Posted by Two weeks in a row of glamorous Cardiff Rugby Life Awards? Oh go on then!
After the first team awards last Friday it’s now time to focus on the Rags who enjoyed a much less eventful season than their club colleagues, largely due to the consistent success that Steve Law’s men had on the field in both the Indigo Group Premiership and Welsh Cup.
In the end the creation of post-season play-offs prevented the Blue and Blacks from lifting the league trophy, but the Cup is safely back at the Arms Park once again after a hard fought win over Newport at the Principality Stadium.
As ever the RFC Awards are reserved for the semi-pro players, with the exception of the Best Academy Player, while the Young Player of the Year is an U25 award due to the age profile of the squad.
Most Improved Player
Starting the Awards off with a somewhat tricky one to hand out on the basis that; a) there wasn’t a huge amount of continuity in the semi-pro squad last summer, and b) those that did stay on were some of the top performers in 2021/22.
Nathan Hudd was considered having put in a full season with injury problems behind him, while James Richards also got on the shortlist having been used largely as a lock during the second half of the campaign when injuries and unavailability impacted the engine room.
The winner though is the man who was a rock at the heart of the pack all season, Sean Moore. Now this isn’t to say that his form has dramatically improved, he has been performing at the same high level he was for the previous 12 months and in a way that should put him on the radar of the professional game somewhere.
Instead it recognises the leader that Moore has become in the Rags team, especially around the set piece where he has led the lineout and particularly the driving maul work that has been a real weapon for the Blue and Blacks throughout the campaign. At points down the stretch it was a single-handed difference between finishing top and possibly as low as third when matches were in the balance.
Young Player of the Year
A particularly hotly contested award this year as Gruff Rees and Steve Law did some excellent work recruiting young talent that had either just left the professional development pathway or was heading to Cardiff for University. Joe Goodchild was excellent whether at centre, wing or full-back, while Ellis Thomas’ physicality was crucial to complement Morgan Allen in the back row.
Taking home the trophy though is a man who has enjoyed a record breaking season as Dewi Cross obliterated Rags try scoring records in the semi-professional era, finishing with a quite mind-boggling 23 tries from the 21 games he featured in this season, also topping the Premiership top try scorers list with room to spare.
His finishing ability was second-to-none, but he offered the team plenty more than just that with his defensive work, aerial ability and link play causing opposition sides all sorts of problems. There were just so many tries though!
Try of the Season
Now this one is a more straight forward decision! There’s been some excellent tries scored this season, particularly on the counter attack as the Rags have thrived on turnover ball. Ellis Bevan at Llanelli, Jacob Lloyd at home to Swansea and Cam Winnett against Newport in the semi-final were all sharp efforts.
The winner though is Joe Goodchild’s unbelievable finish against Newport in the Cup Final. It’s partially because the dive into the corner itself is just ridiculous. Goodchild is a big bloke, so to launch himself through the air like that and touch it down as cleanly as he did is physics defying.
Then there’s also the fact that it came at the Principality Stadium against our oldest rivals in a Cup Final that was only going to be won by a moment as special as that. An image that will live long in the memory of Blue and Blacks supporters, I have no doubt.
Best New Signing
As previously mentioned, the signings of the younger players to the semi-pro squad were particularly important this year with Cross, Goodchild and Thomas having big impacts, but for this award I’m going to focus on some older heads who brought vital experience to the squad for 2022/23.
Marc Thomas was a smart pick-up as he came out of the pro game from Worcester and stepped into the semi-professional arena, no doubt doing some important work with the young Academy props as well as bringing his skillset to matchdays, but it is Arron Pinches who wins this year’s Best New Signing award after a terrific campaign in midfield.
Turning 35 early in the season and having won all there is to win in Welsh domestic rugby in a long spell at Merthyr you’d have been forgiven for thinking that Pinches would be taking his foot off the pedal, but there was no sign of that as he played in 26 games in all competitions, starting all 26, and churning out huge carrying, tackling and defensive breakdowns performances to hold the backline together.
Best Academy Player
With 17 Academy players exposed to senior rugby by the Rags this season there is a fair bit of competition for this one. Alex Mann and Mackenzie Martin made important contributions in the back row, Ethan Lloyd was excellent at scrum-half, while Cameron Winnett produced some moments of serious quality at full-back.
My winner though comes up front in the form of Rhys Barratt as the loosehead prop established himself as a star of the future following an eye-catching Wales U20 campaign in 2022. After a slightly delayed start to the season he broke through in October and didn’t look back, nailing down the number one jersey for big games against Llandovery, Pontypridd and Merthyr during the middle part of the year.
Then towards the back end of the season he switched roles to making an impact off the bench and helping bag crucial wins against Ebbw Vale and Newport, with his scrummaging coming on noticeably and complementing his work around the field where his speed and physicality make him a real carrying weapon in the mould of Rhys Carre.
Performance of the Season
This is an interesting award as, although the Rags have had plenty of good results this season, they haven’t always been as a result of great performances. The Cup Final was a real battle of attrition, the big win over Merthyr to secure top spot was a game of two halves, while the semi-final win over Newport was not a particularly fluid showing, and perhaps a sign Cardiff were running out of steam.
That said, there were candidates for the award with the home win over Llandovery in October and the Boxing Day dismantling of Pontypridd at the Arms Park. The winner though came back in March as the Blue and Blacks met RGC at The Wern in the Welsh Cup semi-final coming off the back of some disjointed scheduling and form during the Six Nations period.
The Gogs were clearly keen to make it to a Cup Final and kept the game tight for the first 30 minutes, but once Cardiff got into their stride they were no match for the opposition as a Dewi Cross hat-trick (of course), an Arron Pinches brace and scores from Efan Daniel, Alun Rees and Joe Goodchild earned Steve Law’s men a spot at the Principality Stadium.
Player of the Year
Now realistically this award could go to any of the three winners of the semi-pro awards from this season as Moore, Pinches and Cross have all been on fire in 2022/23, but the man not taking home a trophy but earning a title does so for sheer unrelenting consistency in the quality of his performances this year.
Nathan Hudd has not had it particularly easy in his Rags career so far, with injuries and covid restricting him to just 16 appearances in his first three years at the club. However, this season he has stayed fit and healthy, and as a result has become a key man for Steve Law as well as a statistics leader across the Premiership as a whole.
353 ruck attendances puts him 5th in the league, 190 tackles is the 4th best, and 32 turnovers won is the 2nd best, the only player to appear in the top 5 of all three categories. It half underlines what a tremendous season he has had, while failing to tell the full story of his undying engine, explosive ball carrying and soft hands in possession.
It’s unfortunate for Hudd that the strength-in-depth at openside in Wales means he is unlikely to get a crack at the professional game here, but if I was an ambitious English Championship then I would certainly be taking a look. In the meantime though I’m sure all at the Arms Park are quite happy to have the flanker ply his trade in Cardiff as he enjoys the questionable honour of being Cardiff Rugby Life Rags Player of the Year!
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