After last season’s mid-table finish, the Ravens will be looking to mount more of a challenge in the new campaign, with an exciting new coaching set-up and some very promising new signings.
The squad has been put through its paces in pre-season and triumphed in both warm-up matches, winning 69-10 and 24-15 away to Maesteg and Cinderford respectively. Several new additions have staked their claims for the first team with head coach Ben Rose handed some serious selection headaches as a result.
Llanelli will be difficult opponents for the Ravens after narrowly missing out on lifting the Principality Premiership trophy last season, losing 15-13 to Pontypridd in the play-off final. They have also had a successful pre-season campaign, winning 54-7 at Whitland and beating Ammanford 17-3 at the Recreation Ground.
When the sides met in Bridgend last season, Llanelli secured a 25-20 victory to make it four wins out of five in the head-to-head stats, so the Ravens will be keen to exact revenge and begin the season with a victory.
“The first hit out of the season is really exciting. It’s time to show what we have been working so hard on in pre-season and put it in to practice,” said Rose.
“To be at the Brewery Field is extra special as it means we get to play in front of our passionate home supporters.
“There are some special players in both teams so I hope it will be a tough, entertaining fixture. I know our boys will be putting in a massive effort to get the season off to a good start against a quality opposition.”
For Llanelli, the aim is to win the title after narrowly missing out last season.
“We’ve had some young boys coming through so we’re quite excited to kick it off,” said Llanelli hooker Craig Hawkins.
“We’ve got a similar squad to last year with a mixture of youth and experience so I think we’ve got the blend right.
“It’ll be tough against Bridgend but I think it should be a good standard of rugby on Saturday.
“We won it two years ago and lost in the final last year so we can’t look for anything less, the title is the aim.”
Bridgend XV against Llanelli:
15 Ben Thomas 14 Glenn Lewis 13 Nathan Edwards 12 Ross Jones 11 Luke Morgan 10 Jamie Murphy 9 Tom Habberfield 8 Scott Hicks 7 Lloyd Evans 6 Jonny Vaughan (c) 5 Alex Jones 4 Lee Davies 3 Jon Thomas 2 Matthew Dwyer 1 Marc Thomas.
Replacements:
Ashleigh James, Ken Dowding, Owen Williams, Adam Hillier-Rees, Shaun O’Rourke, Rhys Williams, Kyle Barrett
Llanelli XV against Bridgend:
15 Johnny Lewis (c) 14 Kyle Evans 13 Nic Reynolds 12 Steffan Hughes 11 Kristian Phillips 10 Owen Williams 9 Aled Davies 8 Craig Price 7 Dan Thomas 6 Nic Cudd 5 Nathan White 4 Lewis Rawlins 3 Aled Hopkins 2 Kirby Myhill 1 Rhys Thomas.
Replacements:
Shaun Hopkins, Craig Hawkins, Adam Powell, Duane Eager, Justin James, Diggy Bird, Bowdy Davies.
Referee: Neil Perkins
