Davies makes 100th Cardiff appearance in final home game of the season

Seb Davies will make his 100th first team appearance as Cardiff welcome Zebre Parma to the Arms Park for the final home game of the season on Friday night (KO 7.35pm).

The lock, who progressed through the club’s pathway system and made his first team debut in 2014, links up with Matthew Screech in the second row as the Blue and Blacks target a return to winning ways.

The rescheduled United Rugby Championship encounter will also see prop Rhys Carré earn his 50th cap for the club, and he is joined by Liam Belcher and Dmitri Arhip in the front row.

Josh Navidi continues as captain in an unchanged back row, with Rhys Priestland and Matthew Morgan coming into the back-line to replace the injured Jarrod Evans and Hallam Amos.

Cardiff director of rugby Dai Young said: “First of all, we must congratulate Seb and Rhys for reaching these milestones. They have enjoyed some good individual form in recent weeks and it would be great if they could celebrate with a win.

“We have been very disappointed with our results and performances in the last month or so and we are determined to get back to winning ways in our final home game of the season.

“It is vitally important to us that we put in the required performance to get a result and say thank you to our fans for their support this season.

“We certainly won’t be taking Zebre lightly, they had a good win last week and have run some very good teams close so we will need to execute our game-plan and be accurate in all areas of the pitch and for 80 minutes.

“The injuries have begun to mount after so many consecutive weeks of rugby, on the back of so few, but we are all focussed on a positive end to the season and it also gives some of our younger players further opportunities.”

Meanwhile Kirby Myhill is set to reach a century of United Rugby Championship appearances from the bench, as Teddy Williams, Ellis Bevan and Ben Thomas are all welcomed back into the matchday squad.

Young back Mason Grady, who impressed in Cardiff RFC’s title run-in, is named in the first team squad for the first team since recovering from a knee injury suffered in March 2020.

Cardiff Rugby: Matthew Morgan; Owen Lane, Rey Lee-Lo, Max Llewellyn, Theo Cabango; Rhys Priestland, Lloyd Williams; Rhys Carré, Liam Belcher, Dmitri Arhip, Seb Davies, Matthew Screech, James Botham, Josh Navidi (capt.), James Ratti

Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Corey Domachowski, Dillon Lewis, Teddy Williams, Ellis Jenkins, Ellis Bevan, Ben Thomas, Mason Grady