Posted by Over 12 months since they departed the Arms Park, it seems a good time to catch up on the progress of the Cardiff players who left the club in the summer of 2022 or during the previous season.
Taking in a move to Spain, the demise of a new club and a league title, it’s been an eventful year for some of the former Blue and Blacks who headed for pastures new.
Rhys Gill
Loosehead prop Gill called time on his rugby career last summer having played 72 times for the first team and 54 times for the Rags in his two spells at the club either side of a very successful stint in North London with Saracens.
Since retiring he has moved full-time into the business world alongside his business partner, former Cardiff hooker Ross Johnston, with whom he has a flooring company, van hire business and interests in property development.
Scott Andrews
Another of the front row union who retired from the professional game last summer, Bubba made 189 first team appearances for the Blue and Blacks in a 13-year spell at the club that also included loan stints at Bath and Worcester.
The tighthead prop has remained a familiar face at the Arms Park though having taken up a role as an Academy coach and combined that with playing for the Rags, appearing 17 times in all competitions and winning the Welsh Cup.
Hallam Amos
An early retirement from rugby, full-back Amos made 44 appearances for Cardiff after switching from the Dragons in 2019 where he had broken through as a 17-year-old. He also won 25 Wales caps and appeared at the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups.
Hanging up his boots at 27 he chose to focus on his medical career having completed University alongside his playing, and now presumably attempts to fix people. As you can see, my medical knowledge comes entirely from having watched Doctors daily as a student.
Jason Tovey
Fly-half Tovey departed the professional game last summer having played 45 times across two stints at the Arms Park, while there were three spells with the Dragons and two seasons at Edinburgh included too, finishing with over 1300 points to his name.
He hasn’t stopped playing entirely just yet though, taking up a player/coach role with local side Ynysddu and helping lead them to third place in Division Two East, earning promotion to Division One. In his spare time he has started a tiling business and become an undisputed favourite of Welsh Rugby Twitter.
Garyn Smith
Academy graduate Smith headed on to pastures new in 2022 after 115 first team appearances for Cardiff, and as a hero of Bilbao after his try was a major part of the comeback and then his successful jackal gave Gareth Anscombe the opportunity to kick to win the Challenge Cup for a second time.
Heading for the south-west of England, the centre signed for Cornish Pirates of the Greene King Championship along with former Rags flanker Alex Everett. Injury prevented him making his debut until October but he was a regular member of the squad from then on as the Pirates finished 5th. This summer he returns home to sign for Pontypridd.
Lewis Jones
Scrum-half Jones officially left the club last summer after a decade at the club having played 127 games in all competitions, and 23 times for the Rags, before heading to the Dragons where he had spent the majority of 2021/22 on loan.
He made 20 appearances for Dai Flanagan’s side over the course of his first full season as a permanent member of the squad at Rodney Parade, although the side struggled once again with a 15th place finish.
Will Boyde
Probably the biggest surprise departure last summer was that of back rower Boyde who agreed to bring an early end to his contract as Thomas Young and Taulupe Faletau arrived at the Arms Park, and James Botham and Gwilym Bradley began to emerge. The former Scarlet left after 32 games in three seasons.
After a long time without a club he finally emerged again in a somewhat surprising spot as he signed for UE Santboiana, just outside Barcelona, playing in Spain’s top tier Division De Honor. After a successful regular season they qualified for the end of year play-offs and became champions of Spain for the first time in their history.
Alun Lawrence
It was with a degree of disappointment that Big Al headed for the exit in the second half of the 2021/22 season after 25 first team appearances at Cardiff, but with the nagging feeling that we did not give the number eight the best opportunity to develop.
The now 24-year-old has found a home with Jersey Reds though, and despite a spell on the sidelines through the middle part of the campaign, returned to help the Channel Islanders brilliantly lift the Greene King Championship trophy ahead of big spending Ealing Trailfinders.
Iestyn Harris
There was certainly some confusion at letting talented young hooker Iestyn Harris head off to Exeter towards the end of 2021/22, in a position where Cardiff have not been particularly strong since the retirement of Matthew Rees.
However, the justification was that Harris had injury concerns, with only three first team appearances for the Blue and Blacks by the age of 23, and that has come to pass at Sandy Park too where he made just two substitute appearances last season thanks to a lengthy spell on the sidelines. One of those outings was in the Premiership Cup Final though, where victory earned the Wales U20 international a medal.
Ben Murphy
In a similar vein to the aforementioned Alun Lawrence, second row Murphy also headed for the English Championship last summer having only made 18 first team appearances for Cardiff with a feeling that opportunities weren’t given for the 6ft5, 120kg player to progress.
Now 27, he was a regular member of the matchday 23 for Doncaster Knights last season as they finished in mid-table and has signed on for more in South Yorkshire next year.
Sam Moore
It was a punt worth taking on big number eight Sam Moore as he arrived from Sale following a few years of injury nightmare having been such a highly rated England U20 international but Welsh-qualified with dad Steve and uncle Andy having also played for Cardiff.
Covid and then more injuries restricted Moore to just eight appearances in two years at the Arms Park before he made the move to Ospreys where he has yet to make his debut with only a handful of games for Swansea in the Welsh Premiership under his belt.
Luke Scully
It was a case of bad luck for fly-half Scully at Cardiff as the pandemic was quickly followed by a serious injury which left him unable to play for the majority of his two years at the club after signing from Worcester Warriors.
Returning to home region Ospreys, the Neath lad played regularly for Swansea last season and came off the bench five times in the United Rugby Championship. He will hope to play more first team rugby this season with Gareth Anscombe leaving and Stephen Myler retiring.
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso
Outside back Feyi-Waboso unfortunately had to leave Cardiff in strange circumstances early in the 2021/22 season as he did not get into Cardiff University’s School of Medicine and instead went to study at Aston University in Birmingham, signing for Wasps in the process.
A prodigious talent who made his first team debut for the Blue and Blacks at 18 years old, he was left clubless when Wasps folded before Christmas and ended up signing for Exeter Chiefs where he has scored two tries in eight games. It is unclear whether he is still studying to become a doctor.
Academy departures
There were four departures from the Academy ranks last summer, headlined by Wales U20 squad members Nathan Evans and Ethan Fackrell with the former heading to Dragons, where the tighthead prop has played exclusively for Newport in the Premiership going up against flanker Fackrell who signed for RGC but had game time restricted by injury.
Winger Jake Thomas departed the Academy and made the controversial cross-city move from Cardiff Uni to Cardiff Met where he has played regularly in BUCS Super Rugby, while Louie Hennessey made the switch across to Bath where he has played twice in the Premiership Cup and is currently part of the Wales U20 setup.
Cardiff Rugby Life 