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Neath Prepared For Battle

Neath coach Lyn Jones has vowed that his side will be fully motivated for Friday night’s mouth-watering Heineken Cup clash against Leicester Tigers at the Gnoll.

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Jones admits Neath underestimated the might of Munster last Saturday turning in a lack-lustre performance against the Irish outfit.

But there will be no repeat performance in the Heineken Cup curtain-raiser.

“We have learnt a lot from the Munster fixture, in particular that errors you may get away with in the Welsh League, you cannot make at Celtic League level,” said Jones.

“Perhaps we underestimated how good Munster were and we will not make that mistake again.”

Jones has been working his side hard in training all week and he believes that the Welsh All Blacks must become more direct in their play if they are to overcome the reigning back-to-back Heineken Cup champions.

“We have had a different attitude this week. Saturday’s defeat has worked in two ways.

“It has made us more determined to do well, and we now know that we must be more direct on Friday evening, as Leicester will be aware of the weaknesses that were evident in our game last week.”

And Jones feels that if his side can catch the Tigers on an off day then they are more than capable of pulling off a shock victory.

“Leicester will be coming to the Gnoll expecting to win, and hopefully that over- confidence will serve us well.

“This fixture seems to have more bite that the Munster one, perhaps that’s because it’s Wales against England.”

Meanwhile, Allan Bateman will have a late fitness test on an injured ankle, with Sean Marsden or John Leyshon on standby for a place on the bench.

Neath: Gareth Morris; Kevin James, James Storey, Dave Tiueti, Shane Williams; Lee Jarvis, Andy Moore; Nathan Bonner-Evans, Alfie Mocelutu, Hywel Jenkins, Gareth Llewellyn (captain), Andy Newman, Andrew Millward, Barry Williams, Duncan Jones.

Replacements: Steve Jones, Adam Jones, Steve Martin, Steve Tandy, Patrick Horgan,

Leicester
Tim Stimpson; Harry Ellis, Leon Lloyd, Rod Kafer, Freddie Tuilagi; Sam Vesty, Tom Tierney; Graham Rowntree, Dorian West, Franck Tournaire, Martin Johnson (captain), Ben Kay, Martin Corry, Lewis Moody, Will Johnson.

Replacements: George Chuter, Darren Garforth, Neil Back, Josh Kronfeld, Austin Healey, Glenn Gelderbloom, Steve Booth.

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