Huge crowd expected at Gnoll for Williams tribute

Former Neath and Wales star Williams passed away last week at the age of 46, his sudden death from a heart attack has led to widespread tributes.

“The game comes at the end of a very traumatic time for us at Neath following the tragic death of Brian Williams, a real Neath legend,” said Rowland Phillips. “I don’t think Brian fully realised just how much he was adored by the Gnoll fans and I’d urge all those who knew him and enjoyed his play for Neath to come along on Saturday to honour him properly.”

As a mark of respect for Brian, there will be no number 1 shirt on the field as Neath have decided to stand down the jersey for the remainder of the season with ex-skipper Paul Jones modestly remarking that “nobody could do justice to Brian’s shirt.”

Having moved quietly into second place in the Premiership table, Neath are not expected to alter things much from the side that defeated Llandovery 48-13 last time out, although it is hoped that threequarter Stephen Thomas will be fit to resume.

“We will need to play with more consistency throughout the eighty minutes on Saturday and it is probably fair to say that we are playing with a lot more confidence now than we were in November,” said Phillips.

“We have a great respect for Cardiff and their traditions and fully realise that it will take a big effort to get the result on Saturday. Earlier in the season we won the League fixture at The Gnoll but they are always a dangerous side and it took a late burst to see us home.”

Meanwhile, Cardiff’s team to play Neath in Round 6 of the Konica Minolta Cup on Saturday shows four changes from the starting line-up that beat Narberth in the previous round.

Behind the scrum Craig Evans and Llyr Lane form a new half-back partnership while Josh Freeman returns to the wing. Evans has scored 195 points in twenty Premiership, cup and friendly fixtures so far this season and has already qualified for a club cap.

Skipper Gareth Gravell is also scheduled to play his twentieth game of the season this weekend and will then qualify for a first team cap. The only change in the pack from the last round sees the return of loose-head prop Rhys Gill.

Neath (from): G King; A Bramwell, K James, N Clapham, A Bevan, J Spratt, S Thomas; G Bowen, A Thomas, G James, G Jones; P Jones, N Downs, A Howell, G Price, A Littlehales; E Evans, S Martin (captain), M Morgan, B Davies, A Llewellyn, T Smith, D McShane, J McPhail, S Pengelly

Cardiff: Jamie Roberts; Elgan Jones, Shaun James, Richard Jones, Josh Freeman; Craig Evans, Owen Ruttley; Rhys Gill, Ross Johnston, Alex Murphy, James Down, Chris Stamatakis, Gavin Lucas, Adam Powell, Gareth Gravell (captain)

Replacements: Ryan Price, Nathan Trevett, Darren Fenton, Matthew Amos, Chris Jones, Llyr Lane, Richard Davies

Referee: Hugh Watkins