In 1969, Newport were already Welsh Champions in the fifteen-a-side game after an outstanding season. Hopes for high for a win at Cardiff but there was to be one of the biggest shocks of the tournament to date. Newport fielded Olympic runner Howard Davies and the very strong looking team that day was Howard Davies, Gordon Britton, John Anthony, Paul Evans and forwards Jeff Watkins, Vic Perrins (future Welsh international hooker and brother of Brian) and John Jeffrey.

On a wet and miserable day they kicked off against Maesteg at 1.40PM and 15 mins later they were out of the tournament having lost 11-8. Newport even led 8-3 at HT but plucky Maesteg came back to win. This was a rare win for Maesteg who often had failed to progress beyond the first rounds in previous years. In the final Cardiff beat Llanelli to win the title for the third time with Barry John taking the Everson Award. Due to Cardiff Arms Park being rebuilt the crowd was restricted to 29,000 instead of the usual 50,000.

Maesteg 8-11 L