The Drovers ended a nine year wait to get their hands on the WRU National Cup once again when they beat Carmarthen Quins 25-18. Evans doesn’t want to wait as long again to make it a third win as his side, beaten only once in their last seven games, prepares to host fellow Principality Premiership side Bargoed in the last 16.
“We’ve had a great start to the year with a great win over Aberavon and then an opening Tier 1 triumph over RGC 1404. The cup is a bit special and winning it again in 2016 provided some more life-long memories for the players and supporters,” said Evans.
“Everyone connected with the club would love to win it again, but we know we’ve got a very tough challenge ahead of us against Bargoed. They are a difficult nut to crack at home and have a very experienced pack of forwards.
“It may have take them a little bit of time to adjust to life in the Premiership, but they have found their feet now and are a highly competitive team that we will not be taking lightly. The cup will be a real target for them in their first season in the top flight.
“When we were drawn away to Aberavon, who were top of the Premiership, in the first round we wondered how our defence of the title would go. But we got a great result there and now we have to keep the momentum going.”
The 2015 winners, Bridgend, are already into the semi-finals of the Foster’s Challenge Cup and will have home advantage over RGC 1404. The north Walians opened their Premiership campaign at the Brewery Field in September with a 23-3 win, but are gearing up for another tough trip south.
“As we have found out this season, no game is easy and to get any result especially on the road we need to be at our top performance. We have a chance to get into the quarter-finals of the WRU National Cup, and also get some momentum leading into the Premiership game against Aberavon next week,” said No 8, Huw Worthington.
“After any defeat you have to look at what went wrong, also how we can improve, and over the past few years we have always bounced back with good performances. We need to do that again on Saturday after our Tier 1 defeat at Llandovery.”
Three-time winners Bridgend enjoyed a bye in the first round and will have to be at their best to beat a team that scored 13 tries in an 81-7 home win over Dunvant in their opening round match. Chris Williams comes in at scrum half for the injured Will Baird in the home side to partner Joe Scrivens, while Dan Howells retains his place in an unchanged back three alongside Garin Lougher and Mathew Edwards.
Cardiff will be hoping they can overcome their jitters at the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park when they host unbeaten Championship leaders Pontypool. The Blue & Blacks have won only one of their last 10 competitive matches and have lost six of their last seven games at home.
The only win in those sequences came in the first round of the cup when they put Tata Steel to the sword in a much-needed 76-22 victory. While they were doing that, Pooler were beaten Llanelli 19-11 at Parc y Scarlets in the upset of the day.
That was arguably the biggest win in their 18 match unbeaten run this season and they will have another big name scalp in mind when they travel to the Welsh capital for what will be the 10th cup meeting between the two clubs. One of Pontypool’s two victories to date was a 13-9 success 34 years ago on their way to lifting the trophy for the one and only time.
Neath will be hoping to avoid what happened to them in the quarter-final stage last season when they return to Pandy Park to take on 2012 champions Cross Keys. They were dumped out of the cup in a 73-7 defeat, but will head to the Gwent club with excellent wins over Cardiff and Llanelli at the start of their Tier 2 Premiership campaign.
Gareth Llewellyn has made two changes two changes to the side which started at Llanelli with Ryan Thomas coming in at prop and Aled Morris in the back row. Good news for Wales Under 20 is that outstanding scrum half Reuben Morgan-Williams is fit to return to action and is included among the replacements.
Pontypridd welcome back scrum half Wayne Evans for their home clash with Newport, who will have Wales Sevens wing Elliott Frewen back in harness after international duty. Newport beat Swansea in the opening round.
Two Championship sides hoping to cause upsets at home will be Beddau and Narberth. Beddau host Ebbw Vale, while the Otters entertain last season’s beaten finalists, Carmarthen Quins.
WRU National Cup
Beddau v Ebbw Vale
Bedwas v Merthyr
Bridgend v RGC 1404
Cardiff v Pontypool
Cross Keys v Neath
Llandovery v Bargoed
Narberth v Carmarthen Quins (S4C, 2pm)
Pontypridd v Newport
Teams
Bargoed: James Hallett ; David Evans, Darren Humphries, Lewis Bowden, Ashley Norton; Julian Mogg, James Pizey; Jack Williams, Leigh Meades (captain), Kieron Brown, Frank Jacas, Adam Coupe, Alex Herbert, Lewis Weyman
Reps: Craig Wilson, Calum Jones, Greg Callow, Louis Blacker, Lee Beach, Alex Gardner-Key, Ian Jenkins, Rhys Morgan
Beddau: TBC
Bedwas: Aaron Bramwell; Rory Budina, Adam Williams, Mike Callow, Matthew John; Richard Powell, Nicky Griffiths (captain); Dan Preece, Alun Rees, Matthew Pettit, Geraint Edmunds, Joe Davies, Andrew Waite, George Lee, Robson Blake
Reps: Brynley Toms, Rhys Hutcherson, Chris Budgen, Tom Bell, James Richards, Tom Rowlands, James Dixon, Pat Lewis
Bridgend: Daniel Howells; Mathew Edwards, Joseph Gatt, Ryan Evans, Garin Lougher; Joseph Scrivens, Chris Williams; Ollie Evans, Iestyn Merriman, Garyn Daniel, Ashton Evans, Kyle Maiden, Tom Morgan, Adam O’Driscoll (captain), Matthew John
Reps: Huw Wilkes, Nicky Boyce, Keiron Jenkins, Owain Lloyd, Jon Howard, Connor Tantum, Morgan Jones, Mike Powell
Cardiff: TBC
Carmarthen Quins: TBC
Cross Keys: Leon Andrews; Mathew Powell, Lewis Barnett, Phil Williams, Nathan Trowbridge; Josh Prosser, James Leadbeater; Lewis Smout, Darren Hughes (captain), Richard Cornock, Danny Hodge, Scott Andrews, Adam Powell, Joe Thomas, Ieuan Jones
Reps: Rob Jones, Gwesyn Price-Jones, Gary Carpenter, Tom Lampard, Rhys Fitzgerald, Barney Nightingale, Owain Leonard, Joe Goodchild
Ebbw Vale: TBC
Merthyr: Matthew Jarvis; Richard Carter, Terri Gee, Martyn Thomas, Kyle Evans; Gareth Davies, Rhys Downes; Nathan Travett, Rhys Williams, Garry Powell, Ben Murphy, Craig Locke (captain), Nick White, Osian Davies, Phil Rees
Reps: Louis Jones, Sam Evans, Nathan Buck, Lou Reed, Tom Daley, Justin James, Dean Gunter, Alex Howman/Gavin Dacey
Llandovery: TBC
Narberth: James Stephenson; Nick Gale, Jack Price, Oli Reyland, Liam Hutchings; Ianto Griffiths, Rhys Lane; Bradley Davies, Dan Smith, Tom Slater, Jake Simm, Alex Jenkins (captain), Dewi Williams, Sean Jenkins, Steffan Phillips
Reps: Dylan Cooper, Ryan Rees, Adam Clark, Callum Tree, Lewis Wood, Lewys Gibby, Jonathan Rogers, Joe Hutchings
Neath: Ed Howley; Aaron Grabham, Gavin Evans, Matthew Pearce, Alec Jenkins; Rory Morgan-Williams, Chris Morgans; Ben Uphill, Sion Crocker, Ryan Thomas, Rhys Jones, Jon Barley, Aled Morris, Jordan Collier (captain), Leon Ward
Reps: Neil White, Callum Jones, Jonny Griffiths, Tom Hayward, Charlie Davies, Josh Guy, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Gareth Morris
Newport: Llywarch Ap Myrddin; Wes Cunliffe, Tom Pascoe, Chay Smith, Elliot Frewen; Matt O’Brien, Owen Davies; John Lavender, Henry Palmer, Garin Harris, Dan Mock, Dan Partridge, Rhodri Jones, Rhys Jenkins, Reuben Tucker
Reps: Will Evans, Matt Prosser, Tom Piper, Kyle Taylor, Jon Morris, Ryan James, Geraint O’Driscoll, Haydn Palmer
Pontypool: TBC
Pontypridd: Gary Williams; Lewis I Williams, Bradley Coombes, Dafydd Lockyer (captain), Dale Stuckey; Ceri Sweeney, Wayne Evans; Joe Popple, Huw Dowden, Mitch Auger, Lee Evans, Chris Dicomidis, Jake Thomas, Rhys Shellard, Dan Godfrey
Reps: Joel Raikes, Lewis K Williams, Declan Williams, Liam Belcher, Hemi Barnes, Peter Sidoli, Sam May, Dan Matthews
RGC 1404: Afon Bagshaw; Carwyn Ap Myrddin, Thomas Hughes, Tiann Loots, Aron Wyn Evans; Jacob Botica, AN Other; Joe Simpson, Rhys Williams, Ross Davies, A.N. Other, Maredydd Francis (captain), Andrew Williams, A.N.Other, Huw Worthington
Reps: A.N.Other, A.N.Other, A.N.Other, Mei Parry, Josh Leach, Cameron Davies, Alex Schwarz, Tom Seddon
