by Tom Pritchard
Date: Wednesday 6 December 2017 (19:00)
Venue: Sardis Road, Pontypridd
After a disappointing defeat away at Swansea University last week, University of South Wales 1st face a crunch match against current league leaders University of Bristol 1st.
USW will be looking to avenge their narrow 17-19 defeat to Bristol back in October, a game which many of the squad believe they should have won.
In this fixture last season, it was Bristol who ran out 27-11 winners, scoring five tries in the process on their way to a bonus point victory.
They completed the double over USW with a 36-20 victory just a month later, this time they crossed the try line six times.
Motivation shouldn’t be a problem for the Treforest-based side though, as they go into the game knowing that defeat will leave them cut adrift of the top two sides, Bristol and Cardiff, as they look to secure the top spots in the BUCS South A.
Scoring tries has not been a problem for USW this season, and recent score lines suggest that they will need their attacking game to be fully functioning when they meet a team that have already picked up seven try bonus point’s thus far.
USW have picked up four try bonus points of their own this season, so there is every probability of an exciting 80 minutes of attacking rugby, with both sides looking to play an open, expansive style of rugby.
USW, currently in fourth place in the table, will be looking for an improvement on their second half performance against Swansea, which saw them struggle to retain possession and fail to play in the right areas of the field.
Bristol will be looking for their fourth consecutive win, following recent victories over Cardiff 1st, Bath 2nd and UWE 1st respectively.
USW: 1. Joe Popple 2. Tom Geere 3. Tom Mabley 4. Sam Tiley 5. Lloyd Evans 6. Alun Lawrence 7. Sion Edwards 8. Gareth Jones (c); 9. Jamie Hill 10. Foard Cooksley 11. Marcus Jones 12. Jacob La Roche 13. Jack Parkinson 14. Daf Smith 15. Callum Hall
Substitutes: 16. Will Haly 17. Connor Lewis 18. Tom Stacey 19. Alex Meeson 20. Tom Jevons 21. Harry Rumens 22. Tom Bradley 23. Curtis Ayling
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