rugby union . Newport nearly stick in the mud . Oxford fail to combine : Willcox outstanding at full-back . by Rupert Cherry . Newport &amp;hellip; 14 pts . Oxford University &amp;hellip; 5 . this was harder work for Newport than the score suggests . come rain , slime or mud - and all were present at Rodney Parade - Newport always try to retain their famous and spectacular technique of handling and backing-up . this time , however , it almost came unstuck , or rather stuck in the mud . true they scored two tries , but one was almost a gift . their second penalty goal was in the same category , so that the margin of a goal , two penalty goals and a try to a goal was , on the whole , somewhat flattering . Oxford put up a splendid fight and none more so than their courageous captain , Willcox . his fielding , tackling and covering were a complete justification of his selection for England against Ireland . Oxford had their share in the open but , unlike Newport , could not combine as a team . so their movements were short as well as few and far between . the centres , after one or two tentative thrusts early on when the ground was not cut up , soon found they were reduced to kicking . this they did all too often straight to the opposition . in the circumstances , Brown , in place of Sharp at fly-half , was probably justified in preferring to kick rather than to set his line going over ground in which the lightest step made a deep imprint . early rhythm . Griffith &apos;s poor day . Newport had no such qualms and swung at once into their handling rhythm . but Griffiths , at fly-half , had a bad day . he dropped many passes and even those that came well to hand . however , within the first few minutes , a break by Britton in his own half led to handling by more than half the side and ended with Ford dropping the ball with Wills waiting for the scoring pass . Lewis soon kicked the first of his two penalty goals from the 25 while Willcox failed with a similar shot . but the Oxford full-back redeemed himself immediately with a splendid tackle on Lewis . just after half-time an unfortunate mistake by Oxford caused the first Newport try . Ware rushed in from the wing attempting to field a high punt in the centre of the field , which Willcox had well covered . they collided , neither secured the ball and , with the right-wing unguarded , Wills was able to collect and score . Lewis converted with a fine kick . lights on . Oxford encouraged . Oxford &apos;s best means of progress was by the boot and it was in this manner that they secured their only success . McPartlin and Stafford hacked the ball from halfway , Lewis fell and missed it and McPartlin went on to score , Willcox converting . the introduction of the white ball and floodlights gave Oxford encouragement . an interception by McPartlin almost led to another try . Griffiths caught him and Ware was only just held as he struggled with three Newport men clinging to him towards the line . however , Newport recovered their poise and a fine run by Jones brought another try . Willcox stopped him but Wills was there to make the touch-down . Lewis just missed the conversion but , when Roberts was caught off-side in front of the Oxford posts the Newport full-back added three more points with the last kick of the game . eastern counties without Jeeps . Barbarians doubt . R E G Jeeps , England &apos;s scrum-half and captain , has had to withdraw from the eastern counties team to meet Devon in the semi-final of the county championship at Torquay to-morrow . he injured a shoulder playing for Northampton at Bath last week . R J Kent , of Wasps , takes his place . Jeeps is playing against Ireland at Lansdowne Road to-morrow week and he hopes to-morrow &apos;s rest will ensure a complete recovery . Cyril Davies , the Wales and Cardiff centre , who sustained a collapsed knee tendon and burst a blood vessel in the match against England at Cardiff on Jan 21 , may not play for the Barbarians against the South Africans at Cardiff . he will have a fitness test to-day . since Davies has also been selected to play for Wales against Scotland at Murrayfield to-morrow week , it is unlikely that he will take any risks in turning out for the Barbarians . Coventry at Guy &apos;s . Price , Coventry &apos;s second-row forward and new England cap against Ireland , is recovering from a cold and may not play against Guy &apos;s Hospital at Coundon Road . Coventry &apos;s other England player , hooker Robinson , has been selected for the game but may stand down . H J Wyman , a senior from Bablake School , Coventry , replaces Cheltenham freshman D Protherough as hooker for Cambridge against the army at Grange Road . this will be the only change from the side which drew at Gloucester last week . navy &apos;s weak covering lets Swansea through . by Arthurian . Swansea &amp;hellip; 16 pts . royal navy &amp;hellip; 3 . Swansea were too strong for the royal navy on a muddy St Helens pitch in heavy rain yesterday . having to concede weight forward proved too much for the seamen and they lost by two goals and two tries to a try . a lack of determined defence in midfield and casual defensive covering allowed Swansea to score tries , but it was the greater experience and vigour of Swansea , with five internationals , which carried the day . after their good display against Newport the navy failed to reproduce the same form . although playing with the wind in the first half they were never able to control the play . at half-back Rodd was closely marked and his partner Francis did not have a happy match . consequently the navy threequarters saw little of the ball , although Tyrrell tried hard . Cormack was particularly sound at full-back . Thomas , Jones and Palmer were the best forwards . best forward . Williams outstanding . Swansea &apos;s front row of Williams , Gale and Lewis played strongly with Williams the outstanding forward on the field . two new halves , Phillips and Lewis , showed promise , while Mainwaring was a powerful centre . Swansea took the lead after 33 min when navy passing broke down inside their own half . Harding booted through and followed up , beating Sinclair and Cormack , to score just short of the dead-ball line . the navy replied with a try when Thomas robbed Harding after a line-out and ran through to send Rodd over from 25 yards . early in the second half Swansea took the lead . E Lewis went away from a scrum-five outside the navy line and a long pass to Young enabled the centre to give Bebb a clear run-in . Mainwaring kicked a good goal from far out . five minutes later Gale gathered in a short line and dived over the navy line for another try . after 15 minutes the navy again dropped the ball during passing and Mainwaring gathered to race away and jink inside Cormack for a good try which he converted . hospitals match off . the second-round hospitals cup-tie between Guy &apos;s and Bart &apos;s at Richmond athletic ground yesterday , was postponed because of the state of the pitch . it has been provisionally arranged for next Thursday . squash rackets . Azam top seed . Azam Khan , Pakistan , open squash rackets champion for the past three years , is top seed for the professional championship at the RAC , London , from Feb 15-20 . sporting commentary . hockey . John Conroy out for the season . by our hockey correspondent . opponents of England on the hockey field this season will no doubt breathe more freely at the news that John Conroy , the best inside-forward of his time and one of the best this country has ever had , is laid as firmly by the heels as a man can be outside prison . he is in hospital and there he will stay for the next three weeks to have a broken ankle bone pinned . after that prolonged rest will be necessary . Conroy is out for the season and the selectors have a problem on their hands in shaping the England attack , which will make the more senior members , such as Mr Harry Lewis and Mr H L Holliwell , think back uneasily to the 1956-57 season . at that time Conroy was in Canada , where he had gone from Melbourne following the Olympic games . in his absence England put into the field the most ill-assorted attack I can ever remember . in five internationals , ten forwards were selected , the line never played in the same order twice and England scored just three goals , losing to South Africa and Germany , beating Wales and Scotland and playing a goalless draw with Ireland . these facts and figures are the measure of the problem facing the selectors at this moment , with Conroy injured and two other likely candidates for the forward line , internationals N M Forster and P B Austen , not available . they are also the answer to those critics of Conroy who complained that he slowed up the attack . what they meant , of course , was that Conroy did not belong to the school that bash on regardless and hope for the best . R D Smith , who played outside Conroy on both wings for England , always says that nobody else could place the ball so perfectly to create an opening . I am sure Smith is right . I am equally sure that more could and should have been made of Conroy &apos;s remarkable gift of ball-control by moulding the attack round him . that calls for a carefully planned programme of coaching and training , which in spite of the drive and enthusiasm of the former match secretary of the hockey association , Mr L S E Jones , has never so far been achieved . lessons from abroad . in this respect England , and the other home countries , too , lag behind what is common practice on the continent . there it is accepted that natural talent is not enough and a man must be taught the finer points of a team game as scientific as football and twice as fast . nothing is left to chance that careful preparation can obviate and in some cases professional coaches of Indian origin have been employed . without going as far as that England have for some time had a national team coach in S D Dickins whose methods have made Hounslow one of the most successful club sides in the country over the last ten years . unhappily , Dickins has not so far enjoyed the financial and administrative backing that a coach must have if he is to produce results . turn of the tide ? Holland match preparation . there are , however , some signs that the sting of many defeats suffered at the hands of continental countries since the war is slowly creating its own antidote . plans are afoot , I gather , for a training programme during the summer aimed at producing an England team to play Holland in the autumn , a team which will do justice to a match marking the 75th anniversary of the hockey association . the idea is to get the probable players and reserves together for two full week-ends of coaching and training , to include a trial and wind up with a match which would be a dress rehearsal for the Holland fixture in October . this is good news . England have not beaten Holland in the five matches played since the war . it is time the tide was turned . welcome experiment . penalty-shot proposal . an experiment which all ranks in the game are likely to have on their hands next season concerns the penalty bully which has been under fire for some time , mainly on the ground that it is not severe enough on the offending team . so far no one has produced an acceptable alternative . now , however , the international federation are to propose to the international hockey board , the body which makes the rules , that a penalty shot at goal be substituted for the penalty bully . this , it seems , would be a flick or push shot , not a hit , and the ball would have to be kept below shoulder height . but many details are still under discussion , such as the distance from which the shot should be taken . the proposal is due to come before the IHB next May . until more is known of the details , judgment must be reserved , but the initiative is to be welcomed . 