A good win over powerful Irish province Ulster aside, Swansea have been in poor form, culminating in the embarrassing 6-62 thumping by Llanelli at Stradey Park.
Australian coach John Connolly has brought in compatriots Sam Cordingley (scrum-half) and Andrew Farley (lock), but progress has been slow.
Swansea are skippered by Wales and Lions centre Scott Gibbs, who with Mark Taylor provides one of the strongest midfield pairings in Europe.
Their experience marshalling the backline will be important to the All Whites this season.
Equally important is the form of fly-halves Arwel Thomas and Gavin Henson, who are both match-winners on their day.
Wales captain Colin Charvis leads by example, but Swansea’s tight five has struggled in early season matches and has been further rocked by the forced retirement of Wales veteran Garin Jenkins.
Swansea only just made it into Heineken Cup rugby this season- qualifying by virtue of their fifth place finish in last season’s Welsh Scottish League.
This is Swansea’s sixth Heineken Cup foray. In the inaugural season they made it to the semi-finals, and in 2000/1 season they made it to the last eight, but qualifying for the knockout stages is more than most St. Helens fans will expect this season.
What do you think?
Can Swansea turn their season around in the Heineken Cup?
What has happened to Swansea- where did it all go wrong?
Who needs to step up and have a big game at the weekend?
Have your say on the wru.co.uk message board…
