Torfaen Tigers v Valley Cougars and West Wales Raiders v Coventry Bears preview

by Ian Golden.

Valley Cougars and Torfaen Tigers are preparing to meet in the second all Welsh encounter in the RFL Conference League South in the space of a week.

The match takes place at Cwmbran RFC on Friday night (kick-off 7.30pm).

The Cougars are on form after beating Gloucestershire All Golds and West Wales Raiders in the last couple of weeks and will be determined to win to keep up the challenge on the early season pace setters.

Torfaen are yet to win a game so far in 2016 and their coach Kyle Scrivens will be looking for a victory in this, their first home match of the season.

“After a slow start on the road, we know that we need to make our home ground a fortress,” he said. “We’ll not underestimate the Cougars, there a big physical side and our rivalry with then is one of the fiercest in the game.

“It should be a great game for the neutral.”

Cougars’ coach Dafydd Hellard says that his side are full of confidence following their 62-18 victory over West Wales last Saturday.

“Training this week has been pretty focussed,” he said. “After the big win over the Raiders, I was expecting the boys to come training and take they’re foot off the gas but they’ve approached training really fired up.

“Last weekend’s game was pleasing especially the way we acquitted ourselves in the second half, we really stepped up the tempo and put on some great shape. I’m sure the Raiders will look to avenge that result later in the season when they get a few of their boys back in the mix.

“Friday night’s game should be an interesting one, both teams play a similar brand of rugby and I think the result will come down to the team that makes the least mistakes, maintains their discipline and ultimately who wants it more on the night. Having two back to back Welsh derby’s has been easy for me as a coach, I haven’t had to motivate any of the boys as they all know what is at stake with these fixtures.”

West Wales Raiders, who are also yet to register a victory in 2016, face another tough away trip as they travel to Coventry Bears Reserves on Saturday.

It will be the second time in a week that they will face a side who could field semi-professional players and it will be another tough task for them to overcome, especially after Coventry beat Torfaen Tigers last weekend.

Raiders’ general manager Peter Tiffin said: “Last weekend was a tough day at the office especially with so many first team players unavailable through either injuries or work. A squad of 15 wasn’t great to travel to last year’s finalists with but we were proud of the attitude and performances of such a young squad.

“This weekend we travel to another tough opposition in Coventry Bears and we are still without a lot of first team players, but with our final session of the week on Thursday evening we will look at choosing a much stronger squad for this trip.”