Unbeaten at Church Bank this season, the Drovers are currently five points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand on their closest rivals and will have home advantage over Aberavon in the cup at the quarter-finals stage.
The Wizards broke their four match losing streak in the league last time out with an emotional home win over Ebbw Vale and will be hoping to build on that performance. Even so, it is a big ask to go to Llandovery and win.
“It’s an exciting time for our team as many of them are reaching their peak. We want to make the most of what we’ve got and keep on winning silverware,” said Drovers head coach, Euros Evans, who was in the first Llandovery side to win the cup in 2007 and then coached to team to a second win in 2016.
“We know Aberavon will be coming with some new confidence after their big win over Ebbw Vale in their last game. They are a team in transition who have suffered a number of injuries.
“We can’t take them for granted, and we won’t. We don’t want to be dropping out of tournaments early on.”
Cardiff head coach Steve Law has told his players they will need “the best performance of the season” if they are to hold onto the WRU Premiership Cup when they visit Eugen Cross Park to take on Ebbw Vale.
The Steelmen are unbeaten at home in five games this season and are hoping to stay on course for a first cup final appearance since 1998. Cardiff beat Newport in last season’s final at Principality Stadium.
“We’re going there on the back of two good performances in very different conditions, but we know the surface and conditions will be different again on Saturday,” said Cardiff head coach Steve Law.
“We know we will have to front up physically and be clinical in what we do. Ultimately, we need to have maximum effort if we want to defend our title.
Last time we played them at the Arms Park we were very disappointed with the way we let them control the game. They had five fifty twenty-twos and they scored from most of them.
“That cost us and we know this time we will have to be as clinical as they were last time out against us. Ebbw are flying high in the league at the moment and have good synergy.
“They have good numbers which allows competition for places. They had a blip last time out against Aberavon, but we are fully aware of what they have to offer.
“We need to be at our very best and bring the best performance of the season so far. It will be a tough challenge, but we are looking forward to it.”
When the two teams met in the Indigo Premiership in September at the Arms Park, Ebbw Vale waltzed to a 36-21 win with three driving line-out tries. But the team is expecting a totally different challenge this time.
“Cardiff have improved since then and will be coming into the cup tie on the back of a 60 point win over Aberavon – who we lost to last week,” said head coach Jason Strange.
“We have also got better and it is a fixture that has all the ingredients for a great cup clash. Even the weather has gone into traditional mode for this time of year.
“We want to get back to winning ways after out defeat at Aberavon. We were a few players short in that game, but we’ve got Rhys Francis and Curtis Gregory back fit, and they will make a difference.
“The game at Aberavon ranks alongside the one at Pontypool as our poorest performance of the season.”
Currently sitting pretty in second place in the Indigo Premiership, Ebbw Vale have only reached the cup final once in their history. A home win this weekend would give the club a real shot at reaching the final.
The other games see Merthyr welcome Carmarthen Quins and Swansea entertain Bridgend.
