Cardiff without key men in LV= Cup
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:25
Cardiff Blues director of rugby, David Young has made four changes for the LV= Cup Semifinal match against Gloucester.
In the backs Dafydd Hewitt starts at inside centre in place of Tom Shanklin who is away on Wales duty in Ireland.
In the forwards Scott Andrews comes in for the injured Gary Powell, Ben White replaces Sam Warburton who is also on Wales duty and Andy Powell starts at blindside flank with Maama Molitika dropping down to the bench.
"We've got 22 players to pick 22 from so we can't rest people or change many," Young said.
"This is a massive game for us that we'd love to win and put ourselves in the final but we know it's a huge challenge against a full strength Gloucester team.
"They've got very few withdrawals and we'll probably have eight or nine unavailable to us.
"We're looking forward to the match. It's a massive challenge for us but a game where we'll have to perform much better than we did against Leinster last weekend."
Cardiff Blues: 15 Ben Blair, 14 Tom James, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Dafydd Hewitt, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Ben White, 6 Andy Powell, 5 Paul Tito (captain), 4 Scott Morgan, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Faao Filise.
Replacements: 16 Huw Dowden, 17 Ian George, 18 Nathan Trevett, 19 Andries Petorius, 20 Maama Molitika, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Sam Norton-Knight.
Date: Sunday, March 14
Venue: Cardiff City Stadium
Kick-off: 12:15 GMT
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)