Captain Max Hayman leads from the front in the opening half, joined in the front row by former Swansea University summer signing Max Marshall and the club’s most experienced first-team player, tight-head James Baker.
Long-serving Connor Stapley is joined by recent Millfield School graduate Patrick Jackson in the engine room, with a completely new back row made up of Max Brown, Aaron Tull and Willo Bicknell.
Cooke in at No. 10
Royal Air Force scrum-half Sam Boxhall will look to get the three-quarters flowing alongside new No. 10 Mike Cooke, Rowan Grundy and Oli Rhoads paired in midfield.
Last season’s top try-scorer Zach Clow is on the left wing, Sevens ace Sam Bowen having returned from New Zealand to go on the other flank and Andrew Lamb completing the side at full-back.
On the bench former Scotland Under 20s man George Breese is joined by South West Under 20s hooker Harry Bicknell, with further forwards cover coming from Morgan MacRae and former Windsor ace Will Moss.
Scrum-half Ollie Hodgson was Young Player of the Season last term, with ex-Worcester Warriors Academy man George Tomlinson and homegrown Theo Pett-Ridge capable of playing all across the back line.
Rams first-half team Vs. Aberavon
(15-9, 1-8) Lamb, Bowen, Rhoads, Grundy, Clow, Cooke, Boxhall; Marshall, Hayman ©, Baker, Stapley, Jackson, Brown, Tull, W Bicknell
Replacements: Breese, H Bicknell, MacRae, Moss, Pett-Ridge, Tomlinson, Hodgson
Sweeping changes for second half
ELLIS Jones makes his return from injury to captain the second-half side.
The Welshman missed almost all of last season with a knee injury sustained in the opening game against Darlington Mowden Park, but it back to feature a new centre partnership alongside MacRae.
Clow is one of two players set to start both stanzas, switching to full-back as Alex Mannhardt and Axel Kalling-Smith take up the wing berths.
A second debuting fly-half is Harris Rutherford, newly acquired from San Diego Legion in the USA, with Cardiff Met graduate Louis Pereira inside him.
Breese and Paddy Harris sandwich Army skipper Pete Austin in the front row, Brown moving into the engine room along with Liam Elston, back from his travels to Australia.
Starts for last term regulars
A relatively experienced back row rounds out the side, Harry Stone, Mikey Duda and Ben Atkins all having been at Old Bath Road for at least one campaign.
Ryan Lomas and Harry Bicknell are ready to cause an impact with Will Burrows, Tomlinson and Hodgson also set for action alongside the versatile Pett-Ridge.
Rams second-half team Vs. Aberavon
(15-9, 1-8) Clow, Mannhardt, Jones ©, MacRae, Kalling-Smith, Rutherford, Pereira; Harris, Austin, Breese, Elston, Brown, Stone, Duda, Atkins
Replacements: Lomas, H. Bicknell, Burrows, Tomlinson, Pett-Ridge, Hodgson
