Aberavon RFC v Pontypool RFC

Ashley Sweet knows just how special the cup can be after last season’s run ended with a special victory at the Principality Stadium to clinch the trophy, and the journey begins all over again on Saturday.

Pooler, reigning WRU Championship Cup champions, left Aberavon with a hard-fought victory in the Indigo Premiership last Saturday and they head west again looking to come away with another triumph.

Sweet, who starred in the win over the Wizards, knows just how difficult a task it will be to pick up back-to-back wins over the hosts but believes the club are starting to find their feet at this higher level.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” said second-row Sweet.

“Coming up last year unbeaten there was always going to be pressure on us.

“I think we’ve adapted well. We want to play with a bit of tempo, similar to other teams in the league.

“Two wins from three shows what kind of quality we have in the squad.

“It’s taken us a couple of pre-season friendlies and one, maybe two, games to get into it but we are finally finding that rhythm.

“Our last two wins have been down to hard work from the boys and learning to get where we need to be.”

An impressive outing at Newport followed by two victories have given the team a solid foundation to build on but Sweet understands another tough encounter against the Wizards awaits.

“Aberavon are always a quality outfit, a top-four team, so going there is always a tough challenge,” he continued.

“The boys wore their heart on their sleeves and put in a good performance, which helped us come away with a good win.

“It can be difficult to back up an away performance at the same venue.

“They will be analysing us, we will analyse them.

“We know what they will bring and it is just about backing up that performance we gave last weekend.

“I don’t think the game plan will change dramatically. We have highlighted a couple of areas we can improve on.

“We went down their last week and came away with the win so nothing needs to change too much.”