THE gulf between the Premiership and Division One is unquestionably large but Blackwood head to Rodney Parade hopeful of showing they are a quality side and maybe even causing the shock of round four.

The Glan-yr-Afon Park outfit are going extremely well in Division One East, sitting in third place with just one defeat from their nine games.

But tomorrow’s challenge will test their form to the limit when they head to face a Newport side that are joint leaders of the top flight (and there is some doubt as to whether they should be top on tries scored as per the Premiership handbook or second because of number of wins as the WRU now state).

There will be plenty of visiting support at Rodney Parade and coach Jeremy Lloyd has urged his side to do themselves justice.

He said: “There is nothing to lose for us and we are looking to go down there and give a good account of ourselves, we don’t expect anything from the game in realistic terms.

“The boys are up for the game and it is a tremendous opportunity for them. There is a big gap (between the Premiership and Division One) and it showed when we played Pontypridd last year. We were well in the game for 55/60 minutes but their superior fitness and so forth took its toll in the end.

“We would like to think we can cause Newport some problems. We have a good spine to our side, are solid in all departments with a few players that are on the brink of the Premiership.

“This will be an indication of where we are. We have been going well in the league and have proved that last season when we came third was not a fluke.

“Hopefully they will have a particularly bad day and if we have a particularly good day then we might have a chance.”

Blackwood made an impression at Rodney Parade in the pre-season Men of Gwent Sevens.

They pride themselves on giving young, local talent a chance to make an impression and Lloyd, who shares coaching duties with forwards chief Jason Rogers, is well aware that it is a shop window for his charges.

And he will also be looking to impress against Black and Ambers backs coach Jon Bryant, who he played with at Merthyr.

Lloyd said: “Jon is probably the hardest player I have played with or against – he was brilliant to play alongside and horrible to play against.

“He has obviously taken that on into his coaching and it is good for the region to see young coaches like him coming through and making an impact.”