The Blue and Blacks were convincing 62-17 winners over Newport at the Arms Park in September though Cardiff were able to field a number of regional players in their line-up that day.
Cardiff’s head coach Martyn Fowler admits his side will have a different look to it this time round but says a win is vital as they look to catch Cross Keys above them.
“We had a number of Blues players in our squad when we played Newport at the Arms Park but it will be a different team on Friday night,” said Fowler.
“It’s a huge game for us in terms of getting our campaign back on track as we’ve been hit and miss in the league. We had a poor start, then a run of four wins and now some mixed results so it’s time for us to prove ourselves.”
Cardiff have had a disappointing British & Irish Cup campaign, suffering back to back defeats to Ulster in recent weeks. But despite the poor run, Fowler argues the games have shown him a lot about where his side are at.
“As soon as we lost to Bristol at home we knew we were out of the British & Irish Cup so we’ve used our games to find out where we are,” he added.
“Our defeats to Ulster were tough to take, they’re a fully professional outfit and exposed the deficiencies in our defence. It did bring those deficiencies to our attention though so hopefully we’ve sorted those out now.
“We are ready and as a coaching team we can’t do anymore. The onus is now firmly on the players.”
For Newport, consistency in the New Year will be the aim of the game, starting with tomorrow night’s derby. After a heavy defeat to Newcastle, their head coach Sven Cronk has played down talk of revenge and is looking forward to the battle.
He makes sweeping changes with a number of players now available following injury. Geraint O’Driscoll moves to full-back with Dan Robinson and Adam Davies returning in the centre. Lucky talisman Tim Ryan, who is yet to play on a losing Newport side, starts at tight-head.
“Newport against Cardiff is always an exciting game to be involved in. There’s no talk of revenge, if you think too much about that then you lose sight of what you have to do on the pitch,” said Cronk.
“Newcastle was a different level for us but we’ve addressed it and moved on. We’re looking to put a few things right, hopefully there’ll be a level playing field and we can get a win.”
