The Blue and Blacks travel to Church Bank to face Champions and top of the league Llandovery in the fourth-round of the Indigo Premiership tomorrow evening.
This will be The Blue and Blacks second away game of the season and they will aim to avenge their Cup Final lose at the back end of last season with a win against the Drovers.
The Blue and Blacks are hoping to carry on the momentum from Saturday’s win in the WRU Cup against Newport. Llandovery on the other hand will be well rested as they received a bye into the next round of the Indigo Premiership Cup.
The draw for that second round is expected anytime this week.
Team News
Llandovery RFC: Head Coach Euros Evans makes five changes to his side following a 24-12 win over Pontypridd last time out.
Jack Jones returns to lock for his first game of the season and will captain the Drovers.
Both Dino Dallavalle and Berian Watkins are named at loose-head and tight-head.
Jack Maynard replaces Harris Doel at fullback as the 23-year-old Doel switches to the wing.
Whilst Aaron Warren is named on the other wing as he replaces young Jac Davies.
Cardiff RFC: After knocking rivals Newport RFC out of the WRU Cup five days ago head coach Steve Law makes a number of changes to his starting XV.
Both Ethan Phillips and Shaun O’Rourke replaces Craig Hudd and Sean Moore in the second row.
Craig Hudd replaces 19-year-old Mackenzie Martin at blindside.
Sean Moore remains in the starting XV and replaces captain Morgan Allen at number eight.
Joey Tomlinson will captain the side at hooker for the first time this season whilst 18-year-old Harri Wilde is named on the bench.
Head coach chat
Cardiff RFC head coach Steve Law said: “It’s a very important game in the context of this season, it’s important in the manner of how we got beat last time out against them.
“Llandovery was a different class on that day.
“It is forgotten about in one way but it is still in the back of our minds and hopefully the boys can put in a better performance if we play to our standards that we set ourselves,” he insisted.
Writer’s points
The 24-8 lose back in May for The Blue and Blacks at the Cardiff Arms Park will live long in the memory for players, coaches and supporters
Skip forward four months, even with the Drovers being favourites this vastly improved Cardiff RFC side are completely different.
No one is expecting this one to be as one sided like the last time these two faced each other, as both are coming into this fourth round clash with the winning feeling.
However, with a few injury concerns and with four second row players and two hookers being named in the starting XV it is certainly not ideal for the visitors tomorrow evening.
Putting on top of this, Church Bank has not been a happy hunting ground for recent years for The Blue and Blacks as they have only won here twice in nearly a decade.
Both teams are evenly matched and have got some experienced players within, Tom Habberfield who starts at scrum-half for the visitors had made 131 regional appearances for the Ospreys.
Whilst for the Drovers, loos-head prop Dino Dallavalle has played for Italy U20’s on numerous occasions.
With the weather not looking favourable for running rugby, it should come down to who plays the conditions the better.
Head-to-head
The last time these two sides met was back in May at the Cardiff Arms Park.
This saw Llandovery win 24-8 which then crowned themselves for the very first time Champions of the Welsh Premier Division.
Cardiff and Llandovery both met four times last season with Cardiff only winning one of the occasions back in October in a tightly contested battle ending 29-26.
The last time The Blue and Blacks had won at Church Bank was back in November 2019, where they recorded a 25-20 win that was the first time they had won there since 2014.
Current form
Compared to Cardiffs’s rollercoaster of a start to the season, where they have drawn 19-19 with Pontypridd, beaten RGC 1404 with a bonus point and lost to Ebbw Vale 36-20.
The hosts for Thursday evening, have started the better winning all three games against Carmarthen Quins, Merthyr, and Pontypridd.
With these wins the Drovers sit rather comfortably at the top of the table with a maximum 15 points after three bonus point wins.
Llandovery have scored 116 points in their opening three games whereas Cardiff have only scored 74 points in their opening three games of the league and sit in eighth place on seven points.
Starting line-ups:
Llandovery Starting XV: 15. Jack Maynard, 14. Harri Doel, 13. Adam Warren, 12 Rhodri Jones, 11. Arron Pinches, 10. Ioan Hughes, 9. Lee Rees; 1. Dino Dallavalle, 2. Harry Thomas, 3. Berien Watkins, 4. Jack Jones(c), 5. Joe Powell, 6. Osian Davies, 7. Stuart Worrall, 8. Luca Giannini.
Replacements: 16. Llew Phillips-Taylor, 17. Jamie Hughes, 18. Guto Jones, 19. Chris Long, 20. Jordan Evans, 21. Gabe McDonald, 22. Rhodri Wall, 23. Ben Thomas.
Cardiff RFC starting XV: 15. Jacob Lloyd, 14. James Beal, 13. Luke Pollock, 12. Arron Pinches, 11. Dewi Cross, 10. Harrison James, 9. Tom Habberfield; 1. Ollie Evans, 2. Joey Tomlinson(c), 3. Freddie Barnes, 4. Ethan Phillips, 5. Shaun O’Rourke, 6. Craig Hudd, 7. Nathan Hudd, 8. Sean Moore.
Replacements: 16. Alun Ress, 17. Cam TylerGrocott, 18. Adam Williams, 19. Will Gregory, 20. Mason Hughes, 21. Joe Williams, 22. Harri Wilde, 23. Joe Goodchild.
Match Officials
Referee: Jason Bessant
Assistant referee: Gareth Davies
Assistant referee: Carwyn Williams
KO: 19:30, Thursday 28th September 2023
Words By Harry Tovey
HTSPORTSNEWS 