The Blue and Blacks face Swansea RFC and will look to build on last weekend’s revenge 50-0 win over Carmarthen Quins, where they moved to the top of the table one point ahead of Newport.

Player of the match Steffan Emanuel, who scored a try, also helped steer the ship for Dan Fish’s men from the tee. On his first start of the season for the Blue and Blacks, Gavin Parry crossed over twice with props, Marc Thomas and Joe Cowell also crossing the whitewash.

Luke Pollock, who went off injured, scored his first try of the season before Nathan Hudd was sent off for making head contact with Quins outside-centre, Iestyn Gwilliam at the end of the first-half. The open-side has been handed a 10-week ban by the SRC disciplinary process suspended to five until the end of the 2024-25 season.

Dewi Cross, Benji Williams and Aled Ward all crossed over as Cardiff returned to winning ways after a disappointing defeat at Carmarthen Park in their last away outing.

Pre-Match Thoughts: 

Dewi Cross, who sits top of the defenders’ beaten tally with 31, said: “We knew we needed a big performance at home against Carmarthen after a defeat down there. We have grown massively over the past few months, on and off the field, with the culture around the squad being a big part of this.

“It’s a very tough place to go, and it’s never an easy task to play down at St Helen’s. We need to turn up on Saturday with the intent we had against Carmarthen at home and hopefully the weather holds up for us.

“We’ve had clear messages from the coaches about our game plan for Saturday, we haven’t changed much but we are in the mindset of playing heads-up rugby and enjoying ourselves at the same time. 

“They are a very physical team, they bring a lot of line speed so we are expecting our skill set to be put to the test. We need to stick to what we have practised and trust the process,” Cross concluded.

Head coach Dan Fish said on the trip to Swansea:“I was really pleased with the bounce back we had last week. 

“We had a real strong defensive effort to keep them too nil. Scored some good tries with exciting attacking rugby. Another challenge awaits this weekend against Swansea. 

“We know they are going to come out firing at home and we need to match that. Couple of changes to the team which is exciting. Boys have deserved these opportunities and we know that we are building a competitive squad which is very healthy to have in this league. 

“Big congratulations to Craig Hudd who captains the side on the weekend,” Fish added.

Remember the last meeting at St Helen’s? 

The last time the Blue and Blacks visited St Helen’s was in November last year in the ninth round of the Indigo Premiership.

Cardiff came into the game after defeats to Gwent sides Pontypool and Newport. Joey Tomlinson scored a brace and Tom Habberfield crossed over as Cardiff recorded a 22-12 win.

Opposition form 

Hugh Gustafson’s side come into the encounter after losing all four of their opening games. These came against Carmarthen Quins (39-29), Newport (35-27) and back-to-back losses to Bridgend Ravens.

They last won a competitive league game at St Helen’s against Neath when they were 33-25 victors back in April. Newly signed outside-half Josh Phillips has made an impressive start as he sits in fourth place on the points tally with 38 points scored and will be one to look out for on Saturday.

Head-to-Head

Previous meetings between the two sides play into Cardiff’s hands with the last six matches going in favour of the Blue and Blacks. The last time The Whites had recorded a win over the Blue and Blacks was in April 2019, at St Helen’s. It was an unconverted Ryan Griffiths try that proved to be the difference as Swansea won narrowly 20-17.

Those unable to make the journey to St Helen’s on Saturday can stay up-to-date with live updates on our social media channels (X, Facebook, and Instagram)