A huge week of rugby on S4C
Rygbi: Cross Keys v Cornish Pirates – Saturday 7 April 2.40pm
Cwpan Heineken – Saturday 7 April 8.30pm
Cwpan Amlin, Brive v Scarlets – Sunday 8 April 6.40pm
Y Clwb Rygbi: Dreigiau v Treviso – Friday 13 April 7.15pm
It’s a huge week for rugby fans in Wales, with key games for the country’s regions and clubs in the Heineken Cup, Amlin Cup and the British and Irish Cup.
S4C will be at the heart of all the action, with three live matches – including the big showdown between Brive and the Scarlets in the quarter-final of the Amlin Cup final from Stadium de Brive on Sunday, 8 April.
Among the big matches over the weekend will be Leinster v Blues in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup from the Aviva Stadium, Dublin on Saturday, 7 April. S4C will have
extended highlights of the match in the Cwpan Heineken progrmme later the same evening.
Earlier that day, the S4C cameras will have live coverage of the Celtic clash between Cross Keys and Cornish Pirates in the semi-final of the British and Irish Cup.
And to top it all, on Friday, 13 April, there will be a live match from the RaboDirect Pro-12 in Y Clwb Rygbi when the Dragons welcome the Italians, Treviso to Rodney Parade.
S4C rugby pundit and commentator Gwyn Jones is looking forward to a great week of rugby.
Gwyn Jones says, “The Welsh regions need a boost at the moment to build on the success of the Welsh team – and success for the Scarlets would be a boost for all four regions.
“The Scarlets have adapted well this season, given how many players they have lost to the international squad and they’ve had to build and develop local young talent for a few seasons. They’ve had a good season and have shown they can win away from home, with that great win against Castres in the last Heineken match. They’ve every hope of winning in Brive. They have an outstanding backline and play in the club’s traditional open style but with an organised, robust defence.
“The Blues face a tough task over in Leinster. They had a stuffing there earlier in the season and it will take a heroic performance to win.”
Gwyn says the development of the British and Irish Cup for the semi-professional clubs is welcome and seeing teams like Cross Keys do well against teams from England, Scotland and Ireland is fantastic.
“It’s early days for this competition, but it helps raise the bar among the semi-professional clubs who are after all feeder club for the regions. It will be a tough test against the Pirates but Welsh Premier League teams need to be tested to raise the standards.”
