HEAD coach Craig Warlow says he would strongly refute any suggestion that his Newport side have nothing left to play for this season.

“That’s absolutely not the case at all,” he said. “We have got a goal and that’s to make the top six.

“Avoiding relegation was our first target, now it has turned to what we can achieve going forward.

“We’re in a battle with Llandovery, Aberavon, RGC and even Swansea now to finish in the top six.

“It’s all to play for throughout the Premiership.

“You’ve got the top two or three who are looking to push on and compete for the title, then there’s the battle for the top six, and there’s also the battle to avoid relegation.

“There was also talk of a new competition involving Welsh and Scottish teams, so we’d want to finish as high as possible to be involved in that.”

The Black and Ambers, who host Llanelli at Rodney Parade tomorrow (kick-off 2.30pm), currently sit sixth in the Principality Premiership table with 11 games left.

They are 17 points off top spot, 31 clear of the danger zone and failed to make it past the first round of the National Cup after losing to RGC 1404.

Fly-half Matt O’Brien is still away with the Wales Sevens squad so misses the Scarlets clash.

On the injury front, Geraint O’Driscoll is sidelined with a pulled hamstring, Rhys Jenkins is around a week away from a return and Tom Pascoe will resume training after this weekend’s match.

Llanelli may be in a relegation dogfight but they can take heart from the last meeting between the sides at Parc y Scarlets in September.

The Scarlets went into that fixture having lost their first four games of the new season.

However, they got the better of Warlow’s men 30-17, but have won only three times since then, the last coming on December 7.