Lloyd scored 23 points when The Steelmen won 28-20 at Newport Stadium in November. In the return game at Eugene Cross Park at the end of March it was O’Brien’s time to shine as he scored 14 points in a 24-6 revenge triumph.
Now it all comes down to the decider with a place in the Indigo Prem final to meet either reigning champions Llandovery or the 2022 winners Cardiff. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
Former Wales U20 star Lloyd has spent time training with the Dragons of late and being coached by O’Brien, who is the regional backs coach. That has also meant training alongside some of the players he will be facing today, like scrum half Che Hope and centre Joe Westwood.
But while Lloyd refutes suggestions he has been ‘sleeping with the enemy’ this week, he can’t wait to get into action to try to put one over on his training partners
“It will be good to play against everyone this weekend. We know that Newport can play some really good rugby, especially when Matt O’Brien starts pulling the strings,” said Lloyd.
“If you give them an inch they can rip you apart, and we really respect them. But over the last 12 months we have put in a lot of hard work, and now it’s time to dig in when it matters most.
“We defend well, kick well and we’ve made Eugene Cross Park a tough place to play. We’ve also won at Newport Stadium in the last two years.”
The 25-22 victory in the 2022-23 campaign feature a 20-point haul from Lloyd, his six penalties being topped by his seven a year later to give the Black & Ambers plenty of warning ahead of the semi-final they need to stay squeaky clean and not conceded penalties.
“In big games like this, our coach Jason Strange is big on keeping things simple and not going away from fundamentals like your set piece and defence. Everything comes of the back of that,” said Lloyd.
“It will be the same game plan and approach at the weekend – nail those fundamentals and what will be, will be.
“Jason, and our chairman John Jones, have been massive over the past 18 months in building a vision for the club, which is centred on youngsters from the local area. From top to bottom that vision is based on the local area committing together – local club s digging in together and building relationships.
“There will be a good crowd there and we have two busses going down from the club. Our fans are up there with the best, both home and away. We know that if we give them 100 per cent, they give us 110 per cent back. We want to be a side competing for, and winning trophies.
“We played against Llandovery in the cup semi-final recently and we were poor. This is our chance to put things right.
“We’ve got a lot of youngsters in our squad, and we’ve learned from that experience. It is going to take one X Factor moment, or one moment of madness, to turn this game one way or the other.”
Newport: David Richards; Lloyd Lewis, Chay Foster-Smith, Joe Westwood, Elliot Frewen; Matt O’Brien, Che Hope; Thomas Davies, Henry Palmer, Nathan Evans. Rynard Landman, Barny Langton-Cryer, Josh Skinner, Josh Reid, Ben Roach (captain)
Reps: Wade Langley, Josh Reynolds, Garin Harris, Lewis David, Kyle Tayler, Dafydd Buckland, Jac Lloyd, Carwyn Penny
Ebbw Vale: Morgan Richards; Harry Rees-Weldon, Ethan Phillips, Dom Franchi, Ryan Gardner; Evan Lloyd, Jonathan Evans; Luke Garrett, Joe Franchi (captain), Adam Court, Dylan Bartlett, Lewis Young, Curtis Gregory, Ben Main, Ryan Jenkins
Reps: TBC
