By Zippy
May 29 2005

Sir Clive Woodwood has named a strong XV to face the Bay of Plenty on Saturday, 5 members of Wales grand slam side feature in the starting XV and we will be expecting big performances from all of them. Also news round up for the previous week.

Lions:

15. Josh Lewsey

14. Mark Cueto

13. Brian O'Driscoll (capt)

12. Gavin Henson

11. Tom Shanklin

10. Ronan O'Gara

9. Dwayne Peel

1.Gethin Jenkins

2. Gordon Bulloch

3. Matt Stevens

4. Paul O'Connell

5. Ben Kay

6. Richard Hill

7. Martyn Williams

8. Lawrence Dallaglio.

Replacements: Steve Thompson, Andrew Sheridan, Malcolm O'Kelly, Martin Corry, Matt Dawson, Charlie Hodgson, Gordon D'Arcy.

 

The 5 grand slam members Henson, Shanklin, Peel, Williams and Jenkins will be looking for big performances to put them in the frame for test spots.

 

Elsewhere it will be interesting to see how well Stevens does at tight head and Bulloch at Hooker as the Lions do not look strong in those positions.

 

O’Gara will kick the points and Hodgson will come off the bench to set the backs alight in the final quarter I suspect.

 

Other news:

 

The Anglo Welsh Cup edged closer to being a real event next season with the 4 Welsh regions and 12 Zurich Prem sides. The competition starts with a 4 groups of 4 before the knock out stages. The go ahead for the competition should be next week.

 

Wales squad arrive in the USA and have been sight seeing around New York, they take on the United States on Saturday and a ful preview will be given later this week.

 

The Scarlets continued their recruitment drive with the signing of some NZ player called and English Scrum half Clive Stuart-Smith from Wooster. A regular on the messageboard suggested the Scarlets have misunderstood the WRU regulation on foreigners and are aiming to have just 2 Welsh qualified players nect season!

 

Cardiff take on Viadana today in search of a Heineken Cup spot the team is:

 

Cardiff Blues: N Macleod; D Dewdney, R Williams (capt), T Davies, C Morgan; N Robinson, R Powell; J Yapp, G Williams, B Evans, D Jones, R Sidoli, M Molitika, R Sowden-Taylor, M Lewis.
Replacements: N Llewellyn, R Thomas, C Quinnell, N Budgett, L Thomas, S James, N Walne.

 

Its last stoop saloon for the Blues and a loss would surely mean the end of Dai Youngs reign.