Narberth v Pontypridd – Match Preview

On Saturday 1st February Pontypridd RFC travel to play Narberth RFC in the Admiral Premiership, the match at the Lewis Lloyd Ground kicks off at 2:30pm.

Saturday’s match will be only the third time the two clubs have met over the years, and the first at Narberth’s ground. The two prior meetings between the Valley Commandos and The Otters came at Sardis Road back on Saturday 14th January 2006, and earlier this season on Saturday 12th October 2024 – Ponty won both of those encounters.

Last weekend Ponty won a bruising contest away at Newbridge to maintain their place at the top of the league, whilst Narberth lost away at Llangennech. Despite that defeat The Otters’ home form has been good prior to that either side of the New Year – in their last match of 2024 they won against Newcastle Emlyn, and in their first game of 2025 they triumphed against Ystrad Rhondda – both of these wins coming at the Lewis Lloyd Ground.

With another tough away match on the cards for Pontypridd, the team are lucky that once again there’s a large travelling contingent of Ponty fanatics heading to West Wales this Saturday – the Ponty Supporters Club are taking two buses full of supporters on top of everyone else who are making their own way to Pembrokeshire – safe travels to all.

The Team News…

Pontypridd are counting the cost of a number of injuries sustained over the last couple of weeks, and as a result three changes have been made to the starting XV that ran out at the Welfare Ground last Saturday. There are a further three new faces on the bench, and at the time of writing this they are accompanied by two ‘An Others’ whilst the Coaching Team await fitness news.

The three changes to the starting line-up all come in the backs with Oli Shepherd starting at fullback, Jacob Symes at outside half whilst George Thorrington makes his first start for the Club at outside centre. The pack remain unchanged from last weekend.

Of the three new faces on bench, two of them, Lloyd Riley and Ben Drew are recalled after recovering from injuries, whilst the third is Jude Williams who will make his Ponty debut should he appear off the bench.

*EDIT: We are also very pleased to welcome into the matchday squad Morgan Edwards and Noah Davey. Morgan is linked to Llantwit Fardre and made his debut for Ponty against Bonymaen earlier in the season. Noah Davey is a backrower who is on permit from Beddau RFC, and he could make his club bow from the bench.

Unavailable and now joining Garyn Smith, Cai James and Stuart Floyd-Ellis in the injury treatment room are Dale Stuckey, Jaydan Pugh and Sam Talbot. Also unavailable are Charlie Morgan-Stephens who is away on leave and Morgan Bosanko. Morgan is unavailable due to the recent birth of his son Macsen. Everyone at Pontypridd RFC would like to send huge congratulations to Morgan and his partner Molly on their new arrival – fantastic news.

The Pontypridd team selected to play Narberth is as follows:

15. Oli Shepherd. 14. Joe Davies. 13. George Thorrington. 12. Ioan Evans. 11. Louis Rochefort-Shugar. 10. Jacob Symes. 9. Joel Raikes.

1. Ben Stephens. 2. Rob Jones. 3. Garyn Daniel. 4. Mitch Barnard. 5. Ieuan Davies. 6. Kristian Parker. 7. Cally James (c). 8. Joe Miles.

Subs: 16. Jeff Young. 17. Ben Drew. 18. Kian Mattravers. 19. Lloyd Riley. 20. Noah Davey. 21. Lucus Welch. 22. Morgan Edwards. 23. Jude Williams.

SUPPORTERS TRAVEL –

Both Pontypridd Supporters Club’s trips are leaving Sardis Road at 10:30am and should it be required, Phil Lycett’s contact number is 01443 662561.

Carparking at Narberth’s ground is very limited, but as you drive into the town there is a large Primary School carpark on your right hand side which is approximately 400 yards from the Lewis Lloyd Ground – we have been told by the host club that this is the best place to park for the match.

GROUND ADDRESS –

The postcode for Narberth’s ground is SA67 7BT.

 

 

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