Llanelli kick off British and Irish Cup

Llanelli will kick off this season’s British and Irish Cup with a trip across the water to Waterford to play Munster A on Friday night.

Munster were beaten by Cornish Pirates in the final of last season’s competition and Llanelli skipper Craig Hawkins know his side face a tough challenge in Ireland.

“This game is one of the games we are most excited about this season,” said Hawkins on the WRU site.

“For the younger players to travel away from home to play Munster in front of 4 or 5000 people will be a great learning curve. Even the older players who have had to take a day off work with the support of their employers are really looking forward to it as an experience that may not come around again.

“I think the supporters are in for an entertaining game as both teams like to play rugby. We competed well in this competition last season but were stretched due to injuries and we are hoping to go one step further and progress to the quarter-finals this season.

“Players are seeing that if they play well for us, there is the opportunity to step into Nigel Davies’ Scarlets squad – we have seen that with Scott Williams and Gareth Davies already this season and others could do the same such as Dan Newton, playing for us tomorrow and No8 Ben Morgan, who is having an outstanding start to the season with six tries in the bag already.”

Elsewhere, Swansea host Ulster and Llandovery face Pontypridd on Saturday, while Newport welcome Leinster to Rodney Parade on Sunday.