Squad updates

Those supporters who are followers of social media will have seen that, as well as being first to the breakdown, our captain Ronny Kynes is equally sharp with news on Twitter! The medical team has confirmed the seriousness of Ronny’s foot injury, sustained in the latter part of Friday’s victory, with broken bones and ligament damage requiring an operation that ends Ronny’s on field contribution for 2018/19. He will undergo an operation on Wednesday 28th with our club Doctor, Rhys Thomas, and we as a club are grateful to Dr Rhys for the swiftness of the operation and the use of his undoubted sports injury surgical skills. Ronny will continue to play an active part off the field in driving the spirit and ethos of the club.

Head Coach Greg Woods has moved just as sharply to plug the back row gap in the squad and has signed open side Lloyd Evans a product of the Ospreys Academy who has extensive Premiership experiences with the clubs in that region. Observant supporters will have noted his excellent performance for Neath in the fixture earlier this season. He has also gained a wealth of experience with the Welsh 7’s squad, taking part in a significant number of the World Series 7’s tournaments. Lloyd will be with the Steelmen until the end of the season and will add to an extremely competitive and high quality back row roster.

On the prop front, the club can also confirm the completion of the transfer of former Dragons academy and Tredegar born loose head Luke Garrett to the club from Neath. Luke made his debut for the Steelmen as a 17 year old in a league fixture at Beddau and is well known by Head Coach Greg Woods due to his many games for Cross Keys whilst in the Academy and a squad member at the Dragons.

Young prop Jordan Rogers, who can play both sides of the scrum, has decided to make his dual registration with Risca a full time switch as he looks to maximise his training and game time at a lower level to develop his game. We thank him for his loyalty as a squad member and wish him success at Risca where his progress will continue to be monitored.

Centre Dom Franchi is still 2 to 3 weeks away from a return with the ankle injury sustained at the end of the Pontypridd game taking longer than expected to heal. Dom continues to work hard under the supervision of the medical team to ensure a timely and successful return to the field.