DESIGNED to put Newport and their fans in the soup - this Newcastle Rugby poster, in some cases eight-foot high, has been posted all around the North-East city and on the metro.

It features a broken can of leek soup with the name of Newport and its crest with the words: 'All the way from Wales and going straight back.'

It's all meant to be lighthearted and is designed to publicise Saturday night's Heineken Cup clash at Kingston Park.

Newport chief executive Keith Grainger, ironically himself a Geordie, responded today by 'stirring' it up further by stating: "I hope they don't get egg on their faces!" (or should that be soup!)

A Newcastle spokesman defended it robustly, though, saying: "It's very tongue-in-cheek. It's eye catching and it's helping us draw the crowds."

Newcastle, though, have landed themselves in the soup -- the kick off time on the poster says 2.30pm, but, in fact, it's 6.15pm.