This season’s Principality Premiership fixtures have been announced by the Welsh Rugby Union as the competition returns to home and away fixtures and five teams face potential relegation.
The structure for this season’s competition has been changed to a home and away format, with no play-offs at the end of the campaign.
The top 11 of the 16 teams will retain their Premiership status for next season while the bottom four sides will be automatically relegated to the WRU National Championship. The 12th placed club will face a play-off against the winners of the Championship for the final place in next season’s streamlined 12-team league.
The threat of relegation is a serious one for Bedwas, Cross Keys and Bargoed, with the two latter sides finishing lowly last season and Bedwas losing a set of key players over the summer.
All three also face a tough run of games during September’s opening period.
Bargoed, who finished 15th last season, welcome last year’s runners-up Llandovery to Bargoed Park on Saturday, September 1, before trips to Newport and Cardiff sandwich a home tie against Carmarthen Quins.
Cross Keys visit Bargoed Park on Saturday, September 22 for the season’s first Caerphilly derby, with Keys kicking off their campaign against Bridgend at Pandy Park on the opening weekend.
Bedwas host Pontypridd on Saturday, September 1, before a trip to reigning champions Merthyr and tough games against Llandovery and Newport complete a challenging opening set of fixtures.
Bedwas head coach, Stefan Sankala, admitted his side’s opening fixtures are a major test as they attempt to introduce a young local squad to the competition this season.
“We will have to give our very best from the get go. We face arguably the three best teams in the league first, followed by a tough local derby with Newport.
“September has the potential to be a very unforgiving month, but hopefully we can use it to pick up wins against strong opposition.”
There has been frustration directed toward the WRU with complaints that the fixtures have taken too long to be released. Several clubs have argued the delay has caused a disruption to preparations, with sponsorship a key concern.
Frustrations have been relieved a little however by the news that Premiership fixtures will be shown live on BBC Two Wales this season.
A spokeswoman for Bedwas RFC said: “We have indeed been on a back foot in securing sponsors this year. Being a small village club with limited voluntary manpower, we are asking local businesses to support us.
“We welcome the news that Principality Premiership games will be broadcast live on the BBC and we see it as a very positive move. It will attract exposure to both the league and the clubs, and is very important for sponsors.
“To have the financial backing of local businesses is something we welcome wholeheartedly, and we encourage local businesses to get in touch with us.”