Lancaster hopes it will be All White on the night at Bridgend
SWANSEA travel to the Morganstone Brewery Field tonight to take on Bridgend Ravens as they chase their first win of the new season (7.10pm).
The BBC cameras will be taking in all the action and after opening the season with two defeats, against Aberavon (24-10) and RGC (34-26), Swansea director of rugby Richard Lancaster feels a strong start is needed if they are to avoid a third loss on the bounce.
“We’ve let ourselves down a little bit so far this season,” he continued.
“The Aberavon game we just left too much to do, at half time we were 21 points down.
“And it was the same story against RGC, a couple of soft tries just gave them a head start in the game. If you look at the territory and possession we were more dominant in those respects, we felt we were the better team and unlucky not to get the result.
“So it’s a good opportunity to right the wrongs and chalk up our first win.
“We need to start better, there is no doubt that we need to start better.
“We conceded the first three tries against Aberavon, we conceded the first two against RGC and if we leave ourselves with that much of a handicap then we’re not going to win games.
“A good start is really important for us.”
Bridgend will be glad to be on home soil after an opening-day defeat at Cross Keys (32-25) and a hard-fought win at Neath (10-7).
Head coach Matt Silva has been pleased with the Ravens’ start to the season but is aware of Swansea’s need for a win.
“It’s a decent start for us because we’ve got six points from two away games,” he said.
“We dropped two at Cross Keys but they were good on the day and we’re happy with the two points up there.
“Neath away was a massive win for us, it’s a game we might have lost this time last year.
“The boys were very resilient and it keeps us in that mid-table position.
“I’ve come up against struggling sides before and come away with nothing so we won’t be reading anything in to that.
“Same as Neath, apparently they were struggling a bit but we had to pull out all the stops to win the game.
“Swansea have got some quality players and on their day they can play as well as anybody so we won’t be taking it lightly.
“I think they will certainly bring a want to win because they need to get a W to kick start their league so they will bring a lot of ambition, a lot of guts and determination and they are going to be desperate for that win so they are not going to be taken lightly.”