Carmarthen Quins travel to Newport for the opening game of 2026 on Saturday 3rd January, kick-off 14:30.
The team head to Newport Stadium off the back of a festive derby double over regional rivals Llandovery RFC.
A double victory over the Drovers was quite a feat, having not secured a win over a Llandovery side since October 2017. The festive fixture at Carmarthen Park on 28th December 2019 resulted in a 20-20 draw.
The festive results see Quins sit in fifth position in the Super Rygbi Cymru table with 40 points. Saturday’s rivals Newport are two points ahead in fourth with a game in hand.
Ebbw Vale are still leading the charge at the top of the table with 65 points, Llandovery are second (51) and Cardiff remain in third place.
The backline to take on Newport remains largely unchanged from the one that faced Llandovery at Church Bank on Boxing Day. One change sees Elis Price replace Carwyn Leggatt-Jones at outside half.
There are three changes in the pack with Scarlets’ Sam O’Connor, Jac Price and Ben Williams coming in for Rhys Fawcett, Ryan Bean and Lewys Millin at loosehead, lock and number 8 respectively.
Quins’ very own Jac Price will take to the field with brother Elis, as he looks to make a return to match fitness following a lengthy injury lay-off. This will be Jac’s first competitive game since Scarlets’ pre-season friendly against Dragons in September.
On the replacements bench, Thomas Williams makes a return looking for his first run out in Quins colours since the end of November while fellow winger Callum Woolley will be hoping to get on to the park to continue his try-scoring run of form.
Team to take on Newport RFC at Newport Stadium, Saturday 2nd January, 2026;
15 Steff Evans, 14 Iori Badham (Scarlets), 13 Jac Howells, 12 Gabe McDonald (Scarlets), 11 Ifan Davies, 10 Elis Price (Scarlets), 9 Rhodri Lewis (Scarlets), 1 Sam O’Connor (Scarlets), 2 Lewis Morgan, 3 Ifan James, 4 Jac Price (Scarlets), 5 Lee Taylor, 6 Iestyn Richards, 7 Shaun Evans (c), 8 Ben Williams (Scarlets)
Replacements: 16 Lewis Jones, 17 Rhys Fawcett, 18 Connor Allen, 19 Ryan Bean, 20 Tom Phillips, 21 Iestyn Wood, 22 Thomas Williams (Scarlets), 23 Callum Woolley (Scarlets)
