Pontypridd v Merthyr – Match Preview
Pontypridd RFC welcome Merthyr RFC to Sardis Road on Thursday 14th March, the Indigo Group Premiership match kicks off at 7:30pm.
Ponty and Merthyr have met on two occasions this season and the Ironmen have edged both encounters by a combined aggregate score of just nine points. Merthyr edged a thriller at Sardis Road back on Saturday 23rd September in the Welsh Cup by 30 points to 27. Recently the two clubs met at The Wern on Saturday 3rd February and Ponty found themselves on the back of a narrow defeat again, this time by a 21-15 score line. It’s fair to say that judging by this season’s evidence, there won’t be much between the two sides come the final whistle Thursday evening.
Both clubs head into tomorrow’s match off the back of bonus-point wins last Saturday – Ponty winning away at Swansea whilst Merthyr triumphed on the road at Aberavon. Matches are running out as both teams strive to reach the all-important 4th place in the league, Ponty sit in 5th whilst Merthyr sit in 8th but just four points behind the Valley Commandos and have three games in hand – it’s dramatically poised ahead of Thursday evening.
THE TEAM NEWS…
The short five day turnaround between fixtures hasn’t affected continuity in selection, nor are there any new injuries to report. As a result there has been just one change to Ponty’s starting XV that took to the field at St. Helen’s last Saturday, and one further change on the bench.
The sole change to the starting line-up sees Ryan Wilkins return from injury to start at inside centre. On the bench Joseph Scrivens also returns from injury to take his place amongst the replacements.
Still unavailable through injury are Dale Stuckey, Liam Lloyd, McCauley Rowley and Tom Devine. Sion Parry is away on leave whilst Gavin Parry is still away with the Scotland U20 squad.
The Pontypridd team selected to play Merthyr is as follows:
15. Josh Phillips. 14. Niko Matawalu. 13. Garyn Smith. 12. Ryan Wilkins. 11. Tom Edwards. 10. Ben Burnell. 9. Harvey Nash.
1. Ben Stephens. 2. Rob Jones. 3. Tom Harper. 4. Kristian Parker (c). 5. Macauley Cook. 6. Cai James. 7. Cally James. 8. Joe Miles.
Subs: 16. Curtis Greenslade. 17. Kian Mattravers. 18. Morgan Bosanko. 19. Mitch Barnard. 20. Aled Ward. 21. Joel Raikes. 22. Joseph Scrivens. 23. Louis Rochefort-Shugar.
SUPPORTER INFORMATION:
Tickets – Admission on Thursday will be £12 full, £10 concession access-all-areas and under 16’s free if accompanied by a paying adult. You can purchase tickets on the day or to save time (which is recommended to miss the queues) you can use our online e-Ticket system, link –e-Tickets – Pontypridd-RFC – The club has increased the range of tickets now available to cover small groups (2 people) and large groups (4 people). We also have a family ticket for our Youth and Mini & Junior sections.
Supporter access is via the Clubhouse end of the ground only as the Pwllgwaun end remains closed.
Club Shop – To purchase your Ponty RFC merchandise, the Club Shop will be open both before, during and after the match against Merthyr.
Ground opening – The Clubhouse will be open from 5:30pm onwards, so why not come along early after work and enjoy some refreshments before the big match.
We are looking forward to welcoming both sets of supporters to Sardis Road tomorrow evening.
