Posted by Cardiff’s 2024/25 pre-season campaign gets underway this Saturday as the Blue & Blacks make the trip to West London to face current English Championship champions Ealing Trailfinders.
With losing Gallagher Premiership finalists Bath coming to the Arms Park the following week it’s some good quality opposition for Matt Sherratt’s men after a long summer of pre-season including new coaching staff, new player signings and some new faces promoted from the Academy and Rags to train with the first team.
It’s a world of change from 12 months ago after a turbulent summer in the Welsh capital, but on the back of the positive season that 23/24 turned out to be, there’s a definite air of optimism around the club heading into the new campaign. With that in mind, here’s some things to watch out for across the warm-up games that will cement the good vibes.
Young players getting a chance
Between injuries, late arrivals of new signings and summer international stars being given suitable time off post-tour, it’s likely we might see some different names on the Cardiff team sheet at Ealing this Saturday.
Youngsters Rhys Barratt, Joe Cowell and Tom Bowen have all featured heavily from day one of the pre-season coverage released by the club and will be keen to show off their progress on the field, while former Bristol Bears age grade & Hartpury Uni RFC scrum-half Rhys Price and former Ospreys & Newcastle fly-half Josh Thomas have trained full-time this summer.
There’s also a possibility that flanker Gwilym Bradley could return to action over the next fortnight after nearly two years sidelined through injury. The 23-year-old has been seen training regularly in the video clips from training, although the medical department will likely want to manage his minutes carefully.
Some of the summer’s Cymru D20 contingent in Lucas De La Rua, Harri Wilde, Steff Emanuel, Elijah Evans and Matty Young may also fancy the chance to get some first team minutes under their belt, although having only returned to training last week it remains to be seen exactly how much action they see with the Rags also playing pre-season friendlies and Super Rygbi Cymru on the horizon.
New coaches’ influence
Sherratt has taken the opportunity to bolster his coaching ticket over the summer with Corniel van Zyl joining as Forwards Coach having worked with Ealing last season, Jonny Goodridge has come in as a Skills Coach to replace Richie Rees, while Gethin Jenkins has gone full-time as Defence Coach having worked on a part-time basis for the last 12 months.
Particularly in the case of van Zyl it will be interesting to see if he’s been able to make any improvements to the lineout and maul over the course of pre-season training, with the South African revealing on the second episode of Cardiff Rugby: Uncovered this week that he sees his task as turning the Blue & Blacks pack into a dominant one.
Melon will also have been keen to properly impress his defensive system upon the players this summer, with plenty more time in which to do that, and will benefit from being at every first team game this season rather than only having defensive input at a select few.
Fitness Tests
As already mentioned, there will be eyes on how much, if any, minutes Gwilym Bradley gets under his belt over the next two games after such a long period on the sidelines. It’s almost reminiscent of Ellis Jenkins’ return, such is the length of time injured, with niggles likely to follow as his body adjusts.
There are a number of other players to keep an eye on after injury concerns shifted from the end of last season into this summer. Keiron Assiratti suffered a back injury against the Springboks at Twickenham and didn’t travel to Australia with Cymru, Teddy Williams underwent a season ending shoulder surgery, Thomas Young suffered a ruptured bicep and Taulupe Faletau fractured his shoulder.
In the backs Callum Sheedy hurt his knee in his final Bristol outing back in May, Harri Millard suffered a similar injury against Edinburgh in April, while Josh Adams had the summer off international duty after dealing with a number of niggles through most of the last campaign.
Matt Sherratt will be hoping most or all of those named can get out on the field at some point, and come through unscathed with the United Rugby Championship on the horizon.
Winger combinations
Pre-season is never particularly the time to over-hype or write-off a side, and team selections can often be meaningless when it comes to the proper games, but it’s a bit of fun to create some narrative around them nonetheless!
The winger berths at Cardiff are some of the most hotly contested in the whole squad ahead of the 2024/25 campaign, with Josh Adams, Theo Cabango, Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Iwan Stephens, Harri Millard, Tom Bowen, Kodie Stone, Ollie Das and, of course, Mason Grady being able to operate out wide.
Grady is the one to watch in particular, with Sherratt being able to use him at inside centre, outside centre and wing, while the balance of the two wingers is an interesting one with Jockey liking one more physical option and one slightly quicker and nippier option.
Who fills what role and in what combinations will be worth keeping an eye on to get a sense of the Head Coach’s thinking before the league gets underway, with such a variety of quality options available for selection.
Cardiff’s pre-season campaign gets underway at Ealing on Saturday, the Supporters’ Club is running a bus which you can book on to by e-mailing CardiffBSC@outlook.com.
Cardiff Rugby Life 