Pontypridd and Cross Keys will meet for the third time in a major final at Principality Stadium when they close the latest round of fixtures in the WRU’s ‘Road To Principality ‘25’ (5.35pm kick-off).
Their WRU Premiership final clash will come after Bridgend Athletic meet Caernarfon in the Division 1 final (1.00pm kick-off) and then Llanelli Wanderers (3.15pm kick-off) take on Tondu in the Championship final.
For Ponty it will be their 13th final and they will be seeking their seventh win. But their last triumph at the home of Welsh rugby came in 2014 when they beat Cross Keys 24-18.
That avenged their defeat by the Gwent club in the 2012 final when Keys took the title for the one and only time, 32-19. They reached their third final this season thanks to an epic 36-31 semi-final win over Merthyr.
Former Wales full back Morgan Stoddart was the coach at Cross Keys the last time they went to the final 11 years ago and he will be hoping to make up for that near miss with a victory at the second attempt. He knows exactly what it takes to win the title having been in the 2006 Pontypridd side that pipped Neath by a point.
Prop Richard Cornock is another Keys survivor from that final in 2014 and he will pack down for his 412th appearance in the front row for the club. It took extra-time in the semi-final to get past Merthyr, but now everyone connected to the Keys club wants to
A try from replacement hooker Connah Hughes and a Rhys Jones conversion made it 26-26 at the end of 80 minutes in a tense semi. That Hughes try also meant both teams had scored four tries.
Then a Ralph Miller try along with a conversion and a penalty from Adam Tetley snatched a stunning triumph for the Gwent side – who had earlier recovered from a 14-point deficit and then trailed twice in the second half of normal time.
Captain Corey Nicholls is hoping he can take his team back to their Pandy Park clubhouse with the trophy after the game and celebrate with a big party. The clubhouse was swamped by Storm Bert earlier in the season.
"It would be great to put Cross Keys back on the map. We've had a tough couple of seasons - it will be nice getting the village behind us again,” said Nicholls.
As for Pontypridd, player-coach Kristian Parker, he hopes the recent three defeats in a row in the Premiership mean the bad times are behind his side as they seek to win their first cup title in 11 years.
“We’ve gone through some difficult times over the last few years and it’s nice to see us back at the top challenging for some silverware. I’m nervous, excited and apprehensive as well,” said Parker.
“It has been a long time since we won something, so hopefully we can come back on Saturday and do that. We’ve had a tough run of league fixtures of late but we’ve parked the defeats and our sole focus this week has been on winning the cup - I don’t care if we win 3-0 or 30-0, we’ll take anything at the moment.
“The boys have put their bodies on the line to get us here and made huge sacrifices to get us to the final. I’ve had some sleepless nights over selection this week.
“We know Keys are a quality outfit and have some star players in their side. They have Rhys Jones as a big kicking option at outside half and it’s going to be a war of attrition with everyone looking to win the gainline battle.”
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ROAD TO THE PREMIERSHIP FINAL
Semi Final - 01 March
Merthyr 31 – 36 Cross Keys; Pontypridd 53 – 14 Newbridge
Quarter Final - 26 October
Bargoed 28 – 29 Pontypridd; Narberth 28 – 52 Cross Keys
Round 1 - 05 October
Cross Keys 47 – 11 Llangennech
Pontypridd: Dale Stuckey; Louis Rocheford-Shugar, Stuart Floyd-Ellis, Garyn Smith, Joe Davies; Ioan Evans, Joel Raikes; Ben Stephens, Rob Jones, Morgan Bosanko, Mitch Barnard, Kristian Parker, Lloyd Riley, Cally James (captain), Joe Miles
Reps: Jeff Young, Ben Drew, Garyn Daniel, Oliver Lewis, Aled Evans, Lucas Welch, Jaden Pugh, Sam Talbot
Cross Keys: Ben Roberts; Ralph Miller, Tom Sullivan, Duan Thomas, Laurence Donnelly; Rhys Jones, Dan Babos; Jake Wisniewski, Connah Hughes, Richard Cornock, Harvey Reader, Jon Verrier, Sam Lewellyn, Louis Pullen, Corey Nicholls (captain)
Reps: Nathan Huish, Rhys Hunt, Tom Burnham, Callum Hague, Will Morgan, Ben Murphy, Tom Bridge, Adam Tetley
WRU CHAMPIONSHIP CUP FINAL – 3.15pm kick-off
Last year Llanelli Wanderers won the Division 1 Cup final against Glynneath at Principality Stadium and now they have their eyes on adding the Championship Cup to their collection.
They will certainly go into the game as favourites against Tondu, even though they were beaten by them 21-20 away from home on the second weekend of the season. Since then, though, the Wanderers have picked up the pace and are currently on an 11 match unbeaten run in Championship West.
That has kept them in line for a second successive promotion as they are now only five points behind league leaders Tata Steel with two games in hand. The last team to beat them was Trebanos on 2 November and they despatched Tondu 41-19 in their return fixture in January.
Their hero from last year’s final, player-coach Nick Gale, is still in the side. He plundered 17 points to earn his side the Division 1 Cup in their 22-19 win over Glynneath.
ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
Semi Final – 01 March
Beddau 28 – 30 Llanelli Wanderers; Bedwas 29 – 32 Tondu
Quarter Final - 14 December
Llanelli Wanderers 72 – 17 Kenfig Hill; Tondu 9 – 6 Glamorgan Wanderers
Round 2 - 26 October
Tata Steel 18 – 29 Llanelli Wanderers; Tondu w/o v Dunvant
Round 1 - 05 October
Ammanford 18 – 41 Llanelli Wanderers; Gorseinon 16 – 40 Tondu
Llanelli Wanderers: Nick Gale; Lewis Jones, Rhydian Morgan, Josh Batcup (captain), Jac Hart; Jonathan George, Josh Weeds; Keelan Jewell, Rhodri Owens, Gareth Havard, Jake Baker, Ryan Evans, Lloyd Pike, Lawrence Reynolds, Steff Phillips
Reps: Tom Janes, Nicky Frampton, Ben Harries, Sam Icke, Ben Chiffi, Sianco Morgan, Owain Davies, Justin James
Tondu: Harri Morgan; Caine Woolerton, Sam Matthews, Josh Tatchell, Stu Young; Jamie Murphy, Gareth Lindenburn; Alex George, Jake Lewis, Iestyn Pope, Bowen Davies (captain), Steff Jones, Ben Davies, Jon Penpraze, Steff Lewis
Reps: Cohan Lewis, Sam Grabham, Morgan Boobyer, Scott Callicott, Liam Gully, Mason Hughes, Morgan Hughes, James Harris
WRU DIVISION 1 CUP FINAL – 1.00pm kick-off
It will be North v South in the Division 1 Cup final as Bridgend Athletic and Caernarfon do battle for the title.
Both are in contention for a league and cup double with Caernarfon unbeaten in Division 1 North with 15 wins and two draws in their 17 games to date. Bridgend Athletic, meanwhile, are seven points behind Swansea Uplands in Division 1 West Central with two games in hand.
They have won their last 10 league games in a row and were last beaten by Swansea Uplands, 26-15, away from home on 12 October.
ROAD TO DIVISION 1 FINAL
Semi Final – 01 March
Bridgend Athletic 31 - 0 Hendy; Skewen 12 – 25 Caernarfon
Quarter Final - 18 January
Bridgend Athletic 18 – 13 Abercynon; Caernarfon 28 – 26 St Joseph’s
Round 3 - 14 December
Bridgend Athletic 24 – 19 Tenby United; Caernarfon 26 – 7 Llangefni
Round 2 - 26 October
Bethesda 10 – 22 Caernarfon; Bridgend Athletic 36 – 0 Nantyffyllon
Round 1 – 05 October
Bridgend Athletic 37 – 26 Burry Port; Caernarfon 59 – 24 Mold
Bridgend Athletic: Jonathan Phillips (captain); Michael Powell, Gabriel Brown, John Rhys Williams, Rhys Williams; Oliver Olds, Jacob Williams; Matthew Norman, Lee Murphy, Ben Owen, Harrison Morgan, Tom Morgan, Dan O’Sullivan, Iestyn Merriman, Cameran Thomas
Reps: Jacob Perkins, Joe Reape, Ben Cording, Kalafi Molitika, Rory Thomas, Geraint Roberts, Tom Jenkins, Mckenzie Grey
Caernarfon: Aled Jones; Iwan Roberts, Thomas Devine, Iolo Evans, Gethin Long; Tom Jarman, Iwan Evans; Tomos Gwynfaes, Liam Leung, Armando Morgan, Ilan Davies, Nathan Pycroft, Bedwyr Jones, Dafydd Thirsk, Mei Parry
Reps: Rob Jones, Samiwel Williams, Ray Lear, Ellis Fachell, Mac Jones,Carwyn Roberts, Caio Price, Dan Williams
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