HIGH-flying Ebbw Vale and their forwards coach Duane Goodfield hope they can turn their enforced hiatus away from the playing field to good effect this weekend.

Third-placed Vale welcome Llanelli to Eugene Cross Park, looking to keep the pressure on Principality Premiership leaders Pontypridd and Carmarthen Quins in second.

The onset of the British and Irish Cup, and their absence from the tournament, as well as Wales’ autumn internationals, means the Steelmen haven’t played a competitive encounter for four weeks (they did beat Nantyglo 69-7 in a home friendly on November 29).

Their last league encounter ended with Vale edging a 27-20 victory at Bridgend, coming on the back of narrow losses to their current main Premiership rivals, Quins away (26-24) and Pontypridd (27-19) at home.

Former Newport Gwent Dragons hooker Goodfield, who was forced to retire from the game at just 26 in 2011 when he failed to recover from a shoulder injury, admitted his side are just looking forward to some real game time again.

“It will be nice to get playing again,” he said. “But a lot of clubs are in the same position because of the British and Irish Cup and the autumn internationals.

“But such an absence definitely isn’t ideal from a coaching perspective, although it can work in a side’s favour because it gives some players time to get over niggly injuries and we’ll be fresh going into this weekend.”

For many, the Steelmen have been the league’s surprise package, despite being promoted as rampant Swalec Championship winners last season.

While some predicted they would find it tough to make the step up into Wales’ semi-professional top flight, they have defied the critics having won six and lost just three of their nine Premiership clashes so far.

Goodfield said it hasn’t come as a bolt from the blue for Vale’s players and coaching set-up: “At the start of the season we set the goal that we wanted to be a top four side.

“Results-wise we are very happy at where we are now, although we just slipped up last month against Quins and Ponty.

“It’s just so important we try and keep the momentum going now.”

This weekend’s visitors Llanelli also haven’t played a competitive fixture for a month and are finding it tough going in the league with just three victories and five defeats from their eight encounters so far.

The Parc y Scarlets outfit have also come a cropper on their last two Premiership visits to Gwent, going down last month to Newport 30-19 and Cross Keys 44-34.

But Goodfield said Vale respect the West Walians: “Llanelli are always a tough side with a number of talented players in their ranks capable of making the step up as full-time professionals with the Scarlets.

“And this weekend is the start of a tough block of games over the next few weeks with Bedwas away over Christmas before Cardiff come to us in the new year.

“What we are looking to do is to keep developing and learning from the games we’ve lost.”