FINE TUNING FOR HORSCROFT

RUGBY PREVIEW

With just a fortnight to go before the semi-final of the WRU Bowl and no other fixture scheduled, Cardigan coach Colin Horscroft is going to have one final gaze at his key combinations.

The affable rugby man has chosen a different centre and half back combination for the Division Three west match against Laugharne  tomorrow which no doubt is a move designed to help him make up his mind about his team selection for the showdown with Amman United.

The Cardi’s will be without the services of talented centre Emyr Harries on March 25th as he is getting married on that day so he needs to find a new partner for Marcus Castle and Horscroft has switched full back John Lumb to number thirteen with the hope that this will turn out to be a lucky shirt on the big day for the all-round sportsman.

There are very few natural midfield options available to him especially now that Carwyn Thomas, who re-signed for Cardigan recently is out of the equation with a hamstring injury and the veteran centre would have been a strong candidate for this one off, if he had been fit.

The town coach is also tinkering with his half back combo and he has drafted experienced outside half Iestyn Crompton back into his natural position at ten and his long raking kicks would be ideal at Lampeter, especially kicking down the slope. However Llyr Jones has also been impressive at stand off but he is also a very good scrum half and that is where he will play tomorrow and where he may well play in a fortnight.

Second row is the other area where the Town coach has had to think long and hard about as regular lock Dean Harries is also attending the wedding and he has elected for the combination of Dylan Rambo Davies and Dan Evans, two very good forwards who are extremely mobile and who are always near or at the top of the tackle charts.

Another area that will have been spinning around in the head of the coach is the balance in the back row and particularly at flanker. Skipper Llyr Griffiths who was wrongly reported in some media to have been chosen as the best man at the wedding of his team mate Emyr Harries, will be raring to go.

He is arguably the best man for the job at number eight and certainly a shoe in for a starting place. However, the other two positions are up for grabs and expect some stand out performances from the likes of Colin Davies, Gareth Clifford, Kieran Hurley and Gethin Jones as they battle for those two back row positions.

Horscroft will surely ask his players to forget all about Amman United tomorrow afternoon as promotion is the priority and the Cardi’s can’t afford to slip up against the Cocklemen as it will undo all the hard work put in throughout the season. The race for the title at the top is very tight and his team have to keep winning. Laugharne are tough to beat home or away and they were very unlucky not to win at St Clears a couple of months ago so Griffiths and co have to be focused.

In the WRU Championship Newcastle Emlyn face a very tough afternoon at Pontypool Park against the division leaders who boast a record of played seventeen won seventeen. Coach Marc Lloyd will have marked this one off as a loss before the action kicked off in September but he will no doubt be looking for a decent performance to kick start the run in of five games before the season ends.

In Division One Crymych are away at Llwchwr and rivals Aberystwyth are at Whitland.

In Division Two Fishguard travel across the Ceredigion border and play at Llanybydder whilst in Division Three Lampeter are away at Trimsaran and Aberaeron entertain Bynea.