Bridgend season preview

Bridgend have been the busiest in the transfer market in the off-season once again, with 16 new arrivals and 13 departures, but with this many changes it will take time to meld the squad into a cohesive unit.

Chief among the recruits is Andy Moore from Swansea and it is possible that the Wales lock could provide the spark that will fire an underperforming pack.

However, the Ravens' weakness has always been in the front row and ideally they need more than just the arrival of the excellent Phil Booth from Llanelli to steady the ship.

Another capture from Swansea, Sililo Martens, will add some vim and vigour behind the pack from scrum-half, but sometimes the Tongan's decision-making and delivery can suffer in the general excitement.

Craig Warlow will again start as the first choice No 10, while New Zealander Simon Mannix will add options at fly-half or fullback if necessary.

However, while Bridgend have added an old head in Mannix - and the price of an old head is a matching set of old legs - it is at the price of losing the potential of Cerith Rees, who has gone to France with Grenoble in an effort to play first-team rugby.

The Ravens' three-quarter line remains as potent as ever, while the backrow has plenty of 'dog' in it courtesy of Jamie Ringer, Richard Bryan, Maama Molitika and Shawn van Rensburg.