Posted by Rivalries are what make sport great. The majority of great sporting stories involve some form of rivalry; Ali v Frazier, El Clasico, Nadal v Federer, The Ashes, Prost v Senna, and England v everyone in the Six Nations.
It’s no different in Welsh rugby where Boxing Day derbies have historically been a major part of the sporting calendar. Neath v Aberavon was a long-time staple of the post-Christmas fixture list, returning this year with 4,000 in attendance, while for many years Cardiff faced Pontypridd in a festive battle.
These days the four professional sides have carved out a tradition on Boxing Day, as the Scarlets and Ospreys face-off in the west, while Cardiff meet the Dragons in the east, except in that second game the rivalry feels as if it is somewhat waning as a one-sided run of results threatens to make the fixture a foregone conclusion each season.
It is now 18 straight games that the Blue and Blacks have triumphed across all competitions, stretching back to April 2015 when the Dragons won a European Challenge Cup quarter-final at Rodney Parade. Eight-and-a-half years of losing what is probably the biggest game on their fixture list, aiming to get one over on their closest rivals.
The culmination of that came this Boxing Day when a supremely clinical Cardiff performance saw us run out 55-21 winners; the most points scored by a team in this fixture and the biggest winning margin. It could have been so much worse for the visitors, who went in 45-7 down at the break after a seven-try first half blitz, but Matt Sherratt’s men easing off and receiving a yellow card made the second half appear a closer contest.
Take nothing away from the Blue and Blacks at all, we were superb. Rhys Carre was at his dominant and destructive carrying best, Liam Belcher led by example up front, Teddy Williams was tireless while ensuring his contributions always contained a touch of quality, and Tomos Williams benefitted from the armchair ride giving him the freedom to make his game changing impact.
Outside the scrum-half there was Tinus De Beer being as physical as he was precise in both the passing and kicking game, Ben Thomas backed up his showing against Bath with another strong carrying display, while Rey Lee-Lo oozed all the class you’d expect even at 37 years old.
The tempo and accuracy to the attack in the first half was not something the Dragons could live with. It’s credit to the coaching staff who devised the game plan, and particularly the players who have stuck to the task at hand in some tough fixtures over recent weeks and put all their training and learnings together for one huge performance.
Even when the attack started cruising in the second half the defence remained solid, preventing the away side from taking any bonus points back to Newport. Particularly pleasing was the commitment from the likes of Mackenzie Martin putting in repeated efforts to scrag runners as they attempted to make line breaks in the final quarter. Young men maintaining the effort levels throughout.
However, I used that opening part of the blog to give context to the fact that, despite a 12,000 sell-out at the Arms Park on Boxing Day and a huge win for Cardiff, the atmosphere in the capital was somewhat flat. After the excitement of the Champions Cup tie against Bath, it turns out that thrashing your nearest rivals is actually a bit dull.
The concern is that having a perennially weak Boxing Day opposition in the Dragons will begin to impact the draw and commercial return of the fixture for both sides.
Over at Rodney Parade they have a strong development pathway across the rugby heartlands of Newport and the Gwent Valleys, while with David Buttress and his business partners at the helm they have experienced businessmen with impressive track records at the top of the company.
Yet the senior rugby department continues to perform at an alarmingly low level, consistently flirting with the foot of the United Rugby Championship table and unable to make any progress in Europe’s second tier competition. There’s talent in parts of the squad, with the likes of Leon Brown, Taine Basham, Aaron Wainwright and Rio Dyer as regular Wales squad members, while Ben Carter, Ryan Woodman, Will Reed, Aneurin Owen and Harri Ackermann all have high ceilings.
However, there is simply not the depth in the playing squad or the cross-board experience in the coaching staff to turn green shoots of promise into being consistently competitive and eventually on to earning regularly good results.
It raises the often asked questions around if the Welsh Rugby Union are purposely cutting investment in the professional game in order to ensure that Wales goes down to three, or maybe even two, professional sides, or if there is even enough talent in the country to sustain four professional sides anyway.
Those are questions for another time and place though, for now the focus is on Cardiff, a complete Boxing Day performance, and following that up on New Year’s Day in a significantly tougher fixture against the Ospreys on what is set to be a heavy Brewery Field pitch.
Building on the win over the Dragons is important, but if there was ever fixture that sounded like the mortal enemy of the Blue and Blacks than that is it in a nutshell.
All we can do is #TrustTheProcess.
Cardiff Rugby Life 