Ebbw Vale V Caerphilly

In any other season the bottom two teams playing each other would be a battle to avoid relegation, but this season it is a battle to avoid the ignominious honour of being the bottom placed team in the final season of the Welsh Premiership.

One win in the last eleven games is not just bad form for Ebbw, its embarrassing. However all those losses were forgotten last week when the Steelmen beat close rivals Pontypridd 25-6.

Caerphilly come into this game on the back of two fine performances one which they lost narrowly at Cardiff and which they won narrowly at Swansea. However before this, they had not won in five matches. Also with the prospect of the Parker Pen Shield final on the horizon, key players might be rested.

Caerphilly fullback Justin Thomas is looking to build on past performances. “A win would give us an enormous boost and do wonders for our morale before playing Pontypridd at home next weekend. We really believe we can close the gap on the teams above us – we showed against Cardiff we’re capable of producing good rugby, but we just need a bit more consistency,” he said.

The removal of the threat of relegation this season has caused many teams to relax towards the end of the season, and we can only hope that the changes to the structure next season will bring back the relegation dogfights that bring so much drama to the season’s end.

Ebbw Vale: M Meenan; N Wakley, R Shorney, P Matthews, A Bevan, B Haywood or S Mitchell, G Betts; A Black, L Phillips (Capt), D Penisini, C Billen, P Sidoli, W Thomas, K Tuipulotu, T Morris.
Reps: P Jones, K Crawford, D Hudd, R Williams, E Binham, M Ridley, L Roberts

Caerphilly: S Tuipulotu; R Howells, R Higgitt, R Boobyer, T Taufahema, J Thomas, A Chilten; L Manning, C Ferris (Capt), D Sweet, D Davies, P Jones, J El-Abd, S Grainger, M Workman.
Reps: L Richards, J Murphy, F Vunipola, N Rouse, N Watkins, G Liddon, R Bilton