Posted by It feels like a long old time ago now, but back in October I took to my keyboard to thrash out some thoughts on what a successful 2023/24 campaign might look like for Cardiff Rugby.
After the upheaval of the last 12 months across Welsh rugby as a whole, and with more specific goings-on at the Arms Park, the build up to the season was less than ideal. Fewer than 15 players in some pre-season sessions, a coaching staff built just a month prior to pre-season friendlies getting going, and the average age of the squad coming down significantly.
With that in mind, from a points perspective up to the start of the Six Nations I suggested that 22 points from a possible 45 in the United Rugby Championship would be an excellent return. As it turned out, the Blue and Blacks managed to secure 21 points from the nine league games in the period. It’s difficult not to be happy with that.
The results record is an interesting one as on it’s own it actually makes pretty poor reading for Matt Sherratt; P9 W3 D1 L5. However, when you consider that not a single league loss has come by more than seven points, and we have taken at least a league point from every game this season, it’s an impressive return and underlines the competitiveness of the young squad.
Europe was a trickier affair with the Investec Champions Cup throwing up the challenge of Bath, Harlequins, Toulouse and Racing. No easy games but Cardiff still pushed Bath all the way and were competitive against Quins for parts of the night, while going out to France to face two of the best teams in the Top14 would have been an incredible experience for the young players in the squad.
Having said all that though the results and points were never the primary focus for the Blue and Blacks this season, it is all about the improvements in performance as new faces come in to both the playing group and coaching staff at the start of this multi-year rebuild.
From where Matt Sherratt’s men were with the loss to Benetton, defeat away at Scarlets and draw in Parma, to the win over Stormers, competing against Bath and hammering of Dragons, is a huge upward curve in a short space of time.
Individually we have seen massive growth from the likes of Evan Lloyd, Efan Daniel, Rhys Litterick, Teddy Williams, Alex Mann, Mackenzie Martin, Ellis Bevan and Cameron Winnett as young players arriving at the club with little first team rugby behind them or stepping up to the matchday 23 from the fringes or the Academy, some even going on to earn international honours after just four months.
Then previous squad players, such as Corey Domachowski, Liam Belcher, Keiron Assiratti, Rory Thornton, Seb Davies, Ben Thomas and Harri Millard, have impressed as they become senior members of the squad, while Tomos Williams is playing the best rugby of his career at scrum-half, joined at fly-half by Tinus De Beer who has been a revelation of a signing from Pumas.
As a group though they have also progressed, particularly around the attack and kicking/transition games.
From failing to see out some games early on in the campaign where turnovers were prevalent and territory was too easily ceded, to the freedom to score nine tries on Boxing Day, go toe-to-toe with Bath and score a try bonus point away at Racing, the improvements are noticeable.
The development of the attacking shape and variation within that comes from the growing confidence of the individuals and the partnerships formed throughout the team, as well as a clever attacking game plan from Sherratt and Richie Rees which maximises the output of the best ball carriers, allows the key decision makers the time to get the big calls right, and puts danger men in space in the wide channels.
In transition then the effort from the players has not dipped at any point this campaign so far, but the quality of the kicking, with the huge boots of De Beer and Winnett being installed at 10 and 15, as well as the creativity of Tomos from 9, has put the Blue and Blacks into much better areas of the field when needed.
Defensively there is still some work to be done, and a priority for the club’s management has to be tying down a full-time defence coach, whether that is Gethin Jenkins or someone else. Melon has done a valiant job considering the part-time nature of his role, particularly early on in the campaign when the attack was misfiring at times, but it’s a challenge to build on that with just a handful of sessions per month.
The next few weeks will be a stern test for Cardiff with so many call-ups to the Wales squad, alongside some injury concerns, as Connacht and Leinster come to the Arms Park before a trip to Glasgow, but if we can maintain the momentum of being competitive and playing attractive rugby then we set ourselves up for a run through to the end of the season where the fixtures are tough but the pressure is off.
As we start to see the fruits of the new owners come to fruition and expectations begin to build for the 2024/25 campaign, there are contracts and squad spots to be won, and the tag of “brave losers” will need to be replaced by “confident winners”.
Until then though the performance curve remains the priority for the Blue and Blacks, and the supporters will stay right behind the team as long as that remains the case.
#TrustTheProcess
Cardiff Rugby Life 