The former Wales Under 20 lock, who won the WRU National Cup with Neath in 2009, is currently sidelined with a fractured kneecap, but he has complete confidence in his side to do the business against Pontypridd in their quarter-final clash at The Park, Carmarthen.
It is the WRU National Cup for the Quins this weekend and then they will switch their attention to the Foster’s Challenge Cup. They meet Merthyr in the semi-finals at the Talbot Athletic Ground on Wednesday, 15 March.
“If you had told me at the start of the season that we would make the Top 8 in the Premiership, the quarter-finals of the National Cup and semi-finals of the Challenge Cup then I would have taken that. The thing is, we don’t want to stop now,” said Pugh.
“After losing out first two games in Tier 1 in the Premiership the cup competitions are very much our focus now. We’ll have to win every game left in the Premiership to qualify for the play-offs, which is going to be a tough task.
“Having had a taste of the cup final atmosphere last season, when we lost to Llandovery, we are determined to do all we can to go one better this time. We’ve already beaten Pontypridd at The Park once this season and we are confident we can match them and do it again.
“We now what they are going to come with – a big pack with experienced locks Chris Dicomidis and Peter Sidoli at its heart and then a back line packed with pace and experience. You’ve got to respect a back line that contains Ceri Sweeney and Dafydd Lockyer.”
Quins certainly qualified as one of the most improved teams in the Premiership in the first half of the season and they matched Ponty’s 47 points to finish sixth overall to reach Tier 1. They beat Ponty 32-26 and lost only one of their seven home matches.
They had two high-scoring victories over Championship opposition in the earlier rounds of the cup, beating Newcastle Emlyn 63-10 at home and Narberth 52-19 way, and are looking to progress to the semi-finals by taking a major scalp.
Pontypridd set the record straight a month ago when they handed out a 35-14 beating to the Quins at Sardis Road in Tier 1 and will be looking to add the west Wales side’s scalp to those of Cardiff Met and Newport from the earlier rounds.
Flanker Jake Thomas is ruled out with a knee strain and that has given the visitors a few back row issues. Dan Godfrey and Owen Sheppeard are already on the sidelines with injuries and Rhys Shellard is away on domestic leave. It means former Wales Under 20 hooker Liam Belcher will do duty on the openside, Dafi Davies makes a timely return from injury on the blindside and Ponty Youth No 8 Gruff Lloyd is given a seat on the bench.
Pontypridd: Gary Williams; Lewis Williams, Bradley Coombes, Dafydd Lockyer (captain), Dale Stuckey; Ceri Sweeney, Wayne Evans; Sam May, Huw Dowden, Mitch Auger, Peter Sidoli, Chris Dicomidis, Dafi Davies, Liam Belcher, Hemi Barnes
Reps: Joel Raikes, Callum Hall, Joe Davies, Ethan Coombes, Gruff Lloyd, A.N. Other, Joe Popple, Liam Bodman
