The Ravens showed the fight and determination present within their ranks as they refused to lie down at Sardis Road last weekend before eventually going down 45-35 to last year’s champions. And they will be hoping to stretch that performance over 80 minutes in front of a supportive home crowd.
Their opponents, Carmarthen Quins, finished a place above the Ravens last season and won both of the fixtures between the two sides in the 2011/12 campaign. The Quins have also had a disappointing start to the season with one win from five but they sit higher than Bridgend thanks to scoring four tries in their 35-25 victory over Cardiff. They have also secured losing bonus points in three of their four losses.
Ravens head coach Ben Rose is confident that after testing out several different combinations, the results will soon come:
“The start of the season is often when sides have to find their feet. You have to try out new players and different combinations to discover what works best for the Ravens’ brand of rugby,” he said.
“Although we’ve had some disappointing results, we’re confident that we have found ourselves as a squad and will be more competitive in the games to come.
“We’ve been slow out of the blocks in the games that we’ve lost this season so we want to start this one with a bang and turn last week’s second half effort in to something that lasts for 80 minutes. If we can get that right then we’re a match for any side in this division.”
The Ravens have named a mostly unchanged XV from the side that faced Pontypridd last weekend. Ben Thomas starts ahead of Ross Jones at outside half and prop Dan Suter gets the nod ahead of Jonathan Thomas who is among the substitutes.
The home side are also missing some key players through injury but they have depth in their squad and players desperate to prove themselves. Alex Jones is expected to miss three to four weeks with a small fracture and ligament damage whilst Tom Habberfield is soon to start walking without the aid of a surgical boot after the nasty injury he sustained in the first game of the season against Llanelli. Adam Hillier-Rees is also out with a shoulder strain.
But it’s not all bad news in the Ravens camp. Shaun O’Rourke and Ken Dowding have both made great recoveries from injuries sustained against Cardiff and will soon be fit to play again.
Bridgend: 15 Jamie Murphy 14 Glen Lewis 13 Rhys Thomas 12 Gareth Howells 11 Luke Morgan 10 Ben Thomas 9 Kyle Barrett, 1 Marc Thomas 2 Matthew Dwyer 3 Dan Sutter 4 Owain Lloyd 5 Lee Davies 6 Jonathan Vaughan 7 Arthur Ellis 8 Scott Hicks.
Replacements: Owen Williams, Jonathan Thomas, Ashleigh James, Lloyd Peers, Andrew Waite, Ashley Evans, Sam Campbell, Chris Williams.
Carmarthen: 15 Dan Newton 14 Darren Daniel 13 Alex Pickersgill 12 Andrew Banfield 11 Rhys Thomas 10 James Dixon 9 Rhodri Wells, 1 Gareth Thomas 2 Gethin Robinson 3 Ian Jones 4 Carwyn Jones 5 Haydn Pugh 6 Aidan Laxton 7 Ellis Lloyd 8 Luke Joseph.
Replacements: Trystan Davies, Richard Wilkes, Andrew Beaujean, James Davies, Andrew Thomas, Huw Rees, Chris Banfield, Jason Harries.
