This Sunday afternoon RGC under 18’s conclude their WRU Regional Championship campaign with a tricky away trip to the Newport Gwent Dragons u18’s at the CCBC Centre for Sporting Excellence, Ystrad Mynach.

The young Gogs have made 4 changes to the team that narrowly lost to the Scarlets three weeks ago at Eirias whilst there are 3 new faces named amongst the replacements.

Llandudno’s Sam Hughes returns from injury to take his place in the front row in place of his Coleg Llandrillo team mate Dan Owen, who drops down to the bench.

Mold’s Alex Leigh makes his first start of the season having recovered from a leg injury that had seen him miss the previous 3 games and he goes into the second row in place of his Rydal Penrhos School team mate Danny Evans who is named as a replacement.

COBRA’s Dan Owen regains his place in the back row having been on the bench for the game against the Scarlets, and replaces Rhuthun’s Wil Jones who in turn takes Owen’s place on the bench.

There’s a welcome return for Caernarfon speedster Elis Roberts who returns to the wing having suffered concussion during the opening game of the campaign against the Ospreys.

Amongst the replacements, Welsh under 18 international and RGC senior squad member Efan Jones is called into the squad for the first time this season as is Rhyl’s Josh Hayes whilst Denbigh’s Louis Lloyd-Jones, makes his long awaited comeback from injury by being named amongst the replacements.

The composition of the squad has been drawn from all over north and mid Wales with Rhyl Rugby Club providing the most players with 4 whilst Caernarfon and Mold are next in line supplying 3 players each.

Despite losing their opening 3 games of this campaign, Backs coach Carl Roberts is confident that the boys can produce a winning display against the Dragons: 'When we look back at the three games we’ve played so far, despite the losses, there’s been plenty of positives to draw on from those three games. The Ospreys match was a tight game and although both teams were evenly matched, there were times in that game where I thought we were the better side. At one point in the second half we were ahead 11-6 and although we eventually lost 18-11, looking back it was a game we could have and should have won.

Although we lost heavily to a very strong Cardiff Blues team, in the first half of that match we defended really well and held firm which meant we were very much still in the game at half time with the score at just 10-0. Although Cardiff Blues blitzed us a bit in the second half, despite what the scoreboard said, we did give the Blues a tough physical encounter.

Following the Blues game I said that there was no need to panic as we’re not a bad side and that we just needed to pick ourselves up and learn from our mistakes. Well the boys certainly did that against the Scarlets because they put in a great shift against the Scarlets and although we lost 17-8, again we showed we had a solid defence and that we could create opportunity to spread the ball wide to produce a good game of rugby”

The 2pm kick off will mean an early morning road trip for the young Gogs who travel to the Centre for Sporting Excellence at Ystrad Mynach where they will face a Newport Gwent Dragons team that’s had a bit of a mixed bag campaign. On Wednesday evening the Dragons completed the double over the Ospreys where they won 36-10 at home, along with winning their away game earlier this campaign 29-5, whilst they lost twice to eventual champions Cardiff Blues 23-7 at home and 22-20 at Cardiff Arms Park. Against the Scarlets, the Dragons lost 21-13 at Parc y Scarlets but they won their home game 45-36.

Forwards Coach Medwyn Vaughan is again looking forward to a hard battle up front as his forwards prepare to meet forwards from the region that produced the legendary Pontypool front row and other such renowned forwards such as Brian Price, Terry Cobner, Mark Jones and, Ryan Jones.

“Everyone knows about the history and tradition of the forwards that have been produced in Gwent and we can expect a tough physical encounter with them however, we also have strong forwards that can battle for the ball and provide a platform enabling us to attack from all areas. We have shown against the Ospreys, Blues and Scarlets that we can contest ferociously at the break down and that we can use our strength to drive mauls forward and push the opposition back. It’s no surprise that a lot of our tries have come from good forward drives.

The game against the Dragons will be another stern challenge for RGC however as Manager Dafydd Phillips explains playing the other Welsh Regions constantly is a good thing for the boys and their development as rugby players.

“Regional Age Grade rugby is not only a great platform for our players but it’s also fundamental to the development of our players. For our players, at this age, to regularly play Cardiff Blues, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ospreys and the Scarlets is an opportunity previous generations of players in the north didn’t have. The WRU Regional Championship highlights the need for players to be able to perform the core skills under pressure. If we play the best often enough, we will get the results we all want. If the players work hard on their skills as individuals and they maintain that level of intensity when they play, they may well be RGC players of the future.”

On behalf of RGC, the under 18’s Management, Coaching Team and players would like to thank in advance the Dragons and Caerphilly County Borough Council Centre for Sporting Excellence for their hospitality this Sunday.

RGC u18’s Team to play Newport Gwent Dragons, Sunday 14th February 2016 at CCBC Centre for Sporting Excellence,

1) Sam Hughes - Llandudno RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
2) George Roberts - Wrexham RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
3) Sam Wainwright - Rhyl RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
4) Alex Leigh - Mold RFC / Rydal Penrhos
5) Robin Williams - Caernarfon RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
6) Dan Owen - COBRA RFC / Rydal Penrhos
7) Liam Hayes- Rhyl RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
8) Tom Yates - Rhyl RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
9) Jacob Collin - Mold RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
10) Armani Roberts - Wrexham RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
11) Elis Roberts - Caernarfon RFC / Ysgol Syr Huw Owen
12) Josh Morris =- Denbigh RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
13) Josh Jones - Newtown RFC / Rydal Penrhos
14) Tyler Bridges - Mold RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
15) Tom Hill - Oswestry RFC / Kings School Chester
16) Euan Humphreys - Colwyn Bay RFC / Rydal Penrhos
17) Connor White - Caernarfon RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
18) Danny Evans - Dolgellau RFC / Rydal Penrhos
19) Wil Jones - Rhuthun RFC / Ysgol Brynhyfryd
20) Efan Jones - RGC / Rydal Penrhos
21) Louis Lloyd-Jones - Denbigh RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
22) Josh Hayes - Rhyl RFC / Coleg Llandrillo
23) Dan Owen - Rhuthun RFC / Coleg Llandrillo