2022/23 season review: Eggs, strikes and shields

You could describe any one of Cardiff’s last five seasons as a rollercoaster of a campaign, and yet they don’t even come close to 2022/23. It was dizzying. At times it was pure chaos.

The Blue and Blacks traversed off-field scandal, on-field troubles, the best run of form for years, tragic loss, one of the most special nights in the club’s history, more off-field scandal, and then lifted a trophy to cap it all off.

If this was an episode of Eastenders you would turn it off for being too far-fetched.

On-the-field it was a season of relative success but ultimate disappointment for Cardiff, a measure of the confused state in which Welsh rugby finds itself currently. If you take the respective budgets for each team in the United Rugby Championship, leaving out the South Africans, then we finished towards the top of our financial bracket ahead of Edinburgh, Benetton, Ospreys and Scarlets.

A run of five wins from seven league games from the start of October through to the end of December put Dai Young’s men right into the play-off picture and included back-to-back derby wins over Scarlets and Dragons, an impressive victory at home against reigning champions Stormers, and a statement 0-35 win at Sharks, the first Welsh side to win on SA soil since their current sides joined the competition.

However, disappointing home losses at the hands of Lions, Ospreys and Scarlets, plus a lack of ability to put try bonus points on the board, left the Blue and Blacks just adrift of the top eight come the end of the season. Six times in the URC this season we scored three tries in a game but failed to convert that into an additional league point.

Lifting the Welsh Shield, and earning the Heineken Champions Cup qualification that comes with that, at Judgement Day after a terrific performance against the Ospreys was a reward for the positives that arose from the 2022/23 URC campaign, but that elusive play-off spot continues to remain just out of reach.

This, of course, was all set against the backdrop of off-field troubles. Early in the season there was the “egg-gate” incident, where Cardiff players on a night out were caught verbally abusing staff, going behind the bar to pour their own drinks and throwing eggs around a local pub. Then right at the end of the year came the bombshell that Dai Young had been suspended as Director of Rugby after allegations made by club employees.

As well as that the ongoing negotiations between the Professional Rugby Board and Welsh Rugby Union left many players in contract limbo, not knowing whether they’d have a job come the summer, and resulted in clubs having to start drastically cutting their wage bill when a deal was reached and the pro sides in Wales faced the realities of a huge drop in payments coming from the Union.

Back to the on-field action and Europe once again provided some hope of a trophy as Brive and Newcastle were swept away at the Arms Park, while there was also a successful trip to the north-east, but a loss in France was what would unfortunately derail a tilt for a third Challenge Cup triumph as top seeding was lost and the Blue and Blacks ended up falling to defeat in Treviso at the quarter-final stage.

Before that though came the round of 16 win over Sale Sharks which will go down as one of the greatest nights in the club’s history.

The week building up to the game saw the sad news break that Cardiff Life President and former Chairman Peter Thomas had passed away aged 79, the man responsible for the club still going today thanks to his enormous generosity on a monetary and effort level. A man who was the heart and soul of the Blue and Blacks for nearly 30 years.

After a poignant period of remembrance ahead of kick-off where Peter’s family, friends and colleagues gathered on the pitch, the players took on the responsibility of doing him proud and put in a suitably incredible performance. Sale, 2nd in the Gallagher Premiership at the time, were dispatched on an evening that will be remembered for many years.

In the end it was an emotionally draining season, and one that hasn’t finished yet in that regard with the investigation into Dai Young still ongoing and with a raft of announcements still needed for the Blue and Blacks to form a squad for next season.

With tough times on the horizon though, 2022/23 did provide a number of good moments for supporters to cling to as we enter the period of uncertainty. Positivity will return at some point, and when it does hopefully we can look forward to nights like Stormers home, Sharks away and Sale home once again.