Neath RFC’s pre-season preparations step up a gear on Friday, August 11 when Builth Wells visit The Gnoll (kick off 7.30pm) for the first of Neath’s warm-up fixtures..

The squad has been training hard since early July – and that will continue – but this week there is match-action to look forward to in what will certainly be a full-on opener.

Neath’s new Strength, Fitness and Conditioning coach Chris Thomas has been putting the players through their paces with tough, regular sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays plus extra sessions on Saturday mornings and Monday evenings.

Coach Patrick Horgan is convinced that those extra sessions can do nothing but good, “The squad can only benefit from the extra work we have been able to put in and we have had full use of our new gym facilities.

“Now we can turn our attention to the field of play with the Builth Wells game followed by Richmond (August 19 – 7.00pm) and Swansea (Thursday, August 24 – 7.15pm) as we build up towards the season.

“Supporters will be keen to welcome back the vast majority of last year’s promotion-winning squad but we also have a few newcomers who have freshened things up and added to the group.

“Everybody is looking forward to Friday and, given good weather, we would like to see strong support for the game.”
As usual, the team will appear here late on Thursday night.