Cardiff Blues make three changes for their crucial trip to Italy to face fellow strugglers Zebre tomorrow afternoon.
Flanker Rory Watts-Jones returns to the side and Tom Williams returns at full back with the in-form Dan fish moving out to left wing as the Blues look to end their three match losing streak. Chris Dicomidis comes in to strengthen the pack at second row.
The Blues’ only league win in 2014 came on New Year’s Day when they beat Newport Gwent Dragons 21-13 at Cardiff Arms Park. Zebre sit bottom of the RaboDirect Pro12 and tomorrow’s game looks to be the best opportunity to get back to winning ways.
Director of Rugby Phil Davies admits it’s a crucial game. “It’s a huge game for us and there is absolutely no hiding away from that fact. It is the last of a four-game stretch when we wanted to climb the table and so only victory is good enough”: he said.
Lewis Jones runs at the Zebre defence in Cardiff’s 28-13 win at the end of last season
Despite losing at home to Zebre the Blues beat Zebre 28-13 at Cardiff Arms Park and 14-7 at Stade XXV Aprile last season and can take confidence from their Italian job.
“It’s a good place to go and play, when we played there last year we played really well. Although it was a tight score, we did win convincingly and that’s what we’ve got to look to do [this weekend].”
The game kicks of at 4pm tomorrow at Stade XXV Aprile and will be live on BBC Radio Wales.
15 Tom Williams
14 Harry Robinson
13 Isaia Tuifua
12 Gavin Evans
11 Dan Fish
10 Gareth Davies
9 Lewis Jones
1 Sam Hobbs
2 Kristian Dacey
3 Scott Andrews
4 Chris Dicomidis
5 Filo Paulo
6 Rory Watt-Jones
8 Robin Copeland
7 Josh Navidi
