Coach demands quicker opening

ABERAVON head coach Simon King will demand a swifter start from his side when they entertain Newport tomorrow.

It took the Wizards a whole half to find their feet last weekend as they turned a 32-3 deficit into a 32-32 draw against Llanelli.

They face a Newport side showing similar inconsistency, though they came within a point of matching league leaders Pontypridd six days ago.

"Without being rude to Llanelli, they weren't 29 points better than us. We knew if we could cut out the errors we could make a game of it," said King

Return

Ashley Beck has recovered from illness so will feature against the Black and Ambers, while captain Ian Moore should also return to the starting line up.

Liam Gadd (knee), Darryl Thomas (hernia) and David Pritchard (appendix) are also close to a return, but will not recover in time for tomorrow.

James King and Ryan Bevington are in the Ospreys squad to face Glasgow.

Aberavon: from M. Bennett, J. Murphy, P. Bamsey, R. Saunders, Ricky Thomas, L. Hathaway, Richard Thomas, A. Beck J. Vaughton, J. Davies, C. Morgans, D. Davies ; L. Howell, Ryan Thomas, I. Poley, T. Edwards, C. Richards, M. Breeze, I. Moore (capt) G. Ronan, C. Gittins, I. Moore, A. Bray, A. Bray, J. Tipuric, R. Gallagher, R. Morris.