FLANKER Sam Betty admits Wor-cester Warriors might have to dig deep to reach the semi-finals of the British and Irish Cup.

Warriors could face one of their biggest challenges of the season against Welsh outfit Pontypridd at Sixways on Saturday (3pm).

Pontypridd are the reigning Principality Premiership champions and top the division this season after winning their opening 12 league games.

They finished runners-up in their British and Irish Cup group, completing doubles against London Scottish and Connacht Eagles, but losing twice to Bristol.

“I think Pontypridd will be a really tough team to face in the quarter-finals,” said Betty.

“Coming up against a Welsh team is always a good occasion because an England versus Wales contest adds a bits of spice to things.”

Pontypridd, who won the SWALEC Cup last term, have a host of players in the Cardiff Blues academy set-up. Five of those — Garyn Smith, Tomos Williams, Dillon Lewis, Liam Belcher and Seb Davies — have been named in the Wales under 20 Six Nations squad.

Betty said: “Hopefully, at home we will get some good support at Sixways and the boys who are picked to play will do the job and get the club into the last-four of the competition.”

Warriors topped their pool in the British and Irish Cup after winning all six group matches. They have now achieved 17 successive victories at first-team level.

Betty bagged a first-half hat-trick as Warriors eased to a 50-10 Midlands derby victory on Saturday at Moseley in the Greene King IPA Championship.

“It was my first hat-trick — it’s not normally my thing,” said Betty.

“That was my first senior hat-trick and the only one I can remember scoring apart from one when I was 12 years old at school.”

Warriors made a flying start at Billesley Common and laid the foundations after opening up a 40-5 cushion at the interval.

Betty said: “It was a good performance and we did the job we went to Moseley to do. We started well and that was our aim — we concentrated on the first 20 minutes and coming out with a bang — and I think we did that.

“Moseley fought right until the end but we were pleased with the performance.

“I was just at the back of the maul – I ended up being with the ball. The boys in front of me did all the work so the maul went really well.”

Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan says this weekend’s side will feature a mixture of first team players and those who guided the Cavaliers to the A-League final.

Ryan said: “Part of the challenge for us is to understand the strength of the squad and that we have good players and giving those an opportunity to play.

“We have a lot of guys on the edge of the first team squad who are desperate for an opportunity.

“In the A-League final, we were five minutes away from winning the game and we missed a couple of line-outs. We are at the level we want our next best available guys to be performing at.”