Posted by Even in a season where results aren’t the be-all-and-end-all for a rebuilding Cardiff we somehow find a way to test the blood pressure of supporters, as another game ends with the two teams separated by less than seven points.
Unfortunately on this occasion the script was closer to the storyline set out against Benetton in week one, rather than at Dragons last week, as a game that was there for the winning just got away. Having said that though, the fixes list is shorter as we continue to build the squad especially when the international stars are away.
There was a lot to like again from a Blue and Blacks point-of-view as the kicking and aerial game remained strong, led by an excellent showing from Hurricane Harri Millard who chased up and down the right wing like a man possessed. Four kick recoveries out of six in total for Cardiff as the effort level continued to be very high from Matt Sherratt’s men.
Perhaps the biggest positive on the night though came at scrum time, where the Blue and Blacks were particularly dominant through the first half. There was a fear the set piece would struggle with some inexperience through the tight five but Rhys Carre and Rhys Litterick anchored things, and Shane Lewis-Hughes answered a lot of questions about his scrummaging prowess as a lock.
It was the scrum with the upper hand, and resulting in Kemsley Mathias being shown a yellow card, that allowed Cardiff to get over for the second away try of the evening and put us in a great position to kick on, but this is where the lessons kick in across two areas.
Firstly, the lineout was a hindrance to kicking on, as well as the driving maul set up. The Blue and Blacks were pinged for an obstruction and then fumbled possession on two separate mauls at the opposition five-metre line, while the lineout stuttered early in the second half when the opportunity was there to put pressure on the Scarlets.
This may well be a consideration for Sherratt and the coaching staff going forward as, although the aforementioned Lewis-Hughes is looking at home in the second row, Alex Mann continues to impress on the blindside and Lopeti Timani looked in good form on his return to fitness, none of them are primary lineout jumpers.
It left Seb Davies as the obvious target for Liam Belcher and the home side, with their three players over 6’6″ in the back five forwards, marked him closely. Rory Thornton was only brought off the bench once the momentum had gone away from Cardiff, and while he may not offer as much around the field as some of his team-mates, the balance of his set piece skills was probably needed from the start.
Beyond that though the attack also struggled in Llanelli as the Blue and Blacks looked fairly blunt when in possession. This was summarised perfectly by an attacking set on around the 50-minute mark where the Blue and Blacks went through 11 phases, not making it into the five metre channel on either flank, and only making it beyond the first receiver in the final phase where the ball was immediately knocked on.
There were glimpses of creativity as the ball was moved well in the build up to the first Cardiff try, even if there was an element of a lucky bounce, while Ellis Bevan and Tinus De Beer linked up well with a fake box kick clearance that become a chip-and-chase, and De Beer found Millard with a smart chip kick.
Unfortunately too much of it was left for the final part of the game when the deficit was tough to cut down despite Cam Winnett’s cross kick and Theo Cabango’s electric finish. Prior to the season Sherratt had spoken about entertaining supporters even if results didn’t go our way, that was not quite the case on Saturday, but as I wrote last week the attack may well be a few weeks away from clicking.
It was another change at scrum-half, another new centre pairing and another new wing pairing at Parc y Scarlets which, when paired with the new faces and disrupted pre-season for the backs, goes some way to explaining an attack which isn’t fully firing yet.
The individual talent is there, but the focus for improvement over the next three weeks is that attacking cohesion as Cardiff face two lots of South African opposition who can be defensively weaker due to their looser style of play, and Zebre who currently have the second worst defensive record in the United Rugby Championship.
I’ll leave the final word to Jockey, who said after the game, “on the whole I’m pretty pleased. We are gaining experience and sometimes you do that the hard way. There’s no other way around it. It’s just making sure that in two or three weeks’ time, we’re not still talking about moments that we’ve let go in the game.”
#TrustTheProcess
Cardiff Rugby Life 