Newport v Pontypridd – match preview

Pontypridd go into the Dragons’ lair when they travel to play Newport in a Premiership East tie on Friday 8th September, the match at Rodney Parade kicking off at 7:30pm.

The visitors will seek to maintain momentum from a valuable away win by 6pts to 17 at Ebbw Vale the previous weekend, in contrast to their hosts who are looking for a first league victory of the new season.

The teams met twice during the previous campaign, once in the Premiership and once in the National Cup, with Ponty achieving a double, winning at Rodney Parade by 12pts to 36 in the league, then at Sardis Road by 34pts to 29 in the cup.

Ponty make just the one change from the starting line-up that battled to a win at Ebbw Vale, with injured centre Cameron Lewis replaced by another from the Blues regional ranks, Aled Summerhill.

Scrum half Joel Raikes, hooker Corrie Tarrant, prop Bradley Thyer and lock Sean Moore also come into the reckoning as replacements.

The Pontypridd team selected to face Newport is as follows:

15.Lloyd Rowlands. 14.Lewis Williams. 13.Aled Summerhill. 12.Dafydd Lockyer – cpt. 11.Dale Stuckey. 10.Ceri Sweeney. 9.Dane Blacker.

1.Chris Phillips. 2.Huw Dowden. 3.Jon Elley. 4.Josh Hawkins. 5.Chris Dicomidis. 6.Shane Lewis-Hughes. 7.Rhys Shellard. 8.Morgan Sieniawski.

Subs: 16.Joel Raikes. 17.Diggy Bird. 18.Geraint Walsh. 19.Corrie Tarrant. 20.Sean Moore. 21.Callum Bradbury. 22.Bradley Thyer. 23.Will Davies-King.