“They’ve gone 15 or 16 games unbeaten since we beat them at home by quite a margin,” said George. “We’ve been watching their games, since the draw especially, and they are a very attractive team who play a lot of good rugby football and are very well coached by Paul John and Simon King.”
The two sides last met in the cup in the thrilling 2005 Final when Llanelli edged out Pontypridd 25-24 in injury time. Llanelli are the highest try-scorers this term with a massive 68 in the Principality Premiership whilst Pontypridd are one point behind leaders Ebbw Vale and still in with a shout of stealing the title.
Both teams are running young squads this season and both play a similar style of fast, exciting rugby which George predicts could provide fireworks on Sunday.
“Really they play very similarly to us,” he said. “I think we’re the highest try scorers in the league and they’re up there as well. They play a lot of rugby and so do we, so the game should compliment our styles and you’ll see both of us going at each other.”
This season has been all about building for the future for Llanelli and George knows his young protégés can only benefit from the experience of a cup quarter final.
“We set our targets at the beginning of the year with our young gun squad, knowing the changes we’d face with supporting the regional squad and boys going away on international duty,” said George. “We’ve had trouble in the league getting continuity but we are really looking at putting a big emphasis on the Konica Minolta Cup. Playing Newport away in the last round we really raised our game and we’re hoping for the same again against Ponty.
“A lot of the squad is under 24 years of age and we can talk about it all we like but for them to go and experience the quarter-final and anything that comes after that is invaluable to their development.
“They’ve got to experience the pitfalls of having to kick uphill, buck up their game and have the crowd on their back so this is the next for stage for them and they’re really looking forward to it and the further we go the better.”
With a new stadium in the pipeline, a Konica Minolta Cup quarter final and the regional side in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup, there is a real buzz around Stradey Park this season and George hopes the home crowd will turn out in force again on Sunday and says their support could make all the difference if Llanelli are to reach a nineteenth cup final.
“There’s a lot of interest in Sunday’s game, and a lot of interest in the Scarlets region at the moment with this game at the weekend and the Heineken Cup game the following Friday,” he said.
“Rugby is on everybody’s lips at the moment and with a young team it’s nice to be playing at home and have that little bit of a crowd advantage. With five or six league games left we are going to blood more youngsters for next year but the cup is something we can really focus on and hope we are in it right to the end.”
Konica Minolta Cup 2006-2007 – Quarter-Finals
Saturday 24th March (2.30pm) Aberavon v Bridgend
Sunday 25th March (2.30pm) Swansea v Cardiff
Saturday 24th March (4.10pm) Llanelli v Pontypridd
Saturday 24th March (2.30pm) Bedwas v Llandovery
