The Blue and Blacks travel to Sardis Road as they begin their preparations for the upcoming Super Rygbi Cymru season which starts on the 14th September away to RGC 1404 with a contest against rivals Pontypridd.
In what became a Boxing Day tradition for many supporters before the professional era of Rugby Union, many supporters still to this date associate Christmas celebrations with a trip to the Cardiff Arms Park each year.
However, with the launch of the new Super Rygbi Cymru league and with The Valley Commandos not putting an application forward, those Christmas head-to-heads are no longer and Saturday will be the only scheduled meeting for both teams of the 2024/25 season.
Team News
1 Marc Thomas
2 Charlie Manship
3 Tom Harper
4 Ethan Phillips
5 Johan Hoogendoorn
6 Aled Ward
7 Will Jamieson
8 Benji Williams
9 Sion Davies
10 Osian Darwin-Lewis
11 Dewi Cross
12 Jason Harries (Capt)
13 Luke Pollock
14 Joseff Jones
15 Joe Goodchild
Replacements: Gavin Parry, Sam Turner, Jarred Williams, Harrison Rock, Evan Rees, Spencer Robinson, Lloyd Lucas, Conor Murphy
Pre-Match views
Head Coach Dan Fish said “the boys have trained well in pre-season a we are very much looking forward to getting a game under their belts. We have a good mix of youth and experience in our side for the trip. It will be a different environment for us to be in and with the crowd very much wanting a Ponty victory it will be good to see how the boys handle it. We know it will be a tough challenge but it is a step on the way to the first game in the SRC in September.
Speaking ahead of the fixture, scrum coach Nick Fish said: “I think first and foremost it’s about getting minutes under they’re belts, the last time they would’ve played was against Llandovery, so a lot of the boys haven’t played rugby for a while apart from the boys who have been involved with Wales U20s.
“The key thing is making sure the players have minutes under their belts, the good thing about the games we have selected, obviously we have got Welsh opposition in Pontypridd and then Championship opposition against Cambridge it just gives us an opportunity to expose ourselves in terms of how we want to play and expose where our weaknesses are.
“The other side to this is that we also want to get a winning habit, those habits start early, we aren’t too focussed on the results but again you want too emphasis on that winning habit, so it becomes a positive for us.
“Every time you play against Ponty you know Sardis Road, The House of Pain you always know that it’s going to be a tough game, a tough outing and that kind of shows with past games, they are always going to be tough up front, and they are going to have a sharp backline.
“It is down as a friendly but from our perspective these games are never friendlies when it comes to the whistle being blown”, he concluded.
Opposition Form
The hosts for Saturday began their pre-season at the start of August and come into the game on the back of three pre-season wins.
The first came against Abercwmboi RFC where they won 28-10, Ponty continued with a trip to Tenby United and won convincingly 35-12, before hosting National 2 West side Cinderford RFC a week later where they made it three wins from three after winning 31-26.
Pontypridd finished last year’s Indigo Premiership seventh on 63 points after winning 12 of their 24 matches.
Remember the last meeting?
Blue and Black fans will have fond memories of the last encounter between the two sides. Back in December 2023 in front of S4C cameras at the Cardiff Arms Park, The Blue and Blacks recorded a bonus point 32-13 win that moved themselves into the playoff spots. That day saw tries from Ethan Phillips, Dewi Cross, Luke Pollock and Harrison James.
However, some fans may remember the encounter when referee Ben Breakspear sent former Cardiff RFC player Ryan Wilkins and Curtis Greenslade off for early showers after two dangerous infringements in the space of 14 minutes, which meant the visitors were down to 13-men for a large part of the game.
Head-To-Head Record
Historically, Cardiff have enjoyed the upper hand in this fixture. Out of 144 matches played, The Blue and Blacks have claimed 78 wins compared to Ponty’s 66 wins.
Moreover, the last time Cardiff travelled to Pontypridd’s House of Pain was at the start of last season’s Indigo Premiership where the match finished 19-19, this was the first draw since May 1996 where it finished 27-27.
Going back to The Blue and Blacks last visit to the House of Pain, Morgan Allen and Dewi Cross scored with Harrison James converting three penalties. The Blue and Blacks were also tested defensively as they were down to 14-men after Joey Tomlinson was yellow carded, Will Keeper eventually went over in the corner to bring proceedings level however, Joe Scrivens was unable to add the extras with the clock in red.