Pandy Park where Cross Keys face Bedwas.

Keys pulled off a surprise last week with their victory at title favourites Caerphilly despite being down to 12 men with three in the sin bin at one stage.

But Bedwas too scored an excellent win at Newbridge and can be a threat to anyone.

They are also a very settled side and the return of flanker Chris Brown and centre John Welch gives them a stronger look.

Keys, on the other hand, have made numerous changes and though chastised by my comments last week that their front five did not look the strongest, if anything it looks even weaker this time.

The confidence gained from beating Caerphilly and the wish to do well in their first home match would normally result in me tipping them to win. But I think this match could go either way.

Newbridge, severely hit by injuries, face a difficult task away to Caerphilly. Caerphilly too have injuries. So, for no better reason than they are at home, Caerphilly are taken to gain a narrow win.