Good luck from the Blues

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The Cardiff Blues would like to wish good luck to three sporting teams in south Wales ahead of their big matches this weekend.

Tens of thousands of Cardiff City fans will travel up to Wembley on Saturday at 3.00pm when Cardiff City take on Portsmouth in the FA Cup final.

Cardiff famously became the first and only club from outside England to win the FA Cup in 1927.The Bluebirds are competing in their third FA Cup final.

They were a top-flight club when beaten 0-1 by Sheffield United in 1925. Two years later they returned to Wembley, again as a top division outfit, and faced Arsenal. It was an unspectacular match, decided by a speculative shot from Cardiff’s Scottish centre-forward Hugh Ferguson, and fumbled by Gunners Welsh international keeper Dan Lewis.

Cardiff boss Dave Jones said: “Maybe, over the last few years, the FA Cup has lost a little bit of magic because it’s been the same teams (in the final). But Portsmouth and ourselves have broken the mould this season – we want to make our own history.”

Several Blues players will be involved in the Konica Minolta Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium tomorrow, 6pm kick off, when Pontypridd take on Neath.

Many people will see Ponty as underdogs in the final, with newly crowned league champions Neath, attempting to achieve a notable double. However, the mood within the Ponty camp is reported as being highly positive, with the squad focused on the task in hand. The Konica Minolta Cup Final 2008 sees Ponty take on Neath for a third time in the competition’s history, and for Pontypridd, who have won the previous two epic encounters, it will hopefully be a case of history repeating itself.

A dramatic injury time drop goal from the boot of Dai Flanagan clinched the verdict for Ponty in 2006, whilst ten years earlier, Nigel Bezani’s heroes came back from the dead to win what is regarded as one of the best cup finals ever.

Pontypridd Team: 15.Lawrence Price. 14.Chris Clayton. 13.Gavin Dacey. 12.Adam Thomas. 11.Owen Williams. 10.Gareth McCarthy. 9.Andrew Jenkins. 1.Ian Poley. 2.Duane Goodfield. 3.Sam Hobbs. 4.Ryan Savage. 5.Chris Dicomidis. 6.Geraint Lewis. 7.Rhys Shellard. 8.Nathan Strong – cpt.

Subs: Glenn Holloway; Matthew Hutchings; Tom Riley; Ryan Harford; Rhys Williams; Lee Evans; Wayne OÂ’Connor

Ahead of Konica Minolta Cup Final, Cardiff Schools Under 11Â’s will be challenging for the DC Thomas Cup Final, having booked their place in the final with a 12-7 victory over Rhymney Valley in the semis.

Cardiff are the cup holders having edged out Swansea last year with another 12-7 victory last season. They have an outstanding record in the competition having beaten Llanelli in the final in 2006, and victorious over Bridgend in the 2005 final.

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