Newly crowned champions Llandovery will kick-off their defence of the Super Rygbi Cymru Trophy at Pontypool Park in the opening round of matches next season.
But if the Drovers can find a way to survive that tough encounter, they will then have the luxury of playing four successive games on their home patch at Church Bank.
With both Swansea and Bridgend having upgrades to their grounds taking place this summer the fixture list has had to be altered from the usual home and then away scheduling. Swansea will play their opening four matches away from St Helen’s, where they will return next season, while Bridgend face three games on the road before enjoying a run of four games on the bounce at the Brewery Field.
It will be the same 10 teams competing for the SRC Trophy, SRC Cup and SRC Challenger Shield for the third season in a row in 2026-27 and the Drovers will be hoping to build on their Cup success in 2024-25 and their Trophy triumph in 2025-26.
“Playing away at Pontypool Park isn’t going to be an easy start for use, especially the way in which Pooler have been recruiting for the new season,” said Llandovery head coach Euros Evans.
“They were much improved in the last campaign and ended up just on the wrong side of some tight contests. They obviously wanted to turn those games around in their favour and have brought in some players for real quality.
“We’ve lost our captain Lee Rees and back row man Stuart Worrall but have retained the majority of the team that won the title for us. I’m happy with that and with the young talent we are bringing into the squad.
“The quality and standard at the top end of the table was pretty much the same last season as the season before, but the rest of the league became much more competitive. There are no easy games in the SRC and most teams are capable of beating everyone else.”
George McDonald, Lucca Setaro and Arron Hemmings will battle it out for the No 9 jersey worn with such distinction by Rees in his 402 games for the Drovers, while Tiaan Sparrow is likely to get first shot at replacing Worrall in the back row.
Runners-up Ebbw Vale will have three home games in their first four matches. They kick-off at Eugene Cross Park against Swansea, then head to Aberavon before hosting RGC and Cardiff.
SRC Cup and Challenger Shield holders Newport start at home against RGC before heading west to meet the champions at Church Bank in the biggest game of the opening two rounds. They lost to Ebbw Vale in the Trophy semi-finals
Cardiff finished top of the regular league before falling to Llandovery in the semi-finals. They face a tough finish with trips to Llandovery and then Newport in their final three game.
