Cardiff RFC travel to the Ciner Glass Community Stadium this afternoon, where they’ll be aiming to return to winning ways against top of Super Rygbi Cymru Ebbw Vale.
The Blue and Blacks come into the encounter off the back of a narrow 36-33 loss against Camarthen Quins, in a match that saw nine tries. “We started off slowly again, first half we weren’t at the races,” began captain Jason Harries on his side’s first defeat of the season.
“Couldn’t control the mid-thirds; we just let Carmarthen Quins have too much territory and field position. They made us pay for it.
“Going in 18-7 down at halftime, it wasn’t panic stations, but we had to come back out firing in the second half, and we did.
“We scored straight away from kickoff in the second half, and we kind of found a little bit of ascendancy. You know, we were in their 22 quite a lot.
“There were two yellow cards for them, and we then started to get fluency in the tries, got a couple of good driving mauls.
“But then, receiving the kickoff from them, there were a couple of times we weren’t taking them cleanly and weren’t exciting them cleanly.
“Again allowed them field position in our half, a couple of points here and there allowed them to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
“We got ourselves back in front with all the hard work. Then, just at the end, it’s just unfortunate they’ve scored, and I guess a draw would’ve been sufficient for both teams.
“From our position in the first half, it was just disappointing to not hold on at the end.”
For the Steelmen this afternoon, they come into the contest on the back of triumphs over Aberavon and Bridgend Ravens to begin their SRC season, which sees the hosts this afternoon sit in pole position.
The last time the Blue and Blacks claimed the spoils in Ebbw Vale was back in April 2023, when proceedings ended 18-13. Now head coach of Cardiff RFC, Dan Fish, scored alongside Cam Winnett, with Harrison James kicking eight points from the tee.
“Tough game going up to Ebbw Vale, we’ve got to up there and basically front up on all fronts. This is because we know what kind of pack they’ve got, what they’re kind of going to do.
“For us, it’s to limit them in areas which they thrive off. How we do that is again it goes back to our mid-thirds, not giving away penalties, controlling that a bit better, and not giving them entries into our 22.
“It’s going to be a tough game, no doubt about it, but we’ve got to get back on track because you know the Quins game is done now.
“We’ve learnt throughout the week what we can do better, but we have to put that into Ebbw Vale. It’s going to take a full squad effort to go up there and turn them over.
“If we get everything right on our end, I’m sure the result will take care of itself, but looking forward to a very entertaining match-up in Ebbw Vale,” concluded Harries.