The visitors, who are currently middle of the table, will be travelling to Sardis Road in search of a much needed victory. Their last game, against Aberavon at home, was a close encounter, however the Quins were not successful and lost by 12-16.
Carmarthen may view the start of their season as disappointing, with a total of two losses and one win. They will surely be looking to work their way up the table, with a win at Sardis Road a priority.
The home side will hope to remain top of the table on Saturday. Pontypridd’s last game was a victorious one having travelled to Rodney Parade and returned with a 38-44 win against Newport.
The last time Pontypridd played Carmarthen was back in January at Sardis Road. The home side were triumphant on that occasion by14-6.
Pontypridd’s injury absentees are prop Pat Palmer, who is out with a long term shoulder problem, and lock Alex Jones who has an ankle strain. Shaun O’Rourke makes his competitive debut at lock, and Ponty welcome back winger Dale Stuckey following a recent knee injury. Gary Williams moves from his usual centre position to cover at full back.
This fixture has historically been an absorbing contest with Carmarthen often frustrating their opponents. The corresponding fixture last season finished 14-6 to Ponty with victory secured in the last 10 minutes of the game. The same can be said at the Park in April when a very young and inexperienced Quins side were ahead of their rivals after 70 minutes. Similarly in that game the Ponty strength in depth told in the last 10 minutes.
Whilst Carmarthen will rue missed opportunities in recent weeks the Pontypridd side will have no such issues as they yet again top the league with three wins out of three. To date the champions have scored 68 points, 50 points and 44 points respectively. That said in two of those games, against Llanelli (32) and Newport (38), they also conceded over 30 points. Additionally let’s not forget that Bridgend were deserved winners in the SWALEC Cup in what many believed would be the most one sided final in years.
Pontypridd will of course start as favourites, they always do, however the Quins desperately need to kick start their season by cutting out mistakes, having a strong defensive game and displaying the attacking flair they are capable of. What better place to do this than at Sardis Road – followed by Wales v England!
Pontypridd: 15.Gary Williams. 14.Alex Webber. 13.Adam Thomas. 12.Dafydd Lockyer. 11.Dale Stuckey. 10.Jarrod Evans. 9.Joel Raikes. 1.Chris Phillips. 2.Liam Belcher. 3.Keiron Jenkins. 4.Shaun O’Rourke. 5.Seb Davies. 6.Jake Thomas. 7.Wayne O’Connor. 8.Dan Godfrey.
Subs: 16.Lloyd Williams. 17.Ceri Sweeney. 18.Geraint Walsh. 19.Huw Dowden. 20.Rhys Shellard. 21.Owen Sheppeard. 22.Bradley Thyer. 23.Keiron Assiratti.
Grace Reynolds
Carmarthen Quins: 15 Dale Ford 14 Chris Banfield 13 Iolo Evans 12 Rhys Williams 11 Dylan Morgan 10 Craig Evans 9 Connor Lloyd; 8 Ollie Hitchings 7 Shaun Evans 6 Josh Middleton 5 Haydn Pugh 4 Ben Thompson 3 Nathan Williams 2 Rhodri Clancy 1 Steffan Phillips
Subs: 16 Jack Parry 17 Ifan Phillips 18 Steffan Thomas 19 Josh Helps 20 Lee Taylor 21 Kieran Hardy 22 Morgan Griffiths 23 Kieran Jones
