Newport made a flying start to their Celtic League campaign as fly-half Shane Howarth masterminded a 50-22 victory over Rodney Parade visitors Caerphilly.

The Black and Ambers bagged seven tries in front of more than 6,000 fans, warming up nicely for next Wednesday's trip to arch-rivals Cardiff.

The win though, was secured against a backdrop of uncertainty surrounding South African superstar Joost van der Westhuizen.

The Springbox scrum-half, on Tri-Nations duty against New Zealand in Auckland today, has signed a one-year contract with Newport and is due to arrive in Wales early next month.

But reports emanating from South Africa suggest that the move might not be cut and dried, but Newport's millionaire backer Tony Brown maintains van der Westhuizen will arrive on schedule.

Newport will splash out around £150,000 for his services, hoping that he can steer them into the Heineken Cup knock-out stages from a tough qualifying group that includes French champions Toulouse, Newcastle and Leinster.

The home side produced flashes of brilliance running rugby this afternoon, Howarth finishing with 20 points from a try, penalty and six conversions.

But Caerphilly also played their part in a free-flowing spectacle, centre Geraint Evans scoring two tries and wing Geraint Lewis sprinting over from 60 metres in injury time.

Evans shocked the home crowd through a well-worked fourth minute touchdown, but once Howarth responded with a try, conversion and penalty during a three-minute spell, Newport were on their way.

Former Bath centre Jon Pritchard, who's superb flip pass put Howarth over, collected Newport's second try on 20 minutes and there were also a score before the break for prop Chris Anthony, Newport's Welsh international recruit from Swansea.

Newport's superior pace and handling ability showed during the second period as wing Ben Breeze and prop Rod Snow took them out of sight with further tries.

And there was time during the closing stages for substitute Andy Marinos and Adrian Garvey to get in on the act.

Newport will face far tougher tasks as the season unfolds, but it was a good start and the right result for new coach Ian Macintosh, who arrives from South Africa to take up his post on Monday.