Ravens fans travelling up to Sardis Road go there without too much confidence after seeing their side lose on their last three outings after beating Llanelli on the opening day of the season.
Defeats to Cross Keys, Llandovery and Cardiff won’t give those supporters a lot of hope as they drive up the A470 to the House of Pain, however, Vaughan and Ellis are determined to put in a performance they can be proud of.
“We all know the challenge that is coming on Saturday,” said Vaughan. “Sardis Road is the hardest place to go in this league and get a result but it’s the sort of challenge we want as a squad. The game will really show where we are as a squad, this is our benchmark and we are not going there to make up the numbers.”
Ellis is also upbeat about the match, adding: “I am massively looking forward to the challenge at Sardis Road. It is perhaps the one game you highlight as the hardest in terms of getting points out of.
“On a personal level, you want to play against the best and Pontypridd were champions last season. We know it’s a tough challenge and one we are looking forward to. Hopefully we have learnt a lot about ourselves in the last week and we need to bounce back from Wednesday’s disappointment.”
Following the midweek setback against Cardiff, Ravens head coach Ben Rose is expected to make a number of changes in personnel as the hectic schedule takes its toll on his squad.
Pontypridd will also be rotating their squad with scrum-half Carl Thomas, flanker Tom Hetherington and lock Dafydd Davies all making their first starts of the season.
Two club stalwarts, fly-half Dai Flanagan and No 8 Dan Godfrey, will be making their 100th appearances for the hosts, with the former doing it against one of his old clubs.
Unavailable for selection are wing Owen Jenkins, centre Adam Thomas and flanker Rhys Shellard, who are on duty with Wales Sevens, and fly-half Simon Humberstone (groin), lock Cory Hill (shoulder) and prop Keiron Jenkins (calf) are out injured.
Bedwas host Llanelli at Bridge Field with the winners in with a chance of claiming the outright lead at the top of the Premiership table.
For Llanelli, Stuart Leach keeps his place after an excellent debut against Aberavon in midweek and the visitors also welcome back Kristian Phillips and 19-year-old Jordan Williams, who gets his first start of the season at outside-half.
Jamie Kaijaks, Aled Hopkins, Nic Reynolds, Owen Williams and Aled Davies are all ruled out with injuries but that gives opportunities to props Peter Owen and Sean McDonnell-Roberts.
“Bedwas have had a terrific start to the season and will without doubt be a big challenge to our squad,” said head of rugby at Parc y Scarlets, Anthony Buchanan. “Both sides will be playing two games in four days and like us they will have picked up some bumps and bruises.
“We managed a 21-19 win last season and a repeat of that would be nice. But I’m expecting the same as we always get at the Bridge Field, a big challenge on the field and a bigger welcome off.”
Cross Keys entertain Neath at Pandy Park and there are just one positional and two personnel changes to the Keys team that started the win over Swansea on Wednesday night.
Dean Gunter returns to replace Dorian Jones at outside-half and in the pack Garry Horrigan comes in at hooker with Gerwyn Price lining up against his former club at openside flanker in place of another hooker, Jamie Sollis.
Luke Ford, Adam Powell and Price all start against their old tram with Anthony Lott potentially joining them as he is named on the Keys bench.
Neath coach Patrick Horgan makes two provisional changes to his starting line-up with Ben Jones taking over from youngster Luc Jones at scrum-half. Jones is away playing for Monmouth School while loosehead prop Nicky Downs is preferred to Owain Ford.
“At this early stage of the season we are trying to build a bit of continuity while bedding in new players,” said Horgan. “We had a good win over Carmarthen Quins on Wednesday and on times, when we were allowed to play, we put together some slick handling movements but there were too many stoppages to make it much of a spectacle.
“After beating Swansea, Cross Keys will be up for this game but our boys will relish the chance to take on old team-mates like Luke Ford, Gerwyn Price and Adam Powell.”
Elsewhere, Newport will be hoping for a turnaround in their fortunes when they go to Carmarthen Quins, Llandovery bid to make it four wins from four at home against Swansea and on Sunday, Cardiff host Aberavon at the Arms Park.
Teams
Pontypridd
15 Geraint Walsh; 14 Lewis I Williams, 13 Gavin Dacey, 12 Dafydd Lockyer (capt), 11 Owen Williams; 10 Dai Flanagan, 9 Carl Thomas; 1 Scott Roberts, 2 Darran Harris, 3 Pat Palmer, 4 Craig Locke, 5 Dafydd Davies, 6 Ed Siggery, 7 Tom Hetherington, 8 Dan Godfrey
Subs; 16 Gareth James, 17 Gareth Wyatt, 18 Tom Pascoe, 19 Huw Dowden, 20 Jake Thomas, 21 Chris Dicomidis, 22 Stuart Williams, 23 Chris Phillips
Bedwas
15 Ethan Davies; 14 Ross Wardle, 13 Jack Dixon, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Rory Budina; 10 Richard Powell, 9 Tom Rowlands; 1 Ian George, 2 Rhys Hutcherson, 3 Kristian Gay 4, Phil Rees, 5 Kyle Maiden, 6 Phil Sargent (capt), 7 Simon Grainger 8, Sam Feehan
Subs; 16 Daniel Preece, 17 Matthew Pettit, 18 Ben Roberts, 19 James Richards, 20 Aaron Harris, 21 Andrew Quick, 22 Stuart Thomas, 23 Matthew John
Llanelli
15 Kristian Phillips; 14 Bowdy Davies, 13 Steffan Hughes, 12 Johnny Lewis, 11 Kyle Evans; 10 Jordan Williams, 9 Rhys Lane; 1 Shaun Hopkins, 2 Craig Hawkins, 3 Peter Owen, 4 Adam Powell (capt), 5 Jake Ball, 6 Duane Eager, 7 Daniel Thomas, 8 Stuart Leach
Subs; 16 Rhys Thomas, 17 Tomas Wilson, 18 Ed Price, 19 Nathan Hart, 20 TBC, 21 Nathan Brooks, 22 TBC, 23 Sean McDonnell-Roberts
Cross Keys
15 Gareth David; 14 Elliott Jones, 13 Luke Ford, 12 Aled James, 11 Nathan Trowbridge; 10 Dean Gunter, 9 Ryan James (capt); 1 Richard Cornock, 2 Garry Horrigan, 3 Craig Gould, 4 Danny Hodge, 5 Ollie Hodge, 6 Rhys Peebles, 7 Gerwyn Price, 8 Adam Powell
Subs; 16 Jamie Sollis, 17 Anthony Lott, 18 James Johnstone, 19 Scott Matthews, 20 Scott Andrews, 21 Rhys Dyer, 22 Dorian Jones, 23 Luke Williams
Neath
15 Aaron Bramwell; 14 Kevin James, 13 Ryan Evans, 12 Gareth McCarthy, 11 Gareth King; 10 David Langdon, 9 Ben Jones; 1 Nicky Downs, 2 Rhodri Clancy, 3 Tom Price, 4 Euros Evans, 5 Rhys Jones, 6 Gareth Gravell (capt), 7 Lee Evans, 8 Tom Morgan
Subs; To be confirmed
Newport
Llandovery
15 Lee Rees; 14 Dylan Morgans, 13 Adam Warren, 12 Jack Roberts, 11 Sam Soul; 10 James Garland, 9 Rhodri Williams; 1 Owen Evans, 2 Luke Lewis, 3 Dean Howells, 4 Phil Day (capt), 5 Bryn Griffiths, 6 Luke Kendall, 7 Shaun Miles, 8 Kieran Murphy
Subs; 16 Andrew Jones, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Shaun Jones, 19 Lloyd Phillips, 20 Thomas Ball, 21 Cerith Rees, 22 Matthew Jacobs, 23 Jake Randall
Swansea
Teams to be confirmed – Bridgend, Carmarthen Quins, Cardiff and Aberavon
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