The home side is a mixture of players from Cardiff, Merthyr, Pontypridd and Cardiff Blues academy. The line-up also includes Cardiff Blues senior players Aled Summerhill and Jarrod Evans.
“It’s a huge opportunity for the whole squad, as this is the tier below the senior Cardiff Blues side. We’ve been out and about watching a lot of Principality Premiership rugby over the season, and have been running training on Monday nights for the past eight weeks,” said Richard Hodges, who is also the Cardiff Blues Elite Pathway Performance Manager.
The Blues warmed-up for their first pool game with a 21-17 victory over the Ospreys, who entertain London Irish at The Gnoll. That means home skipper, former Wales flanker Rob McCusker, going up against one of his former teams.
“We are really looking forward for our first game and getting our campaign underway. After last year’s campaign you can see how beneficial it is for our youngsters in their development and how it bridges the gap between the Premiership and the senior Ospreys,” said Ospreys coach Tom Smith.
James Chapron, who heads up the Dragons Premiership Select side, is hoing his team will have learned the lessons of last year’s tournament as they preparing to travel to face Bedford.
“Doncaster were a very good team and it was a lesson for us. The boys found out that if you make errors then good teams will punish you,” said Chapron.
“It was a harsh lesson and one that the younger sides need to learn quickly. Against Bedford we need to keep the ball, go through the phases and be positive in what we do.”
The Scarlets play on Sunday at Nottingham and their side will be led by regional No 8 Morgan Allen. The former Wales Under 20 cap heads up a strong side that also includes other senior regional players in Richard Smith, Gareth Owen and Tom Williams.
Wales Under 20 Grand Slamers Billy McBryde, Josh Macleod, Rhys Fawcett, Dafydd Hughes, Declan Smith and captain Tom Phillips have also been named in the matchday 22. The rest of the team is an amalgamation of Scarlets’ development pathway with players from all three regional Premiership sides – Carmarthen Quins, Llandovery and Llanelli.
“The British & Irish Cup competition is a step on the development path. The biggest thing for us is to be competitive in the competition and to give youngsters opportunities to play against tougher opposition week in week out,” said Scarlets Premiership Select head coach, Dai Flanagan.
“We are challenging ourselves to make the quarter-finals this season and we’re trying maximize the opportunity to push through the development of some of the younger members of the regional squad. We’ll see the likes of Declan Smith, Ioan Nicholas and Ryan Conbeer having run-outs during the course of the campaign.
“We see this group as a group we can progress from; that’s not taking anything away from the teams in the group but we feel we’re a lot further down the line this year.”
Cardiff Blues PSXV: Rhun Williams (Cardiff); Owen Lane (Cardiff), Aled Summerhill (Pontypridd), Declan Williams (Pontypridd), James Beal (Cardiff); Jarrod Evans (Cardiff), Lewis Jones (Cardiff) (captain); James Howe (Merthyr), Liam Belcher (Pontypridd), Kieron Assiratti (Cardiff), Ben Murphy (Merthyr), Seb Davies (Cardiff), Shane Lewis Hughes (Merthyr), Morgan Sienawski (Cardiff), Hemi Barnes (Pontypridd)
Reps: Joe Tomlinson (Cardiff), Brad Thyer (Pontypridd), Ben Leung (Cardiff), Luke Crocker (Cardiff), James Sheekey (Cardiff), Dane Blacker (Pontypridd), Ben Jones (Coleg y Cymoedd)
Ospreys PSXV: Morgan Williams; Tom Williams, Joe Thomas, Keiran Williams, Tom O’Flaherty; Luke Price, Matt Aubrey, Rowan Jenkins, Huw Gustafson , Dan Suter, Jon Kenny, James Ratti, Charlie Davies, Joe Tomalin-Reeves, Rob McCusker (captain)
Reps: Alex Dunham, Alex Jeffries, Mitchell Walsh , Will Jones, Chris Williams , Phil Jones, Rheon James
Dragons PSXV: Will Talbot-Davies (Dragons/ Ebbw Vale); Patric Lewis (Dragons/ Bedwas), Barney Nightingale (Dragons/ Cross Keys), Connor Edwards (Dragons/ Bedwas), Jarred Rosser (Dragons/ Ebbw Vale); Arwel Robson (Dragons/ Newport), Owen Davies (Dragons/ Newport); Keagan Bale (Dragons) Ellis Shipp (Dragons Academy/ Cross Keys), Leon Brown (Dragons), Joe Davies (Dragons), Adam Brown (Newport), Andrew Waite (Bedwas), Josh Skinner (Dragons/ Cross Keys, captain), Harri Keddie (Dragons/ Ebbw Vale)
Reps: Alun Rees (Bedwas), John Lavender (Newport), Lloyd Fairbrother (Dragons), Rhys Clarke (Ebbw Vale), Ieuan Jones (Cross Keys), Owain Leonard (Dragons Academy/ Cross Keys), Ethan Davies (Cross Keys)
Scarlets PSXV: Dion Jones; Richard Smith, Ioan Nicholas, Gareth Owen, Tom Williams; Billy McBryde, Declan Smith; Rhys Fawcett, Taylor Davies, Simon Gardiner, Rynier Bernardo, Tadhg Beirne, Tom Phillips, Josh Macleod, Morgan Allen (captain)
Reps: Dafydd Hughes, Gethin Robinson, Javan Sebastian, Josh Helps, Jack Condy, Rhodri Davies, Jack Maynard
