Now the 23-year-old former Wales U20 cap is hoping to make up for the defeat to Glasgow Warriors by helping Llandovery reach the play-off final of the Indigo Premiership. The Drovers finished second in the league campaign to earn the right to host third placed Merthyr at Church Bank on Sunday, 14 May (kick-off 5.15pm).
Rees is picked at No 8 and will have another Scarlets player from this season, Griff Evans, ahead of him in the second row. Drovers head coach Euros Evans has also been able to include Harri Doel in his back line after the ex-Worcester Warriors players made a couple of appearances for Ospreys
“All we need now is for the weather to hold and it has all the makings of a great game. It is 1-1 between us and Merthyr this season and it is almost impossible to call how either semi-final is going to go,” said Evans.
A fast track is certainly going to boost the home side’s chances of reaching a first Premiership final against either Cardiff or Newport – two teams they have already beaten this season.
“The club has been to two WRU Challenge Cup finals and won them both (2007, 2016) and I was fortunate enough to play in one of them. They were great days, but winning the Premiership would be an even bigger achievement,” added Evans.
“It has been a really competitive and exciting season and there were three teams who could have taken top spot going into the last round of matches. Merthyr beat us at Church Bank when they came last, so we know we’ve got to be at our best to get the result we want.”
Evans is also hoping that the old adage that a bad dress rehearsal means everything will be alright on the night applies to his team this weekend. A week ago they went to Rodney Parade and were beaten 52-33 by Newport despite scoring five tries.
“We led three times in the game, but it was a bit of a dead rubber match in the end because we’d learned earlier in the day that Cardiff had beaten Merthyr and we couldn’t take top spot,” said Evans.
“We didn’t play that badly, but we will need to tighten up on our defence. That said, a home semi-final is something to savour and will ensure everyone is on their toes.”
Llandovery: Jack Maynard, Harri Doel, Adam Warren, Rhodri Jones, Aaron Warren; Ioan Hughes, Lee Rees; Jamie Hughes, Craig Thomas, Berian Watkins, Jack Jones (captain), Griff Evans, Osian Davies, Stuart Worrall, Iestyn Rees
Reps: Ricky Guest, Dino Dallavalle, Llyr Green, Lloyd Pike, Jordan Evans, Rhodri Wall, Kris Jones, Dafydd Land
