At the halfway point of the campaign the Quins are third with 37 points having won eight games from 11. Their opponents this weekend currently occupy second place with 45 points having won nine from 12. There is no denying Ebbw Vale’s impressive return to the top flight of club rugby in Wales as they showed last weekend by comfortably beating Cardiff and scoring six tries in the process.
The Quins narrowly lost away to Pontypridd last Saturday (14-6) and will feel it was a missed opportunity to turn over the champions at Sardis Road. This week’s game is massive in terms of the Quins looking to reclaim a top two position, and quite simply, they have to win.
In the home fixture on a dreadful Friday night in November the Quins narrowly beat Ebbw Vale 26-24. It was a game that showed Ebbw Vale look to exploit their forward power while the Quins play a quicker more expansive game of rugby. Tomorrow’s game is expected to be a close encounter and the Quins will need to avoid giving away penalties which will allow Ebbw Vale to kick to the corners.
The Quins have again been able to pick a strong side with just a few changes from last weekend. Will Boyde comes in at flanker whilst Shaun Jones moves to the second row in place of Haydn Pugh who drops to the bench.
Gethin Robinson starts in the front row with Javan Sebastian also dropping to the replacements. The only change in the backs sees Kieran Hardy return at scrum half for Rhodri Wells with Dan Jones also coming back to the bench.
Carmarthen Quins: 15 Lee Williams 14 Chris Banfield 13 Iolo Evans 12 Rhys Williams 11 Jason Harries 10 Craig Evans 9 Kieran Hardy; 8 Sion Bennett 7 Ellis Lloyd 6 Will Boyde 5 Shaun Jones 4 Lee Taylor 3 Ian Jones (c) 2 Rhodri Clancy 1 Gethin Robinson
Replacements: 16 Steffan Phillips 17 Jack Haines 18 Javan Sebastian 19 Haydn Pugh 20 Rory Gallagher 21 Dion Jones 22 Gareth George 23 Dan Jones
