EBBW Vale chief Greg Woods reckons there is “massive pressure” on all 16 clubs in the Principality Premiership this season.

The league reaches its halfway point this weekend with Gwent’s five top-flight teams vying to preserve their place for next term.

Woods’ Steelmen and Craig Warlow’s Newport are the best-placed of the quintet, although both know they still have work to do to avoid being sucked into a relegation dogfight.

Ebbw, who host Llanelli tomorrow (kick-off 2.30pm), currently sit fourth in the standings, 12 points behind leaders Merthyr.

The Eugene Cross Park outfit claimed a third straight victory when ending Cardiff’s nine-match winning streak last time out.

They are top dogs in Gwent at the moment with Newport, home to Carmarthen Quins on Sunday (kick-off 2.30pm), seventh, half-a-dozen points adrift of Woods’ charges.

But while Ebbw and the Black and Ambers look good for another campaign in the Premiership, it may be a different story for Cross Keys, Bedwas and Bargoed.

With as many as five teams going down, the trio, separated by six points, sit 12th, 13th and 15th respectively.

Keys go to fellow strugglers Bridgend tomorrow (kick-off 2.30pm), Bedwas face a tough task at Pontypridd (kick-off 5.15pm) and Bargoed are going to be up against it away to Llandovery (kick-off 2.30pm).

Reflecting on his side’s season so far, Woods said: “We’ve probably carried the form we had at the end of last season into this season.

“We’re targeting a few more wins to keep ourselves clear of the bottom sides, and a couple over Christmas should do that.

“Everyone is fighting for something this season because of relegation and our next targets are to get to 50 points and then 60.

“Five could potentially go down, which is brutal, and probably only Merthyr and Pontypridd aren’t looking over their shoulders at this point.

“Three of four bad results and you will start looking down the table rather than up, so this weekend’s game is huge.”

As for Warlow, he feels that despite half the season having elapsed, the Premiership table isn’t necessarily a true reflection of where everyone stands in the grand scheme of things.

“In terms of our fixtures, we’ve only had five at home so far this season, and the away games have all been tough,” he said.

“It’s similar with Llandovery who are just below us in the table but, like us, have had to go to the likes of Merthyr and Pontypridd.

“Although we are halfway through the season, I don’t think the table is a perfect indication of where most teams are in the league.”

Newport were thumped 43-10 at Llandovery last Saturday after toppling Merthyr on their own patch the previous week.

“I think that’s part of the Welsh psyche,” added Warlow.

“You’re almost at your most vulnerable when you think things are going well.

“It can be difficult to maintain that intensity, particularly after a great win like we had at Merthyr.

“People, maybe subconsciously, think they are in a better position than they actually are.

“Everyone knows they’ve got to respond and there is a bit of pressure to produce a much better performance on Sunday. I’m comfortable with that and I’m sure the players are as well.”

He continued: “Pretty much everything went wrong at Llandovery.

“We didn’t take advantage of the chances we had in the first half when the wind was at our backs.

“We couldn’t sustain any pressure and when we got a couple of two-on-ones we didn’t execute them well enough.

“We were really frustrated at half-time and then in the second half we tried to do things too quickly.

“We gifted Llandovery tries and before we knew it we were 40 points down.

“And then it was typical of us, we only started playing rugby when the shackles were off.

“I turned to Ty Morris (forwards coach) when we were 43-3 behind and said I honestly couldn’t remember being 40 points down in any game ever.”