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Neath give youth its chance

Neath give youth its chance

Neath coach Pat Horgan will be using his side’s final two games in the British & Irish Cup to give some of his younger players the chance to impress.

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The Welsh All Blacks travel to Bedwas this Saturday before hosting Stirling County in the final game at The Gnoll on January 19. 

And with Bedford Blues needing just one bonus point to officially top the group and be the lone qualifier for the knockout stages, Horgan has been given the chance to look at some of his other options.

“There will be some changes in the next couple of games,” he said.

“Some are forced by injuries but I do want to give some of the boys the opportunity to start and see what they can do.

“We’re looking forward to it. We’ll have a young element for the next couple of games but we want to blood these youngsters in and look to the future. There’s not a lot on these next two games apart from wanting to win a game of rugby, and that’s the same for Bedwas and Stirling.

“We want to give some of our younger players the chance to play in the British & Irish Cup and hopefully they’ll show us what they can do. Bedford Blues are through from our group and most of us knew that at the start of the season really, they’re a very good team.

“I don’t know what Bedwas have planned but it doesn’t affect us. For us, it’s about improving our performance from last Saturday.”

Neath lost 36-3 away at champions Pontypridd last Saturday, breaking their three-match league winning streak, but Horgan isn’t complaining and knows now the level his side has to reach.

“We were disappointed in our performance last Saturday,” he said. “But saying that, Ponty are a good side and they’re better than us at this moment in time.

“Yes we’ve got injuries but so did Ponty. They’ve got a stronger squad than us and it was plain to see, they were better than us in all areas. There’s no point in complaining about the injuries when you see that.

“But we got some positives out of it, one being that we know the level we have to get up to again, and it’s our aim in the next year or so, to do just that.

“Now, we’ve got two challenging ties ahead of us and we will enjoy seeing how our younger players can perform before the league starts up again in February.”

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