The Swalec Championship kicks off
on Saturday with a host of intriguing fixtures lined up for the opening
weekend, the stand-out match arguably being defending champions Ebbw Vale
travelling to North Wales region RGC 1404.
The Steelmen, who ran away with
the title last season in only losing one match all year in the league, will be
a good tester for Chris Horsman’s Parc Eiras based troops.
All sides will be gunning for the
top spot this season with the potential carrot of a place in the Principality
Premiership at stake for the champions, provided the team that wins makes the
grade for the WRU’s ‘A’Licence.
Ebbw Vale Head Coach Jason
Strange is looking forward to the season ahead, starting with the trip to North
Wales.
“It’s good for the league and for
Wales to have a North Wales side in the mix - obviously, the facilities and
stadium they have up there are top class and our boys will be relishing the
opportunity to play on a good, hard, fast surface.”
“We’ve won three successive
league titles and last year couldn’t really have gone any better for us, but we
know we must keep moving forward and improving on and off the pitch”, added the
former fly-half.
The Steelmen have named Damien
Hudd as captain for the season and have managed to retain the majority of
players that starred for them last season, despite the loss of talented young
fly half Josh Lewis, who was a summer acquisition for Llanelli.
“We lost a couple of players in
the summer but the calibre and attitude of players that we have brought in has
been first rate. We have added some very talented players to the group who are
all from the local area and have the ambition to play at the top level”,
commented Strange.
“We know it’s going to be a tough
season and just as we have been pushing on, other clubs will also have been
improving, though we don’t concentrate on anyone but ourselves as a club. We
have the mentality at the club to just prepare the best possible way to do the
right things and not worry too much about what other clubs are doing.
“Obviously, the big carrot at the
end of the season is possibility of promotion to the Premiership which in
the last few seasons has been out of our hands, but we are going to do everything
possible as a club to get there. The club have made improvements to the ground
and facilities so hopefully when the opportunity arises we are able to grab it
with both hands.”
Bargoed, who were Ebbw’s closest
rivals last season, have added fly half Neil Burnett and second row forward
Gareth Short - both from Newbridge - to their ranks as they once again look to
launch an assault on the crown, with the two new boys locking horns with their
former club on the opening weekend.
Bargoed’s forwards coach Jeremy
Rogers is relishing the challenge of the new season.
"We have had a really good
pre-season with tough matches against Bedwas whom we beat, Newport and Cardiff.
The boys have trained really well and we believe that we are prepared for the
challenge,"said Rogers.
He added "We could not have
had a much more difficult start with Newbridge and Ebbw Vale our first two
opponents."
Rogers believes that
Vale,Newbridge,Tata Steel,Cardiff Met University and themselves should be the
frontrunners in the Championship.
Meanwhile, Tata Steel are another
side looking to build on a strong finish to last year’s campaign and they have
impressed many in pre-season, especially by claiming a Premiership scalp in
Aberavon. The Margam based outfit have added Bill Carey and Ross Pritchard, both
from Llanharan, to what was an already formidable pack and they will entertain
newly promoted Tondu on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Beddau announced
the return of former fans' favourite Brett Davey as their head coach in the
summer, replacing Robert Downes in the hot seat. Davey will be bringing ex
Wales Under 21 captain Duane Goodfield with him as his assistant to Mount
Pleasant Park.
In the past few seasons,
Goodfield has been learning his coaching trade at Pontyclun, where he led the
Badgers to promotion in his first season before narrowly missing out this year
on back to back promotion, losing out in the Third Division Play-Off. The Green
and Golds will kick off their campaign against Pontypool.
The
rest of the opening day fixtures see Narberth away at Bonymaen, Bridgend Athletic
entertaining Blackwood and Cardiff Met visiting Llanharan
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