The next months will be largely taken up by the SRC Cup, a time when clubs can forget league form and set their minds on a Cup run writes Huw S Thomas
Holders Llandovery will defend the title they won last year when they beat Ebbw Vale 39-7 in an outstanding display of running rugby.
During the two month pause from SRC league, the guessing game as to who will finish in the top four come the end of the regular season will concentrate club minds writes Huw S Thomas
Whilst Carmarthen Quins and Swansea still have outside chances of breaking into the current top quartet of clubs, the probabilities are that Ebbw Vale, Llandovery, Newport and Cardiff – not necessarily in that order – will be the lucky four to get a home draw at the end of season play-offs.
For the Quins, the decisive matches will be their March 21 clash with the All Whites at Carmarthen and their final match against Ebbw Vale on April 11, again at The Park.
The way the WRU has set up the play offs gives a huge advantage to the top four.
First will play the winners of a seventh /tenth play off, second will entertain the winners of an eighth/ninth play off, third will play sixth and finally, the club in fourth will save the fifth placed club.
If the current league table were the basis of the draw, it would mean quarter-finals as such:
EBBW VALE v RGC or BRIDGEND
LLANDOVERY v ABERAVON or PONTYPOOL
NEWPORT v CARMARTHEN QUINS
CARDIFF v SWANSEA
Thereafter, the semi-final draw favours first and second in the regular table as they will continue to have home advantage if they will have safely negotiated their quarter-final ties.
That is some way ahead and there are key fixtures remaining for the top four, results from them certain to question predictions and change placings.
Crucial battles promise upsets that will have a bearing on the final table come the end of April
The outcome of Cardiff v Ebbw Vale, Ebbw Vale v Newport, Llandovery v Cardiff and Cardiff v Newport will give us a fuller picture.
The Drovers have four games left, three away at Bridgend, Pontypool and Aberavon and one at home against Cardiff.
The capital city club have two games in hand over Llandovery and Newport but have to pay all three clubs above them in what promises to be a humdinger of a finale to the regular season list of fixtures.
Llandovery’s fate is very much in their own hands and on early season form, they should account for Bridgend, Pontypool and Aberavon.
But recent form – three defeats in a row – have sapped confidence and the next league game, at Bridgend on March 21, will tell us the effect they have had on Euros Evans’s troops.
Current SRC table
2025/2026 Super Rygbi Cymru
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | T | TA | TB | LB | PTS |
| Ebbw Vale | 13 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 504 | 226 | 278 | 72 | 32 | 12 | 11 | 71 |
| Llandovery | 14 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 403 | 363 | 40 | 56 | 50 | 10 | 5 | 51 |
| Newport | 14 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 444 | 309 | 135 | 67 | 44 | 8 | 8 | 48 |
| Cardiff | 12 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 381 | 303 | 78 | 55 | 44 | 8 | 9 | 45 |
| Swansea | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 328 | 349 | -21 | 49 | 49 | 8 | 3 | 41 |
| Carmarthen Quins | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 285 | 305 | -20 | 39 | 44 | 5 | 3 | 40 |
| RGC 1404 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 423 | 472 | -49 | 55 | 67 | 11 | 5 | 32 |
| Aberavon | 13 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 316 | 482 | -166 | 47 | 74 | 6 | 0 | 22 |
| Pontypool | 12 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 251 | 338 | -87 | 34 | 46 | 3 | 2 | 17 |
| Bridgend Ravens | 12 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 263 | 451 | -188 | 40 | 64 | 6 | 1 | 17 |