Mark Jones are following up last season’s breakthrough season, when they won the WRU National Cup and reached the play-offs in the Premiership, with another strong showing and victory at Parc y Scarlets would boost their chances of finishing the first section of the season at the top.
They have five games to go after this weekend with Neath and Swansea set to travel north to Parc Eirias and games at Aberavon, Carmarthen Quins and Bridgend to come. Llanelli have selected centre Steff Hughes and scrum half Declan Smith, both of who were used as second half replacements by the Scarlets last night in their home win over Benetton.
You have to go all the way back to 2008 to find the last win by Bridgend over Llandovery, but after last weekend’s morale boosting home win over Aberavon the Ravens will travel with as much expectation as hope.
Former Oxford Blue Ed Doe returns to join Tyler Williams and Aaron Grabham in the back three for the Ravens, while Cai Evans comes off the bench to start at No 10 in partnership with Will Baird.
After six successive defeats, Neath will be hoping for a slice of luck at Carmarthen Park to try to end their losing run. A raft of injuries hasn’t helped their cause, although there was one bright spot in the week in the build-up to the game as the club signed scrum half Jake Cole.
The Neath Athletic product will join his brother, Josh, in the Welsh All Blacks squad, although ti will be Chris Morgans who wears the No 9 jersey against the Quins.
“Our planning went out of the window last week when we lost a player before kick-off and then another three inside the first 25 minutes. The squad have been avoiding walking under ladders this week,” admitted Neath coach Gareth Llewellyn.
“Injuries aside, we have not been making things easy for ourselves either. We need to carry our disciplines on to the field then our luck will change.
“Silly things have been costing us dear but when we put things together we are playing some good rugby and scoring tries.”
Principality Premiership West Division – Round 9
4 November 2017
Aberavon v Swansea
Carmarthen Quins v Neath (12.30pm)
Llandovery v Bridgend
Llanelli v RGC 1404
Teams
Aberavon v Swansea
Aberavon: Liam Popham; Chris Banfield, Will Price, Rheon James, Mike Wilson; James Garland (captain), Jacob Flynn; Mike Burgess, Ieuan Davies, Rhys Henry, Ben Thomas, Ben Davies, Lee Purnell, Rob Dudley-Jones, Joe Tomalin-Reeves
Reps: Jonathan Phillips, Steffen Williams, Luke Joseph, Luke Davies, Jacob Blackmore, Alex Jeffries, Jordan Walters, Ben Jones
Swansea: Rhys Williams; Andrew Claypole, Jedd Evans, Rhys Williams, Owen Howe; Gareth Walters, Josh Guy; Jack Powell, Paul John, Fenton Holder, Matt Dodd, Jay Williams, Jon Vaughan, Emyr Williams, Jon Fox (captain)
Reps: Tom Ball, Tom Sloane, Richard Murphy, Rory Gallagher, Ben Davies, Tom Ham, James Davies, Liam Smith
Carmarthen Quins v Neath
Carmarthen Quins: Gavin Thomas; Dale Ford, Nic Reynolds, Scott Lloyd, Morgan Griffiths; Steffen Marshall, Aron Hemmings; Steff Thomas, Rhodri Clancy, Javan Sebastian, Shaun Jones, Josh Helps, Elis Lloyd, Shaun Evans (captain), Lawrence Reynolds
Reps: Gethin Robinson, Torin Myhill, Connor Allen, Rhys Minchin, Lewys Millin, Ifan Beynon-Thomas, Jac Wilson, Jack Price
Neath: Geraint Llewellyn; James Roberts, Richard Smith, Matthew Pearce, Mike Evans; Gavin Evans (captain), Chris Morgans; Liam Tobias, Sion Crocker, Ryan Thomas; 4 Rhys Jones, Jon Barley, Ryan Bean, Dewi Lake, Leon Ward
Reps: Ben Uphill, Geraint James, Matthew Davies, Scott Hicks, Elis Hopkins, Scott Gibson, Iwan Evans, Alec Jenkins
Llandovery v Bridgend
Llandovery: Kristian Jones; Lee Williams, Rhodri Wall, Rhodri Jones, Aaron Warren; Jack Maynard, Lee Rees; Dean Howells, Dafydd Hughes, Scott Jenkins, Morgan Jones, Joe Powell, Emyr Price, Duane Eager, Richard Brooks (captain)
Reps: Greg Cunniffe, Berian Watkins, Jack Jones, Lewis Ellis-Jones, Matthew Moore, Shaun Miles, Ryan Evans, Alex Davies
Bridgend: Tyler Williams; Aaron Grabham, Joe Gatt, Jamie Murphy, Ed Doe; Cai Evans, Will Baird; Ollie Evans, Iestyn Merriman, Garyn Daniel, Chris John, Kieran Martin, Matthew John, Zac O’Driscoll (captain), Ashton Evans
Reps: Gareth Harvey, Owen Jordan, Cai Lewis, Owain Lloyd, Adam O’Driscoll, Garin Lougher,Ryan Evans. Morgan Jones
Llanelli v RGC 1404
Llanelli: Jake Newman; Ioan Nicholas, Steffan Hughes, Matthew Jenkins, Ryan Conbeer; Ioan Hughes, Declan Smith; Dylan Phillips, Craig Thomas, Ben Leung, Christian Long, Bryce Morgan, Ellis Thomas, Lloyd Pike (captain), Nathan Hart
Reps: Ben Edwards, Rhys Thomas, Tom Kaijaks, Ashleigh Hyndman, Daniel Davis, Gareth George, Lewis Williams, Tom Rogers
RGC 1404: Dion Jones; Harri Evans, Tom Hughes, Tiaan Loots, Afon Bagshaw; Jacob Botica, Alex Schwarz; Joe Simpson, Evan Yardley, Sam Wainwright, Maredydd Francis (captain), Andrew Williams, Will Bryan, Dan Owen, Tim Grey
Reps: Rhys Williams, Curtis Reynolds, Jordan Scott, Robin Williams, George Roberts, Efan Jones, Danny Cross, Aron Evans
