KEVIN ELLIS (pictured) has been around the Welsh rugby scene for more years than he cares to remember. However even he, with his vast amount of experience, admits the heart pounds and the veins pump with passion in the build-up to games.

And tomorrow will be no exception as Ebbw Vale travel to The Gnoll (2.30pm) with Neath gunning for their blood.

Vale upset the Welsh All Blacks' applecart earlier in the season by beating them in the Principality Cup - and now they fear revenge is on the Neath agenda.

Scrum-half Ellis has been around the block a few times in rugby circles, having played with Bridgend before going north to Warrington Rugby League Club in 1990 and then on to English Premiership outfit Sale until he finally found his way to Eugene Cross Park. But he said: "It's the same at The Gnoll as it always was. It's intimidating and the Neath supporters like to get the songs going.

"The team now have all-round talent. It's not like it used to be when the Neath pack, at one stage, included Kevin Phillips & Co.

"It's going to be very tough down there on Saturday and they will be after revenge because we knocked them out of the cup.

"I don't get nervous now but the adrenalin pumps. I just love playing. That's what it is." And, even at the age of 33 - he will celebrate his 34th birthday in May - Ellis is still not ready to retire. His contract at Eugene Cross Park expires this summer, but he wants another if the club let him stay on.

He added: "I have a few business proposals which I'm looking at now but I would like to continue playing.

"I saw my best mates, Allan Bateman and Rowland Phillips, playing for Neath the other day (against Newport) and they looked very good. They are two years older than me as well, remember!

"If Ebbw Vale offered me a contract, I would definitely look at it." Ellis is a fitness fanatic and shares the same personal trainer as Cardiff's now-former Wales and British Lions star Robert Howley.

And even yesterday on his supposed day off from club practice, he was at his local gym in Bridgend getting down to business.

Also, if anyone thinks they have heard the last of the player if he fails to win a new Vale deal, then they are very much mistaken.

"I will carry on playing when I do finish premier rugby," he added. "I've a younger brother who plays for Bridgend Athletic - they are doing very well for themsevles at the moment - and I've promised him I will have one last season with his club before I finish.

"I've also done rugby coaching courses in union and league so that may be another avenue."

That is all in the future. The more immediate matter is making sure The Steelmen don't slip up against a side which has found some form.

There is also the matter of some business to settle for the Welsh All Blacks and Ellis tomorrow that dates back over a decade.

He added: "My last game before I went to Warrington in 1990 was against Neath in the cup final when I was with Bridgend - and we won!"