Posted by While the Rugby World Cup plunders on in the background, the real rugby business of the Indigo Welsh Premiership has already enjoyed three weeks of action and is shaping up to be an interesting season.
Llandovery are once again strong, now backed up by players signing following the demise of Llanelli and young talent from the Scarlets Academy, Aberavon, Newport and Ebbw Vale are firmly in the chasing pack, while Bridgend are showing notable improvements alongside big spenders Merthyr and Pontypool.
As a result of all that you have to slide down to eighth in the early season table to find Cardiff, who have failed to win at least two of the opening three games for the first time since 2018/19. A first round draw at Pontypridd was followed by a comfortable win over RGC before Saturday’s disappointing 20-36 defeat at the hands of Ebbw Vale.
We knew before the season that this was going to be a year of transition for the Rags with the impact of Welsh professional rugby’s financial restrictions filtering down to the semi-professional 2nd XV, a much younger group of Academy prospects just taking their first forays into senior rugby, and other teams in the league looking to strengthen ahead of the possible introduction of a new competition above the Premiership.
Now that the season is underway it’s clear that the rebuild is going to be a slow one across the first half of the campaign. We are yet to see any transition squad members involved in a matchday 23 with the Wales U20 contingent having a delayed post-tournament start to pre-season and first team friendlies on the horizon, while the loss of experienced players is hitting hard.
New semi-professional signings stepping up from the lower leagues and Academy players being introduced to the Premiership will take time to adjust, and it showed on Saturday against a well-oiled Ebbw side that arrived at the Arms Park playing brutally direct kicking and set piece heavy rugby.
They will have to get used to the level of physicality, the way that mistakes are punished, how the referees officiate the breakdown and set piece, and generally embrace the fact that teams see Cardiff as a top tier scalp and will do anything to win, including the constant niggling and afters that we saw on the weekend.
There are positive signs for the Rags to build on; Joey Tomlinson is gaining fitness and form week-on-week, Harrison James noticeably growing as the undisputed starting 10, Dewi Cross continuing his unbelievable form from last season, and whenever Jacob Lloyd catches the ball sweetly off his left boot.
It’s possible that things will get tougher for Cardiff before the improvement comes though with Newport arriving at the Arms Park this weekend in the first round of the Welsh Cup before a short week due to a Thursday night visit to Llandovery on S4C. Two tough fixtures at the best of times, let alone when the squad is evolving and learning.
Over time the benefits should begin to show though as some of the new signings make a successful transition to the Premiership, the first team transition squad players join the Rags set up on a more regular basis, and the Academy players grow in stature.
There may be a few more tough afternoons in store, but I remain confident it will be worth it for more success over the next two-to-three years.
Cardiff Rugby Life 