Maesteg V Neath
Friday 25th November 2005

Team News

Neath welcome back Gareth Morris into their squad for Friday’s visit to Maesteg (7.15pm). Morris who led Neath to the Premier title last season has been sidelined since injuring his shoulder in the Blacks’ 39-3 win at Swansea three weeks ago.

Neath will not finalise their line-up until after Thursday night’s training-session.

A.Bevan, G.Morris, A.Thomas, N.Clapham, A.Brew, S.Taumalolo, J.Spratt, W.Mitchell, S.Thomas, R.Johnston; J.Hook, M.Roberts, P.Horgan; P.Jones, A.Howell, G.Price, A.Littlehales, E.Shervington, C.Mitchell, C.Griffiths; M.Morgan, B.Davies, A.N.Other; T.Smith (captain), A.Llewellyn, J.McPhail, S.Pengelly, J.Davies.

“Maesteg have been going very well recently with really impressive home wins against Llanelli and Swansea last week. They are always a very spirited team with a good set-piece and they have two very influential players in my old rugby league mate Kevin Ellis and Ian Boobyer.”

“We hope the game goes ahead as we don’t want a backlog of fixtures at this time of year. We know what to expect at the Old Parish which history shows it is never an easy place to win but that is our objective as we seek to stay top.”

“The return to fitness of Gareth Morris will further increase our options behind the scrum where the versatility and ability to adapt of our players is important.”

“We expect to take a large following of fans on the short journey to Maesteg. Our support on the road this season has been really excellent so much so that the Swansea and Llanelli wins were virtually home games for us.”

Injuries

Captain Steve Martin (ankle) and Hywel Jenkins (shoulder op) are almost ready to return and Dan McShane (hand) should be back on December 10^th.