Cross Keys second row, Ashley Sweet has been named in the starting lineup for Wales Under 20's Junior World Championship match against Japan which takes place at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea on Tuesday evening. Sweet came on as a replacement in the opening match of the championships against Italy on Friday evening but will now have the chance to show what he can do by starting the game. The club would like to send their best wishes and congratulations to Ashley and also to former Keys youth player, Jason Tovey who is also starting the game, at full back.

Cross Keys are delighted to confirm the signings of a number of new players for the 2008/2009 season. Amongst the new signings are Newbridge number 8 David Ford, a Cross Keys boy and former ball boy with Cross Keys RFC, Ford had an unhappy spell with Newport before returning to Newbridge in the early stages of last season. A pair of wingers have also signed in the shape of Maesteg's Nathan Trowbridge and former Cardiff wing James Egan who played most of his rugby at Llantrisant last season having played (and scoring a hat-trick of tries) for Keys in the pre-season friendly at St. Peters. Gavin Ashman is a young outside half who is very highly rated and has previously played for Newbridge. Keys have also secured the services of two players from newly promoted Pontypool, Gavin Ferguson can either play on the wing or in the centre whilst back row Rob Nash has played for Keys in the past on permit from Pontypool Utd. and once again is highly rated and regarded. Another centre that has signed is Blackwood's Luke Knight who has been a regular in Blackwood's side for a number of years. As previously announced Keys have also signed second row David King who was previously with Bristol Academy and completing the new arrivals for now is Cross Keys youth centre Dwayne Dyer, an extremely outstanding prospect who was superb for the youth throughout last season.

Keys will also receive an allocation of players from Newport Gwent Dragons academy and are still on the lookout for a few more players.

Amongst the players being released are Lee Humphreys, Scott Mitchell, Dan Dark, James Malpas, Khalid Jama and Sitaveni Rabuli (due to army relocation). Mitchell and Dark have both joined former Keys coach Matthew Back at Caerphilly and from this list are they only 2 players who have confirmed their locations for next season.

Of course last season we saw two players retire as players for Keys, centre David Price has decided to hang up his boots after being a superb servant to Cross Keys for a number of years and due to injury hooker Rhys Miller has also retired. The club are eternally grateful to both players for their service over the years and wish them both well in the furture. Both Price and Miller will still be involved with Cross Keys next season, Price will join the coaching staff assisting with fitness coaching and the coaching of the backs whilst Miller will carry out video analyst and statistics work as well as helping out the clubs medical team.

I should shortly receive a full list of players who are staying with Keys from last seasons squad, although at least 20 have re-signed.

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Last seasons news can be found here