Following on from an impressive pre-season build-up, with three victories recorded against Birmingham & Solihull, Merthyr and Coventry, a resumption of league action will provide a significant step up in standards for Pontypridd.
Long-term injury victims wing Chris Clayton (hip), centre Gavin Dacey (knee), scrum half Rhys Downes (knee) and lock Chris Martenko (back) are joined on the absentee list by scrum-half Garyn Lucas and lock Craig Locke, due to illness and domestic leave respectively.
Winger Gareth Wyatt makes his competitive comeback after rejoining Pontypridd, with Blues Academy lock Cory Hill given a chance in a pack that will be led from No8 by skipper Chris Dicomidis.
Pontypridd (vs Cross Keys, Saturday, 2.30pm, Sardis Road)
15.Matthew Nuthall. 14.Gareth Wyatt. 13.Adam Thomas. 12.Dafydd Lockyer. 11.Lewis Williams. 10.Dean Gunter. 9.Kristian Baller.
1.Ken Knaggs. 2.Huw Dowden. 3.Ryan Harford. 4.Cory Hill. 5.Ryan Savage. 6.Darren Waters. 7.Wayne O’Connor. 8.Chris Dicomidis – cpt.
Replacements: Lewis Jones; Simon Humberstone; Gary Williams; Tom Hetherington; Phil Osborne; Jake Thomas; Ed Siggery.
