Having suffered two defeats in their last two league outings, albeit close fought affairs with losing bonus points gained, Pontypridd will seek a return to winning ways as they face Carmarthen Quins at Sardis Road on Saturday 19th December, the game kicking off at 2:30pm.
Those defeats have seen Ponty slip from pole position in the table to fourth place, and taking on a Carmarthen side who currently occupy eleventh place. Ponty will also be out to avenge a 17pts to 3 defeat down at Carmarthen in the second game of the season.
There has been some mixing and matching in the selection of the Pontypridd team, with Wales under 20s pair, prop Lewis Smout and lock McCauley Cook given starting places along with flanker Darren Waters. Aaron Bramwell comes in at full back, with Matthew Nuthall switching to the wing. Centre Dafydd Lockyer makes a welcome return from injury to take a place on the bench.
Unavailable for selection are wing Lewis Williams, who has suffered a recurrence of a back strain, and flanker Rhys Lloyd who is away on domestic leave in Canada.
Pontypridd team manager Richard Langmead is well aware of the importance of this encounter for the club.
“This is a massive game for us” said Langmead “in which we really need to get back to winning ways. We have stressed this to our players in training all week, and they have responded well. Carmarthen will come to us with a strong side, difficult to break down, and we must be back to our best to achieve a result”.
The Pontypridd team selected to face Carmarthen is as follows:
15. Aaron Bramwell. 14. Kristian Baller. 13. Gavin Dacey. 12. Adam Thomas. 11. Matthew Nuthall. 10. Dean Gunter. 9. Rhys Downes.
1. Lewis Smout. 2. Huw Dowden. 3. Ryan Harford. 4. Chris Martenko. 5. McCauley Cook. 6. Chris Dicomidis. 7. Darren Waters. 8. Nathan Strong – cpt.
Subs: Matthew Hutchings; Dafydd Lockyer; Chris Clayton; Tom Hetherington; Wayne O’Connor; Grant Harrington; Stuart Williams.
