The frustration for the Ironmen has been they have been on the wrong side of all three results going into this weekend’s semi-final at The Wern. It is a situation that has caused head coach Lee Jarvis a few sleepless nights ahead of their fourth meeting.
“They are a quality side, well coached, well structured and with a pair of half-backs who control games very well. Everyone talks about the power of their pack, but they’ve got some real firepower behind the scrum as well,” said Jarvis.
“We’ve lost to them three times already, so we don’t want to let another one slip through our fingers. At the start of the season the aim was to finish in the top eight in the first-half of the season and then the top four after the split.
“Now we want to take the next step into the final and if we are to do that we can’t afford to make any mistakes. We’ve also got to be prepared to match their fitness and determination and play for 85 or 90 minutes.
“There are no second chances this weekend and we need to make up for what happened in the previous meetings. We felt we should have won the first game at The Wern, were 20 points up at half-time in Colwyn Bay before we got hit with three yellow cards and then lost the cup semi-final in the last play of the game.
“We’ve had a good week of preparation and we’ve got a lot of experience out on the pitch. Aaron Pinches is back at centre, Josh Flye has come back to us from Swansea to play at full back and we’ll have Rhys Downes and Matthew Jarvis at half-back.”
Veteran prop Phil John starts in the RGC front row as the Gogs try to stay on course for a league and cup double in their first season in the top flight. Last season their games against Merthyr were all in the WRU National Championship.
The other semi-final takes place at the Talbot Athletic Ground on Sunday, when Aberavon host Bedwas in a repeat of their final regular season fixture last weekend. The Wizards were 28-9 winners last weekend, but they could only draw at Bedwas in the first half of the season and Syte Law’s side have already picked up the Foster’s Challenge Cup and beaten the other two semi-finalists this season.
“We can’t afford to read anything into what happened last week. The stakes are much higher this weekend and it will be a one-off, cup tie,” said Aberavon head coach Jason Hyatt.
“We have got the momentum and we need to recognise and turn it to our advantage. We have to stick to the style of rugby that got us into this situation.
“We’ve scored more tries than anyone in the Premiership and what pleased me about last week’s win was that we were the first side to stop Bedwas from scoring a try this season in the tournament. They are a tight group and in Richard Powell they have an excellent goalkicker.
“Three years ago we needed a point from our last game to stay in the Premiership, so full credit to the players for working so hard to turn things around. Ian Moore, who is retiring at the end of the season, has played a huge role in setting high standards both on and off the field and it would be great to go all the way for him this season.”
Merthyr: Josh Flye; Kyle Evans, Harri Millard, Arron Pinches, Richard Carter; Matt Jarvis, Rhys Downes; James Howe, Rhys Wilims, Gary Powell, Lou Reed, Criag Locke (captain), Ed Siggery, Osian Davies, Phil Rees
Reps: Nathan Trevett, Liam Belcher, Rhys James, Ben Murphy, Tom Daley, Justin James, Dean Gunter, Martyn Thomas
RGC 1404: Afon Bagshaw; Sam Jones, Tom Hughes, Tiaan Loots, Rhys Williams; Jacob Botica, Efan Jones; Phil John, Evan Yardley, Ross Davies, Henri Williams, Andrew Williams (captain), Will Bryan, Josh Leach, Huw Worthington
Reps: Rhys Williams, Joe Simpson, Sam Wainwright, Robin Williams, Mei Parry, Cam Davies, Harri Evans, Carwyn Ap Myrddin
Aberavon: TBC
Bedwas: Aaron Bramwell; Pat Lewis, Ross Wardle, Mike Callow, Mathew John; Richard Powell, Nicky Griffiths (captain); Brynley Toms, Alun Rees, Matthew Pettit, Robson Blake, Joe Davies, Nathan Hudd, George Lee, Andrew Waite
Reps: Dan Preece, Nathan Huish, Ken Dowding, Geraint Edmunds, Rhys Verley, Tom Rowlands, James Dixon, Adam Williams
