Head coach Dwayne Peel says Friday night’s run-out against Harlequins was vital to his side’s preparations for the resumption of United Rugby Championship action against Glasgow.
The West Walians were beaten 45-19 at The Stoop, but were in the contest for long periods with skipper Josh Macleod and centre Eddie Jmaes making welcome returns from injury.
For Macleod it was his taste of rugby since the opening week of the season, while James hasn’t played since the Judgement Day win over the Dragons in April because of a back issue.
There was also an impressive debut for No. 8 Fletcher Anderson, who crossed for a first-half try.
“It was a worthwhile exercise,” said Dwayne. “A number of our boys haven’t played for a while, so to come up here was important.
“It was good to see Eddie James back, I thought he looked strong in the middle, Josh had a half in his return from injury and it was good to see Fletcher Anderson having his first game for us.
“Gareth ‘Cawdor’ (Davies) hasn’t played since the Stormers game so it was good to see him back on the field as well.”
Dwayne added: “For 50 minutes it was a really competitive game. We had a very, very young side in the final 20 minutes and things could have run away from us, but in fairness the boys held their hand up and had a dig.
“There were things to work on. Discipline-wise, we gave Harlequins access to our 22; their maul was strong and I think they scored three tries from that. We can’t afford that next week against Glasgow because that is an area where they will come after us, I’m sure.
“I thought in the first half we moved the ball well, created some line breaks and our scrum was dominant at the end.”
Dwayne revealed he was hoping to have Ryan Elias (who is yet to feature this season), Max Douglas and Jake Ball available for the visit of the Warriors to Parc y Scarlets on Saturday.
“It is a huge game for us,” “We know it is going to be a massive challenge against a top-four team,” added Dwayne, “but it is important we start picking up points. It is a huge game for us.”