All Set for Title Race – Principality Premiership Fixtures 2010/11

Principality Premiership holders Neath launch their title defence at Glamorgan Wanderers on Saturday with Director of Rugby Patrick Horgan admitting ‘it will be a tough ask.’

“Our goal once again is to defend our title although it’s becoming more difficult every year”, said Horgan. “We’ve had a few changes in the squad and it may take some time for those to bed in, but hopefully we’ll get into our stride in time to vie for one of the top three spots and a chance to get into the play-off final.

“I expect Swansea, Cardiff, Llanelli and Newport will be particularly well-supported by their Regions this season in terms of the players available to them and therefore will be our biggest rivals in terms of our title defence. Pontypridd are always competitive too along with Aberavon.

“As far as our squad is concerned, I’m looking for a big season from Luke Ford who missed most of last season, and Dai Langdon has impressed in our friendly games.

“Arwel Thomas is now a fully paid up member of the coaching team and will coach the backs, Leigh Davies has become our conditioning coach, and Nathan Bonner-Evans will play and coach the forwards along with myself.”

Premiership newcomers Tonmawr can’t wait to get the season started with head coach Jason Hyatt confident his side has what it takes to hold its own in the division.

“The whole squad spent three days at an Army camp in Portsmouth to kick off our pre-season training in early July, with the emphasis being on mental toughness. The players were pushed to their limits and the experience really set them up for the summer conditioning programme.

“We have played two friendly matches, against RGC 1404 and Carmarthen Athletic   and we’ve been able to look at our entire squad.

“If we could have picked any match to kick off our Principality Premiership campaign, it would have been Aberavon or Neath at home so to be playing local rivals Aberavon at Tonmawr is a fantastic way to kick it all off.

“I feel our play has developed a lot in the last four years, hopefully now we are able to play a wide game on a good dry pitch, but we are equally at home in the wet weather.  Our aim is to become a difficult side to play against and also to bring something new to the Premiership.

“We have players who have been with Tonmawr since their junior days, we have some senior players and we also have some exciting young talent such as scrum half Steff Andrews, full back Warren Davies (son of Wales team physio Mark Davies), and we have been able to build links with the Ospreys and include in our squad Wales Under 18 back row Dan Baker and Wales Under 20 prop Joe Rees.

“There is a family atmosphere in our squad but the players also demand a lot of each other which is all you can ask”.

Former Glamorgan Wanderers head coach Richard Hodges has moved to Cardiff for a fresh challenge.

“Cardiff is a huge club with a great history so I definitely see this as a step-up but I will have no better chance to prove myself and I’m grateful for that opportunity. The only way to respond to expectation, both from myself and others is by winning so we are looking forward to getting the season underway.

“We have put a great deal of emphasis during the summer on physical preparation and conditioning, and creating a strong team unit.

“On paper, I’m delighted with the strength in our squad, we have a number of options available to us when it comes to selection but it’s going to come down to who performs on the pitch.

“We start with Carmarthen Quins at home on Saturday, a team who performed to their potential last season in reaching the Cup final and they’re going to want to kick on from that. They have refreshed their coaching set-up too with Paul Fisher moving from Llanelli and Gareth Williams, my fellow Wales Sevens assistant coach is their forwards coach.”

Principality Premiership Fixtures 2010/11

* International weekend

** Fixtures subject to rearrangement if a Club qualifies for B and I Cup QFs.

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