Conference South and Welsh Conference previews

By Ian Golden,

Seniors:

Cardiff City Rugby League v Bridgend Blue Bulls @ Rumney RFC, 12:30pm (Sunday)

Under 13s:

Torfaen Tigers v Bridgend Blue Bulls @ Cwmbran RFC (Saturday)

DC Wildcats RL v Aber Valley Wolves @ Dowlais / Cefn RFC (Sunday)

Under 15s:

Rhondda Outlaws v Aber Valley Wolves @ Baglan Field, Treherbert (Sunday)

Under 17s:

Cardiff City RL v South Wales Rabbitohs (Sunday)

PREVIEW STARTS

Torfaen Tigers host last year’s Conference South champions Nottingham Outlaws at Cwmbran RFC knowing that they’ll have to pull out all the stops to get their first win of the season.

The game kicks off at 2.30pm with Tigers’ under 13 side hosting Bridgend Blue Bulls beforehand at 12.30pm.

Nottingham kicked off the season with an emphatic 54-0 victory over the Welsh outfit back in March but a trip to the Tigers’ home den is likely to be a much tougher challenge.

The Outlaws lost to Valley Cougars on their last visit to Wales so Tigers’ coach Kyle Scrivens will be hoping that they go back to the midlands empty handed again.

Scrivens said: “We’ve named a strong side and are looking to put right the wrongs in our performance when we played at their place. Nottingham are a good outfit though and we won’t be taking anything for granted.

“Our poor early season away form means that this game is now a must-win if we want to have a good chance of making the play offs at the end of the year.”

Nottingham will be buoyed by last week’s comprehensive 56-12 victory over Coventry Bears, a win that ended their three match losing streak and keeps them in the hunt for a play-off place as they sit level on points with Gloucestershire All Golds and London Chargers in joint second place, just behind leaders Valley Cougars.

The Cougars travel to Coventry Bears Reserves on Saturday and their head coach Dafydd Hellard was delighted with his side’s 46-4 win over Cardiff City RL in a friendly last weekend.

The Cougars took a reserve squad down to Rumney to face a development side from the capital so he was exceptionally pleased with the final score and believes that it will make his club stronger in their Conference South charge.

He said: “Last Sunday’s fixture against Cardiff City Rugby League was important for us as a club. Numbers in training have been increasing and I needed to see some of our boys play in a competitive match environment.

“It was great for us as a club to field so many players, we took down a squad of 22 players and of that, only five had been involved in Conference League South this season and four had never played a game of rugby league before.

“This fixture give me the opportunity to try out some combinations and give players some game time. This has certainly given me some welcomed headaches ahead of this Saturday’s return to CLS.

“Cardiff started the game strongly and asked questions of our defence, the first half was a tight affair with both teams going at each other hard. We ended the half 20-0 up but things could have been a lot closer. The second half was a total contrast, we dominated the game and as Cardiff’s defence started to tire our structure, and the way we moved the ball caused Cardiff a lot of problems.

“There’s a few things we need to work on this week in training but the momentum gained from that victory will be key when we travel up to Coventry. The belief and confidence in the squad keeps growing but we know how difficult every game is going to be this year, so we remain focussed on the next game and look to improve each week.”

On Sunday, Cardiff City Rugby League entertain Bridgend Blue Bulls at Rumney RFC in the only open-age Welsh Conference game of the weekend (12-30pm kick-off) with Cardiff’s under 17 side taking South Wales Rabbitohs in the curtainraiser at 11am.

Cardiff have already started their season, drawing 22-all with West Wales Raiders reserves a fortnight ago, but this is Bridgend’s first league game of 2016.

Cardiff team manager Nathan Davies said: “We are looking forward to the challenge of Sunday’s game. Training has been intense and we are looking to build on our result and performance from the West Wales Raiders game. I’m very much looking forward to the junior fixture between Cardiff City RL and SW Rabbitohs which opens the days fixtures at 11am.”

Bridgend Blue Bulls go into the game with a different side to the line-up that won the Welsh title last year. Team manager Steve Smith commented “We got a lot of new faces this year so I am looking forward to seeing how these boys perform. We are expecting a tough game so are hopeful our preparations have been sufficient.”

Other junior games in Wales on Sunday sees DC Wildcats RL v Aber Valley Wolves at under 14 level at Dowlais / Cefn RFC while Rhondda Outlaws under 15s entertain Aber Valley Wolves at Baglan Field, Treherbert.