The Black & Ambers are 12 points clear at the top of the Premiership table, and have already beaten arch-rivals Cardiff three times this season. While most pundits expect Newport to make it four in a row over the Blue & Blacks at Sardis Road today, and injury crisis has hampered Morris’ side.
“I think a lot of people will be saying we are favourites going into this weekend’s game having won the previous three games against them this season,” said the Newport head coach. “But if I’m completely honest we have to be underdogs given the amount of injuries we’ve got.
“We’ve got players coming in from community clubs, and we’ve got players playing out of position. We’ve got a prop playing hooker, a back-row playing second-row, and a new centre partnership.
“I think with Cardiff having a couple of regional players back we go into this game as underdogs. We are expecting a much more ferocious and intense performance from Cardiff, and it’s going to be a big challenge for us this weekend.
“We have 14 boys out injured at the moment, so we are playing it week by week. Our injury room is fuller than our changing room at the moment.”
The winner of today’s semi-final will get the opportunity to play at the Principality Stadium next month. Morris insists that is a huge motivating factor for his players, and is confident their strength in depth can help Newport finish the season strongly.
“We were initially going to use this cup competition as an opportunity to rotate the squad, and to give players who don’t normally play an opportunity,” said Morris.
“But most of our players raised the point that this competition gives us a chance to play at the Principality Stadium, and we want to go out to win it. We are in the semi-final, and it’s definitely a motivating factor for my players to run out at the Principality Stadium.
“We’ve got a lot of strength in depth which has made our training sessions a lot more intense. That’s been a big factor in how well we’ve done so far this season, but there’s a lot of rugby to be played before we start thinking about silverware.”
In the other Premiership Cup semi-final Euros Evans’ Llandovery face Jason Hyatt’s Aberavon at the Wern in Merthyr. There are also two regular league fixtures in the Premiership today with Ebbw Vale hosting bottom of the table Bridgend, and Pontypridd travelling to St Helens to face Swansea.
