Ty Morris’ men have arguably been the most consistent and impressive team in Wales at their level this season. They topped the table in the WRU Premiership Cup in the east, easily reached the semi-finals with a dominant display in the last eight against Bridgend and are currently on a six match unbeaten run.
The only unbeaten side left in the Premiership, they will be chasing a first league title since 2004 and possibly eyeing a league and cup double if they can maintain their current standards. Last time out saw them fightback against a very good Llandovery team, turning a 17–3 deficit at half-time into a great bonus-point victory with 24 unanswered points.
That said, they know all about the challenge presented by Justin Burnell’s Pontypridd side. They launched their season way back in August with a trip to Sardis Road for a friendly and ended up on the wrong side of a 17-14 defeat and then went down19-16 at the same venue the following month in their first competitive game of the campaign in the cup.
Since then, only RGC have managed to lower the colours of the Black & Ambers, but Ponty head coach Justin Burnell is hoping his team to match the Gogs’ 34-28 victory in Newport last November.
“We haven’t got anything to lose really. Newport are flying high, they are in form and they have some really experienced players in the line-up,” said Burnell.
“They are definitely the team that everyone has to beat this season, but we want to go there and show what we can do. When we get it right we are a good side.
“We have a different squad to last season, having lost a number of our leaders, and we’ve suffered some key injuries. But we’ve trained well this week and we’re really looking forward to going to Newport.
“Weather permitting, we’ll aim to match their free-flowing style and play an expansive, modern game. With some sides it’s all about finding ways to stop the driving maul or the hard running inside centre.
“With Newport you have to match their intent. Recent games against them have been end to end thrillers.”
Wales U20 outside half Ben Burnell, Justin’s son, is finally back in training after undergoing shoulder surgery after getting injured at Merthyr in the first-half of the season. He hopes to get back into contact training shortly and is targeting a few games before the season ends.
Newport: Dai Richards; Dafydd Smith, Elliot Frewen, Matt O’Brien (captain), Cameron Lewis; Will Reed, Luke Crane; Louis Jones, Will Griffiths, Garin Harris, Joe Bartlett, Josh Skinner, Rhys Jenkins, Kyle Tayler, Ben Roach
Reps: Lewis Smout, Henry Palmer, Dan Suter, Andrew Mann, George Young, Geraint Watkins, Mathew Powell, George Gladding
Pontypridd: Morgan Richards; Cole Swannack, Bradley Roderick, Ceri Morris, Dale Stuckey; Jake Lloyd, Joel Raikes; Tom Devine, Nathan Huish, Tom Harper, James Little, Chris Dicomidis, Kristian Parker (captain), Cally James, Joe Miles
Reps: Jack Walker, Ben Stephens, Morgan Bosanko, Jack Pope, Cai James, Sam Evans, Dafydd Buckland, Joe Davies
