Posted by Well, after three months of radio silence, a week was certainly a long time in rugby union for Cardiff fans!
The story of five days; announce the Director of Rugby has left the club, sign two homegrown future stars to new contracts, sign seven Academy prospects to transition deals, and sign two unknown quantities at tighthead and fly-half, respectively.
Next up on the list; the coaching staff.
Headlines have been rife all week with a list of names drawn up in the press. Rob Howley was towards the top of that list, with the Welsh Rugby Union reportedly keen for his appointment, while Wales U20 Head Coach Mark Jones and the familiar name of Gethin Jenkins also saw their CVs hoisted into the mix.
It now seems likely though that the current Attack Coach, Matt Sherratt, will be promoted to Head Coach and lead Cardiff Rugby. A good move or not? For me it’s a yes, as long as the contract terms are right.
The Blue and Blacks are in a seemingly unenviable position whereby the budget is tight, there is still a need to sign a number of players in order to fill the squad ahead of the new season, the coaching staff needs at least two additions, the Director of Rugby has recently left and there seems to be quite a poor culture from the boardroom down at the Arms Park.
However, desperately putting a positive spin on the situation with the help of some heavily blue and black tinted glasses, there is also an opportunity to build something at Cardiff over the next two years. It’s a young and fresh squad that has seen a huge amount of players leave, with more likely to do so this summer and plenty coming out of contract next summer.
The player recruitment market has taken a significant dive due to a saturation of players linked to the crash of three Gallagher Premiership clubs and general belt tightening. There is a possibility to put together an effective squad for considerably less money that it took pre-covid certainly.
Sherratt can start that process; he knows the players at his disposal, he coaches an exciting brand of rugby that can retain attention even if results aren’t going the team’s way, and he was at the club during the most harmonious period of recent history when the Blue and Blacks won the Challenge Cup in Bilbao in 2018.
Beyond that, and I say this from a position of knowing absolutely nothing about the man known as “Jockey” as a person, he doesn’t strike me as having any sort of ego about him. He rarely does media or craves camera time, he is often seeing joking and laughing with the players, he simply gets on with the rugby and enjoys his job.
The reason I warn about the contract terms though, is that Cardiff should not be offering a long-term contract to any coaching candidate at this moment. Instead, the club has to understand what it’s own long-term priorities are around coaching structure, recruitment and squad building, and the culture it needs to achieve the goals it will set.
If Sherratt comes in as Head Coach either on an interim deal until the end of the year, or on a two-year contract with the option of putting additional coaches and rugby management around him, it gives the Blue and Blacks the time to draw up and implement a comprehensive rugby and organisational culture plan without being handcuffed to anyone long-term.
However, if it’s a three-year deal for a coach who, no matter how popular or successful he is as an Attack Coach, has no actual full-time Head Coach experience on his CV, it is an unnecessary risk taken at a time when Cardiff cannot afford to be taking them.
I hope that the club has been smart over this and given ourselves the breathing time needed to get back on our feet. If we do that then there is a possibility to make the most of the bad deal that is the new Professional Rugby Agreement. If not, then simply blaming the Welsh Rugby Union for everything will wear thin quickly when we aren’t dealing well with what is within our control.
Cardiff Rugby Life 