The Blue and Blacks travelled back to Neath for the first time since 2018 for the latest round of fixtures in the Indigo Premiership. It was a quick start for the visitors as just after the five-minute mark, Joe Goodchild had touched down in the corner for his third try of the season. The build-up play to the try was the main talking point as after nicely playing it through the hands of the backline, Jacob Lloyd quickly offloaded between his legs for Goodchild to have a picturesque finish in the corner.
Both sides had numerous opportunities as the first half went on but could not capitalise on some good attacking phases. There was an early change for The Blue and Blacks as newly signed Tom Rice went off injured. He was replaced by Ioan Pascoe, who finished the first half with numerous turnovers that relieved pressure from the home side’s attack. The Welsh All Blacks had an opportunity to pick up their first points of the afternoon as Cardiff were penalised at the scrum. Kristian Jones’s shot deflected off the woodwork as Cardiff went in at half-time with a seven-point lead.
HT: Neath 0-7 Cardiff
After missing in the first half, flyhalf Kristian Jones scored the afternoon’s first points for the home side after referee Steff Edwards awarded them a penalty. Cam TylerGrocott capped his first start for The Blue and Blacks with a memorable try as he sprinted through Neath’s defence to score the visitor’s second of the afternoon.
However, momentum seemed to be in The Welsh All Blacks favour as they searched for their first try of the afternoon. The Blue and Blacks were again penalised at the scrum and after kicking to the corner, a strong driving maul followed and Sion Crocker touched down to bring Neath back in contention. Replacement, Tom Habberfield took it quickly from the ruck, found a gap in Neath’s defence and dived over to score. The 31-year-old has now scored 50 points in a Blue and Black shirt.
It was an eventful last ten minutes,referee Steff Edwards awarded The Welsh All Blacks a penalty try after he deemed that Cardiff deliberately brought the maul down. Subsequently, Craig Hudd was sent to the sin bin for bringing the maul down. Five minutes later, Cardiff went hunting for a bonus point try and with Luke Pollock down injured, it meant The Blue and Blacks were attacking with 13 men. After quickly moving the ball out wide, Lewis Evans deliberately knocked the ball on, and referee Edwards awarded a penalty try and a yellow card to Neath’s fullback.
With the bonus point secured, the visitors still put pressure on a wounded Neath defence. With the clock in the red, Arwel Robson managed to sneak his way through the defence to cross for his second try for The Blue and Blacks. After converting the extras it meant Robson finished with five out of five from the tee.
Cardiff will play their first home game of 2024 next week as they host Bridgend Ravens at the Cardiff Arms Park.
Cardiff RFC will be aiming to extend their winning streak as they go toe-to-toe with Neath who sit at the bottom of the table on 12 points.
Last time out against The Welsh All Blacks, Cardiff secured a bonus point 49-28 win. That day saw Alun Rees score a hat-trick, with the other tries coming from Dewi Cross, Morgan Allen and Luke Pollock.
Prior to that meeting The Blue and Blacks last played Neath twice in the season of 2018-19 when Cardiff recorded 2 bonus point wins, 59-17 away and 74-7 at home. That season the Blue and Blacks finished second and Neath were relegated.
Recently, The Welsh All Blacks have had back-to-back wins over the festive period, beating Aberavon 24-19 and Merthyr 19-14. This winning streak came to an end at the expense of Pontypridd last time out.
Nathan Hudd interview:
Nathan Hudd made his Cardiff debut against Llanelli in January of 2019. He has been ever present in the back row since that time. The 26-year-old has scored twice this season for The Blue and Blacks.
Reflecting on last time out, Hudd said: “Ebbw Vale was a massive win for us as a squad after a poor performance away in RGC
“Hopefully we can use it as a stepping stone to push on for the second half of the season
“As we want to finish as high up the league table as possible”, he added.
Hudd said: “Neath away will always be a tough encounter
“But we are aiming to make it back to back away wins in the league”, he stated.
“Personally my aims as a player never change season to season.
“I like to think I leave a lot on the field.
“And do the best I can for the team each week and hopefully thats enough in the end for Cardiff to be where they should be challenging for a title every season”, he concluded.
Team News
Steve Law makes five changes to his starting side that put an end to Ebbw Vale’s winning streak last time out.
Joey Tomlinson returns to captain the side after a heroic performance last time out, Jamie Hill comes in at scrum-half for Tom Habberfield who drops to the bench.
James Beal returns to the wing after being on the sidelines due to injury. 26-year-old, Arwel Robson replaces Harrison James at flyhalf.
Cameron Tyler-Grocott will get his first start in a Blue and Black shirt this weekend as he has been impressive for Glamorgan Wanderers in the Championship.
He replaces 21-year-old Rhys Barratt at loose-head. Whilst at tight-head Christian Brooke gets his first start since the Aberavon game as he replaces Will Davies-King.
This Thursday will see the start of the second staging of the World Series event in the Kingdom of Bahrain, which will take place from January 18-19.
Bahrain qualifier Abdulla Saeed will have the pleasure of playing newly crowned World Champion and World number one Luke Humphries
Humphries has been on an incredible run the past couple of months picking up a handful of majors.
The 28-year-old will hope to do what last years World Champion did and become the second name on that Bahrain Darts Masters Trophy.
Image courtesy of PDC
Michael Smith will hope to successfully defend his 2023 Bahrain Master title as he goes head-to-head with Paolo Nebrida who won Event Three of the Asian Championships last weekend in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
16-year-old Luke Littler will make his World Series of Darts debut after making the World Championship Final. He faces the tricky Man Lok Leung who makes his second appearance at this years event. This is a must watch first round showdown.
Japanese sensation Tomoyo Goto will take on Rob Cross who made it to the Semi-Finals of last year’s competition. Two-time World Champion Peter Wright goes toe-to-toe with PDC Asian Champion Haruki Muramatsu in a 50/50 game.
In his TV debut local qualifier Hasan Haji will play three time World Champion Michael Van Gerwen who will also be making his World Series debut in Bahrain this week.
Joining the Dutchmen in their debut in Bahrain will be the reigning World Matchplay Champion Nathan Aspinall. “The Asp” will start his campaign against Filipino Laurence Ilagan, who topped the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
Reynaldo Rivera will play the runner up of last year’s Bahrain Darts Master and former World Champion, Gerwyn Price. The Welshmen will be the only Welsh player represented at this year’s tournament.
With the World Cup in the rearview mirror, Warren Gatland will be without a handful of experienced players due to retirement and many more who have ventured to clubs overseas. We may see some changes ahead of the 2024 Six Nations.
Image Courtesy of Aberavon RFC Twitter account
Wales will have home advantage as they play Scotland in their opening game of the Championship before heading to Twickenham a week later.
Forwards
If you are looking to the future for Welsh stars within the front row, then Corey Domachowski at loosehead could be the one. The 27-year-old made his test debut in August against England, but for experience, the Osprey duo of Gareth Thomas and Nicky Smith could be the main talking point at loosehead.
Both combined have made 72 appearances internationally, and it looks doubtful that there will be much change at loosehead for a couple of years with these two leading the pack.
Dewi Lake, who was named vice-captain in the World Cup, has what it takes but is injury-prone. The Osprey’s man, if fit will be made to work hard to keep his spot in the starting 15, as both Sam Parry and Ryan Elias are quality operators along with Elliot Dee if fit.
Meanwhile at tighthead, Gatland has a handful of options to choose from in my opinion. Montpellier’s Henry Thomas has a massive chance of being selected with young Kieran Assiratti also in contention, as both are new names to the Welsh squad.
However, after making his international debut in 2015, Tomas Francis has been a stalwart in the Welsh squad for nearly a decade and has a tremendous amount of experience on that international stage.
After leaving Exeter Chiefs, Francis is now plying his trade with Provence in Pro D2. The only worry for me is the jump of playing Pro D2 rugby week in and week out could be too big for the 31-year-old.
This is one of the easy calls for Gatland to make, as Will Rowlands will almost be inevitable in the second row. Rowlands, who plays for Racing 92 in the Top flight of French rugby, is looking to build on his 29 caps.
Youngster Dafydd Jenkins who captains Exeter Chiefs who again applies his trade outside of Wales, will be knocking on the door as Gatland looks to build more depth within the second row. Ben Carter, Rhys Davies and Teddy Williams will need more exposure to international rugby. I will be shocked if we don’t see these in squad announcements in the not to distance future.
A new Captain in my opinion will be named ahead of the Championship, and I think 6ft 8in Adam Beard will be that man.
Picture of Adam Beard courtesy of Olivier Chasssignole
He has now made 50 appearances for his country and has played for the British and Irish Lions. Beard has much to give at test level and is one of Gatland’s favourites so is a no brainer.
With a back row ageing like a fine wine, Gatland must look for longer-term successors to carry over to the next World Cup in 2027.
It is increasingly unlikely that Taulupe Faletau and Jac Morgan will be available, creating a massive number of opportunities for players like Aaron Wainwright, who will likely take the injured Faletau’s place at number eight.
I believe Gatland will opt to go with Tommy Reffell at Openside, who looked impressive in France. However, the development of players has been a must for Gatland since returning to Wales and focussing on giving opportunities to youngsters coming through.
He way look towards players like Christ Tshiunza and Taine Plumbtree who both looked at home when they entered that international stage however both are having a spell on the sideline.
I think this will give more of an opportunity to make players like Thomas Young and 20-year-old MacKenzie Martin, who looks very dangerous when attacking and has a strong defensive game, which will suit what Gatland is looking for.
Backline
With both Gareth Anscombe and Dan Biggar out of the picture for the meantime, the most experienced flyhalf that remains in Wales is Owen Williams, who has been backed by Ospreys head-coach Toby Booth to be in contention for that number 10 shirt.
However, at 31 years old maybe Gatland will look to pick from Scarlet’s duo Sam Costelow or Ioan Lloyd, who both have a fantastic kicking game. When looking to future Six Nations and World Cups, Wales U20 star Dan Edwards could deservedly sneak his way into the squad.
Tomos Williams and Kieran Hardy look well-suited to go toe-toe for the number nine shirt within the starting lineup for the foreseeable future. I think newly signed Dragons scrum-half, Dane Blacker has what it takes as an international half-back. Still, I see Gatland going with the experienced Gareth Davies as the man to keep the competition alive at nine.
Johnny Williams is best suited for Gatland’s plans, but the only problem the 27-year-old has had in his career is discipline issues and injuries.
Due to this, the experienced Nick Tompkins could take his spot, as he has been the best inside centre for Wales since his debut back in 2020. I think, George North will likely be his counterpart at outside centre, but the exciting Cardiff winger Mason Grady may have something to say as he could move to outside centre.
In the form he is in, Grady is undoubtedly nailed in the starting lineup, as he is one of the inform players in Wales at the moment.
With the potential of Mason Grady starting at outside centre, this opens the doors for Rio Dyer, Tom Roger, and Josh Adams to cement themselves in the starting 15. I also believe that Dragon’s winger Jared Rosser could also be selected, as the 26-year-old is a solid performer and is very dangerous at ghosting past defenders.
Being without Liam Williams, who has taken his profession to Japan, I think that Louis Rees-Zammit will take his place. He will likely start the first game of this year’s Six Nations this is due to him being a brave defender and also probably one of the more consistent players out of the lot and I can see Gatland moving him to fill that problematic 15 shirt.
The newly crowned World Champion and World Number one Luke Humphries will be among seven other PDC stars that will hope to do what Michael Smith did last year and win the Bahrain Darts Masters.
Image courtesy of PDC
Humphries will hope to extend his winning streak after he defeated Luke Littler in a record-breaking World Championship final at Alexandra Palace last Wednesday, where over 4.5 million watched live on Sky Sports.
The sensational 16-year-old who played his part in unbelievable final will play his last PDC tournament as a 16-year-old in Bahrain as he celebrates his 17th birthday on the 21st of January.
With this sensational debut at Ally Pally it sees “The Nuke” being rewarded with back-to-back World Series events and surely a whole lot more appearances as the year progresses.
Reigning Bahrain Masters Champion Michael Smith, who won the inaugural tournament 12 months ago on double five against Gerwyn Price. Bully Boy will aim to defend his Gold Palm Tree trophy after a disappointing end to his World Title defence.
Welshmen Gerwyn Price will be the only Welsh representative at this year’s tournament as quarter-finalists from last year Johnny Clayton was not selected.
Image courtesy from PDC
World Number 8 Peter Wright will also be returning to the International Circuit, while three-time World Champion Michael van Gerwen will make his Bahrain debut. He returns to the Middle East after not playing there since that sensational Dubai Masters final against Gary Anderson back in 2017.
World Matchplay Champion and runner-up of last year’s World Series Finals, Nathan Aspinall will make his debut in Bahrain. 2023 Grand Slam of Darts runner-up and the 2018 World Champion Rob Cross will hope to go one better after making it to the semi-finals of last year’s competition where he lost out to Gerwyn Price 7-3.
Last year was not the year for the eight Asian representatives as none of them really caused any of the top players any problems. Apart from Filipino, Alain Abiabi who nearly knocked out Dimitri Van den Bergh, both players will not participate in this year’s competition.
In fact the only player from the Asian representative that will be making his second appearance is Hong Kong’s sensation Man Lok Leung.
Image of Man Lok Leung- courtesy of PDC
The 24-year-old had a very impressive 2024 World Championships as he shocked the entire darting world after he managed to knock out World Youth Championship runner-up Gian Van Veen 3-2 to advance to the second round.
There will be no World Cup of darts stars for Bahrain as last year’s qualifiers Abdulnasser Yusuf and 2023 Egypt Darts open Champion Basem Mahmood will not be competing at this year’s tournament.
They will be replaced by Abdulla Saeed and Hasan Haji, who take the pairs place after winning last month’s Bahrain Qualifiers to confirm their television debuts.
After beating Sandro Eric Songsig in a last leg decider Japan’s PDC Asian Champion Haruki Muramatsu will make his World Series return following a seven-years absence.
Inside the Dome of the Bahrain International Circuit which will stage the Bahrain Darts Masters- image courtesy of Daily Star.
Like Muramastu, another Japanese star will grace the stage as Tomoya Goto will also feature. After Goto’s incredible World Darts Championship debut for his first taste of darts in Bahrain.
After topping the 2023 PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit Lourence Ilagan will be joined by his fellow countrymen Paolo Nebrida and Reynaldo Rivera who will complete the star studded 16 man lineup in The Kingdom of Bahrain.
On his 120th appearance, Joey Tomlinson returned to hooker and played a heroic part in The Blue and Black’s defence and attack. This was a marker as everyone else in the Cardiff team matched everything that Ebbw Vale were throwing at them as they looked for a positive start to 2024.
Just before kickoff, Jacob Lloyd was moved from the bench to the starting lineup as Matty Young could not play due to illness; Joe Frazer came in on the bench.
It was a tightly contested first half, and at times, both sides had the opportunity to kick at the posts but decided to go to the corner. Evan Lloyd broke the deadlock after referee Ben Breakspear awarded The Steelmen a penalty. Minutes after putting his side in front, Lloyd had another opportunity to double his side’s lead from just inside his own half, but his shot went wide.
With a lot of rugby being played and few points being added to the scoreboard, it added to the tension at The Ciner Glass Community Stadium. Harrison James brought The Blue and Blacks back level just after the 20-minute mark.
Later, Nathan Hudd was sent to the sin bin after a high tackle. It turned out not to be a costly yellow card as Cardiff’s defence was solid, as the home side could not capitalise on their extra man advantage.
With Hudd back on the field, Cardiff hunted for the afternoon’s first try. With the ball moving nicely through the hands of The Blue and Blacks’ backline, Luke Pollock eventually knocked the ball on, ending a very entertaining first half of rugby.
HT: Ebbw Vale 3-3 Cardiff
The second half started like the first half, as either sides had chances to go into the lead. Both flyhalfs took those opportunities this time, Evan Lloyd put the home side back in front.
Minutes later, Harrison James brought everything back level with another penalty kick. That lead did not last too long as Lloyd converted another successful penalty.
As the half went on, Jason Harries broke through the Ebbw Vale defence and offloaded to Craig Hudd, who popped it inside to Jamie Hill, who crossed in the corner for the afternoon’s first try and put Cardiff into the lead for the first time. With minutes left on the clock, the momentum was definitely in favour of The Blue and Blacks as they searched for another try.
After a strong scrum five metres from the home line, the ball was recycled quickly from the resulting ruck with Jamie Hill offloading to Ethan Phillips, who powered his way through to score the afternoon’s second try.
With the clock nearly in the red, Jacob Lloyd kicked to the corner, and after winning it at the lineout, Tom Rice rushed away from the driving maul and nearly powered his way over. Several phases followed, as both Ethan Phillips and Rhys Barratt looked likely to score.
However, the ball was quickly spread wide through the hands of Luke Pollock and Jacob Lloyd offloaded to Dewi Cross to score in the corner as Cardiff started 2024 with a huge win away from home against a high flying Ebbw Vale side.
Oscar De Lay Hoya Golden Boy promotions hosts the first card of 2024, as undefeated American Vergil Ortiz Jr (19-0) takes on Ghana’s Fredrick Lawson (30-3) at The Theatre at The Virgins Hotels in Las Vegas.
Courtesy of Marca.com
Ring rust could play a massive factor in this fight as Vergil Ortiz Jr has been inactive for around 17 months.
He was meant to fight earlier in 2023 for the WBA Welterweight Championship against Eimantas Stanionis but that was cancelled on three separate occasions.
Vergil Ortiz Jr will also be making his debut at Junior Bantamweight after this long lay off.
In the press conference on Thursday Vergil Ortiz Jr stated: “ I want to be fighting at least three times this year and I wanna get my momentum back.
“I wanna be active and I want my name in peoples mouths again”, he said.
His opponent who at 34-years-old has 22 wins via knockout and last fought against Estevan Villalobos in Arlington back in April of last year.
Vergil Ortiz Jr comes into this fight as a heavy favourite and will take some stopping as he looks to move quickly for World Championship glory.
In the Co-Main event 31-year-old Ohara Davies (25-2) from Hackney will make both his USA debut and his Golden Boy promotions debut as he takes on Ismael Barroso (24-4-2) for the interim WBA Super Lightweight Championship.
These two were scheduled to fight on the undercard of Garcia vs Duarte back in December but visa issues played a factor and therefore was pushed back.
Davies comes into this fight on the back of a massive win against Lewis Ritson in Newcastle back in April of last year.
His opponent makes it back-to-back fights in Las Vegas and proudly fights out of Venezuela. However he comes into this fight on the back of a defeat to Roland Romero.
Writers views:
I back Vergil Ortiz Jr power massively and I believe that he will make easy work of Lawson. My only concern is that ring rust can affect a fighter but I don’t think that will play a factor at all and I fully believe Ortiz Jr gets the stoppage in the early rounds.
Ohara Davies like Ortiz Jr will be too strong and will easily win via a stoppage late on in the fight. In doing so it will set up a huge 2024 for the Englishman.
It will be four weeks on Saturday since the last meeting between the two sides. On that day at the beginning of December, The Steelmen ended The Blue and Black’s title reign in the Welsh Premiership Cup.
The Ciner Glass Community Stadium
There was a penalty try, Amir Jiwa-Waliji scored, and flyhalf Evan Lloyd kept Cardiff at a safe distance from the tee as Ebbw Vale recorded a 27-15 win.
Despite losing, Alun Rees crossed the Ebbw Vale line twice from two driving mauls.
The Steelmen come into this game on a three-match winning streak against Carmarthen Quins, Merthyr and Pontypridd.
Ebbw Vale are second in the Indigo Premiership and sit on 54 points. Jason Strange’s side have not lost at home all season and has only lost to Aberavon, Pontypool, and Merthyr.
The last time The Blue and Blacks were victorious at The Ciner Glass Community Stadium was in late April last year, this saw Dan Fish and Cameron Winnett among the try scorers as Cardiff recorded an 18-13 win.
Ethan Phillips Interview:
After scoring his first try for Cardiff RFC against Pontypridd before Christmas, Ethan Phillips has successfully taken to life in the Indigo Premiership.
The Cardiff University product moved to The Arms Park after completing his University studies. Within this period, he also played for Crawshays Welsh XV.
In what was a disappointing evening up in North Wales last time, Phillips has now reached the milestone of 20 games for The Blue and Blacks.
He said: “ We were disappointed after the loss against RGC.
“We felt like we let ourselves down by not doing the basics well enough to allow us to put our game plan into place”, he added.
When talking about the return to Eugene Cross Park after 28 days, Phillips said: “The boys are excited to get stuck back into Ebbw Vale.
“After a poor performance against them the first time around, and in the first half of the last game, we found our feet and are hoping to continue down that vein.
“Ebbw Vale always brings a powerful pack who know their strengths and play to them very well.
“Their scrum and kicking game is an area we need to work on from last time to be in contention”, he added.
Phillips said: “It would be great to get off to a win, especially against a top-four side.
“This is a place we aspire to be after the rocky start to the season, with Ebbw Vale and Llandovery back-to-back.
“Getting some points out of these two games is a hard task but a task we are welcoming as a squad”, he concluded.
Team News:
Tom Rice will start his first game for The Blue and Blacks at eight as Steve Law makes a number of changes to his side that lost to RGC 1404.
Within the front row, Joey Tomlinson on his 120th appearance for The Blue and Blacks moves back to hooker after a spell at blindside flanker to replace Evan Lloyd. Will Davies-King returns and replaces Adam Williams at tighthead.
Sean Moore will make his 65th appearance and joins Ethan Phillips in the second row as he replaces Craig Hudd, who drops to blindside. He will join his twin brother Nathan Hudd in the back row.
Tom Habberfield keeps the Captain’s armband and is joined at half-back by Harrison James.
After missing last week’s game, Luke Pollock returns to outside centre and will be joined by Jason Harries, who replaces Arron Pinches at inside centre.
Matty Young is the last change to the starting 15 as he replaces Jacob Lloyd at fullback.
The weather played a massive factor as both teams could not get going in North Wales. Whenever either team looked to be building on a good attacking phase a few too many handling errors were costly.
Late into the first half the rain eased off and RGC took full advantage scoring the only try of the game. This kept The Blue and Blacks at a safe distance as they recorded a 14-9 victory.
With the rain falling, it became apparent that whenever referee Ben Connor awarded either team a penalty within kicking distance both captains would look to take the three points.
Full back Sam Earl-Jones broke the deadlock after just 4 minutes, successfully converting to put RGC in the lead.
After, Cardiff looked to be getting themselves back into the game, referee Ben Connor awarded the away side a penalty after Delwyn Jones was guilty of being offside. 18-year-old Harri Wilde stepped up and added the three to bring the game level.
With conditions not being favourable for either Evan Lloyd or Jack Tomlinson, line outs were not going straight. However, it was the home side that finished the first half the stronger as the ball spilled out of a ruck after Tom Habberfield took an impressive catch.
Scrum-half Efan Jones scrambled and picked up the ball to cross in the corner for the home sides first try of the evening.
It didn’t end there for the Gogs as Sam Earl-Jones finished the first half with another penalty kick that put RGC eight points clear at the break.
HT: RGC 11-3 Cardiff
With the rain seeming to have eased off, conditions improved at Stadiwm CSM for both teams.
It was RGC who the had first opportunity in the second half as Nathan Hudd was penalised for playing the ball on the floor. Sam Earl-Jones had the opportunity to extend the Gogs lead further, however his shot went wide.
Replacement Harrison James managed to bring The Blue and Blacks back within a score after a successful penalty. However, frustratingly Craig Hudd was penalised for taking out RGCs fly half Harri Ford and Sam Earl-Jones again put the Gogs two scores clear around the hour mark.
With the clock nearly in the red, The Blue and Blacks had one last attacking threat from inside their 22. The ball seemingly for the first time in the game was flowing nicely through the hands of the Cardiff backline. Jacob Lloyd played the ball to Dewi Cross who was taken out by RGCs captain Afon Bagshaw.
After bringing the TMO into the game for the first time, Ben Connor awarded the Gogs captain a red card for making direct contact with Dewi Cross’s head.
From just outside his 22 Harrison James managed to get the ball way into the 22 of RGC as Cardiff went hunting for a hard fought losing bonus point. This paid off as RGC was penalised and Harrison James held his nerve, which secured The Blue and Blacks a losing bonus point.
Cardiff will start 2024 with an away trip back to the Ciner Glass Community Stadium as they take on Ebbw Vale on the 6th January.
Cardiff will hope to continue their winning streak as they make the mammoth 374 mile round trip up North to face 11th place RGC.
Courtesy of North Wales Crusaders Rugby League Club
Steve Laws men come into this game after winning back-to-back regional derbies against Merthyr and Pontypridd. Both wins were by considerable margins, 45-20 and 32-13 respectively.
Whereas, the Gogs have only played once this month and that was an away trip to Sardis Road to face Pontypridd where they lost 29-17.
The last time these two met was in the second round of fixtures at the Cardiff Arms Park. On that occasion, Joe Williams come off the bench and scored three tries as The Blue and Blacks recorded a 35-17 victory.
Cardiff’s last visit to the North Wales side was back in October of last year. That meeting saw a penalty try being awarded and Olly Robinson scoring the only try of the afternoon for Cardiff.
Harrison James managed to keep the Gogs at a safe distance as he kicked over eight points as Cardiff won narrowly 25-21.
RGC have not won a game in the Indigo Premiership since Remembrance Day, when they beat Carmarthen Quins 38-12. The Gogs have also recorded wins against Swansea and Aberavon all at Stadiwm CSM this season.
Team News;
Steve Law has been forced to make numerous changes to his starting 15 that faced Pontypridd last time out.
After playing for the regional side against Toulouse and Bath in the Champions Cup, Evan Lloyd will play his 20th game for The Blue and Blacks as he replaces 21-year-old Efan Daniel at hooker. Lloyd will be joined by Adam Williams and Rhys Barratt to complete the front row.
Craig Hudd replaces Sean Moore and joins Ethan Phillips who will also play his 20th game in a Blue and Blacks shirt in the second row.
Young Lucas De La Rua returns and replaces Morgan Allen at number eight. 31-year-old Joey Tomlinson joins Nathan Hudd to complete a strong back row.
Within the backs Harri Wilde returns from injury at 10 as Jacob Lloyd drops to fullback and replaces Jacob Beetham.
Due to Luke Pollock being unable to play, 34-year-old Jason Harries moves to outside centre. Joe Goodchild moves off the bench to the wing to complete a strong starting lineup.
Finally, Tom Rice will have an opportunity on Saturday to make his debut from the bench after he signed for the rest of the season from Bargoed RFC.
HTSPORTSNEWS 