Posted by Rugby Union very rarely grants anyone a fairytale ending. Whether it’s Alun Wyn Jones losing to Italy on his last Millennium Stadium outing, George North snapping his Achilles a few months ago, or Ellis Jenkins trudging off after 28 minutes of his final game at the Arms Park.
In many respects there’s a tragic irony to Jenkins having an absolutely brilliant start to the fixture against Edinburgh, with a jackal turnover, rip turnover, interception and a hand in two maul turnovers to his name, before the performance was tragically cut short by a knock to the head.
It’s not how the flanker, nor anyone in the stands, would have wished his final proper home game before retiring to go, but fortunately there are still three games to go for us to enjoy watching him in action, especially after Thomas Young’s nasty looking bicep injury picked up later on in proceedings.
Of course there was also disappointment for Rhys Carre, the try scorer on the day drawing a brilliantly stoney faced close-up on Warren Gatland, as he too saw his time at the Arms Park come to an end with defeat. It wasn’t the home finish that he, nor the squad as a whole, deserved for their efforts this season, but underlined the journey this group still need to go on.
Ultimately it was the attack that let Cardiff down on a day where the game was there for the taking. Particularly in the first quarter of the game, where the Blue & Blacks started quickly and probed the Edinburgh defence, a lack of cutting edge proved costly as proceedings wore on. Staying in the fight is admirable, but we need to start imposing ourselves if we are to turn brave performances into wins.
Looking at the four games since the United Rugby Championship has returned and the stats do and don’t make great reading for Matt Sherratt and Richie Rees as an average of 7.25 line breaks and 15.75 defenders beaten per game is encouraging considering three of the four were away at Glasgow, Munster and Ulster respectively.
However, 1.5 tries and 13 points per game is a disappointing return and signals that the Blue & Blacks are having trouble turning good attacking positions and line breaks into tries. We saw that against Edinburgh last weekend, particularly in the first quarter of the game, where Cardiff saw a number of half chances to get points on the board pass us by through inaccuracy and a slightly lacking attack.
It’s not an immediate concern for Sherratt & co as such, in the sense that it would only be a major worry if the Blue & Blacks were not even looking like scoring tries, and some relatively quick fixes around cutting the error count and increasing support lines will lead to more points on the board, but implementing them can be easier said than done.
On the whole though there were elements to like for Cardiff as the defence looked very solid once again, with Gethin Jenkins’ impact now being clearly noticeable as he prepares to go full-time in the defence coach role, while the lineout went well and aerially we were very strong, led by an imperious showing from Cam Winnett under the high ball.
Liam Belcher led by example again, Ben Donnell continues to churn huge shifts out in the engine room, Mackenzie Martin carried hard from 8, Tinus De Beer was sharp with ball-in-hand, Mason Grady continues to look very comfortable in defence at 13 and enjoyed an excellent running battle with Duhan van der Merwe, while Theo Cabango was dangerous again on the wing.
Unfortunately, in front of another excellent crowd at the Arms Park, the win wasn’t forthcoming in probably the best chance of the run-in to secure a victory. Next up Cardiff head for South Africa, where wins are generally hard to come by despite our opponents, the Lions and Sharks, being the lower ranked of the sides there, before a Judgement Day clash with the in-form Ospreys.
As ever, progress on the field is more important than progress up the table at this point of the development process, but a win would be good at some point! #TrustTheProcess
Cardiff Rugby Life 