Even at this early stage of the tournament, the match has all the makings of a titanic clash for supremacy in the pool 1 rankings.
Both contestants have won their two pool games so far, Ponty at home to London Scottish and away to Connacht Eagles, Bristol at home to Connacht Eagles and away to London Scottish, and having garnered a bonus point each stand level at nine points apiece at the top of the table, Pontypridd just edging ahead on points difference.
Something must give at the House of Pain with the showdown taking on the added significance of a clash between the leaders of the Welsh Premiership and the English Championship, both having won all their league games this season.
The two opponents last met in the same competition, at the semi final stage in 2011, when Bristol travelled to a packed and sun kissed Sardis Road and out muscled their hosts to claim victory by 25-36. In an effort to cancel out that result, the onus now will surely be on Pontypridd to step up to the challenge of a Bristol squad packed with quality, to international and British Lion status.
Pontypridd have been hampered by a recent spate of injuries, with experienced lock Alex Jones and no8 Dan Godfrey still ruled out with ankle and hamstring strains respectively. Young prop Bradley Thyer is the most recent casualty, damaging his shoulder in last weekend’s away win at Connacht.
Coming back into the mix having recovered from recent injuries however are scrum half Tom Williams and props Dillon Lewis and Keiron Jenkins.
Pontypridd 15 Aled Summerhill 14.Chris Clayton 13.Gavin Dacey 12.Dafydd Lockyer (Capt) 11. Matthew Nuthall 10.Simon Humberstone 9.Tom Williams; 1.James Howe. 2.Liam Belcher. 3.Keiron Jenkins. 4.Craig Locke. 5.Seb Davies 6.Luke Crocker 7.Wayne O’Connor 8.Rhys Shellard
Replacements: 16.Lloyd Williams. 17.Lewis K Williams. 18.Garyn Smith. 19.Aled Morris. 20.Jordan Sieniawski. 21.Dillon Lewis. 22.Chris Phillips.
Bristol Rugby: Darren Hudson; Charlie Amesbury, Gareth Maule, Mark Cooke, David Lemi; Adrian Jarvis, Luke Baldwin; Jack O’Connell, Max Crumpton, Anthony Perenise, Ian Evans, Mark Sorenson (Capt), Nick Koster, Jack Lam, Mitch Eadie.
Replacements: Chris Brooker, Gaston Cortes, Glen Townson, Marco Mama, Craig Hampson, Luke Eves, Auguy Slowik
