NEWBRIDGE hope to maintain their upward trend when they travel to Newcastle Emlyn in the WRU Championship tomorrow afternoon, writes Chris Kirwan.

'Bridge endured a sticky start to the season after a summer of change that left them struggling to field a side but got up and running with a super 31-21 victory against Bedlinog at the Welfare Ground last weekend.

Player-coach Scott Williams is confident that 'the Pigs' are finding their feet and hopes that they show more signs of progress when they head to Dol Wiber, where they won 24-8 last November.

"It's been a hard couple of months for us and we didn't really have a pre-season. We started with three defeats but always picked the Bedlinog game as one to target," said the centre.

"After being left in an awkward position things have been building nicely week to week and we really feel that we are moving forward. Slowly but surely we are getting there.

"Last week has done us a lot of good and hopefully we can build on that; we went down there last season and had a good win."

'Bridge have enjoyed some help from Principality Premiership clubs with players joining them for game time but Williams is hopeful that their current core will reduce such a need.

The club have seen a raft of last year's squad move up the pyramid and want to develop a reputation for helping talent flourish.

"It's about getting the best out of the player and if we have got them doing well then they can move on," said Williams, who was a Newport RFC favourite and played three times for the Dragons.

"About us making them into better players so that they help us as a club. If we can build a reputation then more players will want to come here, I guess it's a case of us both 'using' each other."

At the top of the table, Pontypool will expect to stay in the winning groove when they host last season's Division One West champions Dunvant.

Pooler made it four from four when beating Glynneath and are setting the pace with Tata Steel, who are their hosts next weekend. The teams haven't met since the 2001/2 season when Pooler won 28-17 in Gwent and 60-15 at Dunvant.

Fixtures: Bedlinog v Glynneath, Cardiff Met v Beddau, Glamorgan W v Narberth, Newcastle Emlyn v Newbridge, Pontypool v Dunvant, Tata Steel v Skewen