The Welsh side will be led by the evergreen Deri Mattravers, possibly one of the oldest players in the competition. Chris Bundy at lock and Tom Organ at blind side flanker make their Bedwas debuts in place of Kyle Maiden and Simon Grainger who are rested.
Behind the scrum, Iain Smerdon at centre and Ryan Owen on the left wing return after injury lay-offs. Dead eye kicker Richard Powell starts at outside half after his introduction as a second half replacement in last week’s victory over Neath.
Bedwas chairman Mark Lewis commented: “This game against the Bedford Blues, who are flying high in the English Championship, is probably up there as one of our biggest occasions in the modern era.
“I hope it lifts the profile of the Premiership and of course the profile of Bedwas. I would love to see us bring some of our second half form from the game against Neath last week into this game.”
For the first fixture between the two clubs and with both teams flying high in their respective domestic competitions, an intriguing battle is anticipated.
Bedford make several changes to the starting line up as last week’s bruising encounter takes its toll. Ben Ransom, Mark Kohler, Ollie Dodge, Jake Sharp and Darryl Veenendaal all come into the back line and Ben Cooper, Darren Fox and Tom Armes start up front.
Bedwas: 15 Stuart Thomas 14 Rory Budina 13 Ian Smerdon 12 Ross Wardle 11 Ryan Owen 10 Richard Powell 9 Tom Rowlands, 1 Dan Preece 2 Rhys Hutcherson 3 Matthew Petit 4 Phil Rees 5 Chris Bundy 6 Tom Organ 7 James Benjamin 8 Deri Mattravers (c).
Relacements: Ian George, Elliot Dee, James Thomas, Sam Feehan, Josh Davies, Ethan Davies, Matthew John.
Bedford: 15 Ben Ransom 14 James Stephenson 13 Ollie Dodge 12 Henry Staff 11 Mark Kohler 10 Jake Sharp 9 Darryl Veenendaal, 1 Darren Fearn 2 Neil Cochrane 3 Ben Cooper 4 Mike Howard 5 Alex Rae 6 Gregor Gillanders 7 Darren Fox 8 Tom Armes.
Replacements: Dan Seal, Phil Boulton, Paul Tupai, Joe Vandermolen, Ali Price, Ian Vass, Brendan Burke.
