1956 saw the tournament played at St Helens, Swansea for the first time and it attracted 10,000 people. Malcolm Thomas again captained Newport but played in his normal role as a back as did Ken Jones, Roy Burnett and scrum-half Colin Evans. The forwards were Leighton Jenkins, John Phillips and Geoff Whitson. Newport had comfortable wins over Ebbw Vale and Pontypool in the first rounds but were given a tough fight before overcoming the old enemy Cardiff 8-5 in the semi-final. Meanwhile Penarth also had wins over Glamorgan Wanderers and Llanelly to reach the semi-final. Here they put out a determined Abertillery side 10-6.

In a close fought final Newport got home by 5-3 and were crowned champions for the second time in 3 years but only after a seemingly good drop goal by Penarth’s inspiring captain Bernard “Slogger” Templeman had been disallowed. Slogger had his revenge later in Sept 1957 when he almost single-handedly beat Newport in a 15 a-side game at Rodney Parade by dropping 3 goals in Penarth’s 12-9 win. This is still - nearly 50 yrs later - Penarth’s only post-war win against Newport at Rodney Parade.

Ebbw Vale 13-3 W
Pontypool 11-3 W
Cardiff 8-5 W
Penarth 5-3 W

Tries - M Thomas 2, K Jones 2, G Whitson 2, R Burnett, C Evans, J Phillips and M Thomas 5c.