“It’s a massive achievement for Caerphilly to progress to the PARKER PEN SHIELD semi-final,” said Ring, speaking after the draw for the home-and-away status was made.
“At the start of the season we didn’t set out to win competitions. I told the players to go out and enjoy your rugby, and as a result I think we’ve been that bit more relaxed in Europe and that has shown in our play.”
Caerphilly will travel to Italy for the first-leg on the weekend of April 11-13 (kick-off tbc) before the return leg two weeks later at Virginia Park.
“Personally I’m not bothered if we play home or away first, but the players have told me they are happy to play away first, so they have the result they wanted.
“Now it’s just down to us performing over the two legs and hopefully we make it to the final.
“I think the draw had been kind to us. Looking at the way Pau but away Ebbw Vale last weekend, they are clearly a strong side, as are Castres.
“This season we have managed to get to this stage by narrowly winning our home games by more than we have lost away – and we are going to need to play well again to beat Petrarca Padova.
This weekend Ring takes his troops to Llandovery in the Principality Cup, and he is under no illusion about how tough the job will be.
“It’s a big one-off game. They are a good side who are right at the top of Division One.
‘I expect them to be highly competitive and give us a tough match. It’s the biggest game of the season for them, they have a partisan crowd who won’t make it easy for us.
‘But I’m looking forward to it, the players are on top of their game at the moment and we want to face these types of challenges.”
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The draw for the home and away status in the two legs of the PARKER PEN SHIELD semi-finals is:
FIRST LEG – 11 / 12 / 13 April, 2003
Castres Olympique v Pau
Petrarca Padova v Caerphilly
SECOND LEG – 25 / 26 / 27 April, 2003
Pau v Castres Olympique
Caerphilly v Petrarca Padova
