Pontypridd v Bonymaen – Match Preview
On Saturday 2nd November Pontypridd RFC play Bonymaen RFC at Sardis Road in the Admiral Premiership, kick-off is 2:30pm.
Saturday’s match will be the third time the two clubs have met, the previous two encounters also took place at Sardis Road but in the Welsh Cup. The first match took place on 20/12/1997 and the second on 27/2/1999, and both ended in comfortable Ponty wins.
Bony secured promotion to this season’s Premiership after finishing 4th in Championship West last season, but have so far found wins more difficult to come by this campaign with just one to their name to date. Pontypridd will be hoping to make it six wins on the bounce in the league this weekend, seven in all competitions following last Saturday’s nail-biting win at Bargoed in the Welsh Premiership Cup.
Pontypridd will show the utmost respect to Bonymaen this Saturday, with both clubs knowing it’s all to play for on the day.
TEAM NEWS:
Pontypridd have made no fewer than six personnel changes and one positional switch to the starting XV that ran out onto the pitch at Bargoed Park last Saturday, and there’s a further three new faces amongst the substitutes as well.
In the backline Joe Davies returns on the wing, that selection sees Stuart Floyd-Ellis revert to the centre. Louis Rochefort-Shugar returns to the starting line-up having pulled out of last week’s XV at the 11th hour. The other change in the backs sees Lucus Welch earning a start at scrum-half.
In the forwards Jeff Young and Kian Mattravers come in to start at hooker and prop, whilst Lloyd Riley earns a start at blindside flanker.
On the bench there’s a first matchday involvement of the season for prop Garyn Daniel following his return from injury. The other two new inclusions amongst the substitutes could see two Ponty debuts. The first for scrum-half Morgan Edwards who is linked to local club Llantwit Fardre, the second for second-row Elis Evans who is on permit from RGC.
Out of selection contention are Ben Drew and Cole Parry who are still nursing injuries, whilst Joel Raikes is unavailable.
The Pontypridd team selected to play Bonymaen is as follows:
15. Dale Stuckey. 14. Joe Davies. 13. Stuart Floyd-Ellis. 12. Ioan Evans. 11. Louis Rochefort-Shugar. 10. Jacob Symes. 9. Lucus Welch.
1. Ben Stephens. 2. Jeff Young. 3. Kian Mattravers. 4. Mitch Barnard. 5. Kristian Parker. 6. Lloyd Riley. 7. Cally James (c). 8. Joe Miles.
Subs: 16. Rob Jones. 17. Garyn Daniel. 18. Morgan Bosanko. 19. Elis Evans. 20. Cai James. 21. Morgan Edwards. 22. Jaydan Pugh. 23. Garyn Smith.
SUPPORTER INFORMATION:
Tickets – Admission on Saturday 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, here’s the link which includes all our different packages – Pontypridd v Bonymaen – 2/11/2024
Supporter access is via the Clubhouse end of the ground only.
Season Tickets – For supporters who have not yet received their season tickets, they will be available for collection before the match at the front doors of the Sardis Road Clubhouse.
Remembrance Ceremony – Ahead of kick-off this Saturday, there will be a short ceremony and a two minutes’ silence as the Club pays its respects for Remembrance Weekend the following weekend when the team are away. The matchday bucket collection will be in aid of the annual Poppy Appeal.
Live Sport In The Clubhouse – Our Clubhouse will be open from midday onwards and we will be showing live coverage of English Premiership football, followed by back-to-back Autumn Series rugby matches. Firstly Newcastle play Arsenal with a round ball kick-off at 12:30pm, this followed by England v New Zealand (3:10pm) and Scotland v Fiji (5:40pm) with the egg-shaped ball.
Come and join us for a top day of sporting action on and off the field at Sardis Road.