Posted by Cardiff’s 2023/24 season was beautiful in its simplicity. No expectations, no targets, just a young team doing their best for the jersey and showing off their skillsets after a summer of turmoil at the Arms Park.
Unfortunately the success of that has led to the opening of the 2024/25 campaign being a real conundrum.
On one hand, this is still a largely young Blue & Blacks side that, despite seeing a lot of game time and even international honours come their way, are still learning and progressing. With a number of new signings also introduced during the off-season it will take some time to properly bed in and get going.
However, the flip side is that there is still a need to see progression. Cardiff can’t continue to operate on just four wins a season, and as part of a route to the United Rugby Championship play-offs and the top table of European Rugby, there has to be some expectation placed upon performances and accountability when they are not at that level.
Friday night at the Arms Park saw reigning league champions Glasgow Warriors visit the Welsh capital in a game that last season was a free hit-out up at Scotstoun, but at home came with a feeling that Matt Sherratt’s side could nab something if the positive signs shown against Scarlets were built upon again as had been done post-Zebre.
And there were unquestionably positives; the scrum was dominant as part of the wider set piece going well, the pack were physical and on top of the Scottish side for large periods, aerially we managed to secure excellent territory, and defensively there were regular turnovers won to keep the opposition at bay and open up some counter attacking opportunities.
The issues were two-fold though; in attack we struggled to deal with a ferocious and organised Glasgow out-to-in blitz that narrowed our play, prevented danger men getting on the ball in space and led to an intercept try, and in defence we missed too many tackles on key targets in important areas of the field.
Interestingly, Cardiff only missed two more tackles than we did against the Scarlets the previous week, but the difference was that too many came inside our own territory at the Arms Park, and that they were on the likes of Jack Dempsey and Sione Tuipulotu who can seriously punish those misses, as they do regularly at test level.
That is something which supporters will demand is improved, as the players and coaches will also be doing behind closed doors, although to my eyes there is also learning around in-game management for Sherratt & co. Once Callum Sheedy was bumped by Tuipulotu the first time there should have been a reshuffle to either move the fly-half out of the way or get him some help on first phase defence. That didn’t happen and the Scottish centre inevitably returned down the 10 channel to wreak havoc.
Following the interception and missed tackles Glasgow were able to build a hefty lead ahead of the break which effectively ended the tie as a contest, especially when the bizarre laws around a team having to go down to 14-men when uncontested scrums occur kicked in during the second half. The Blue & Blacks were on top at the set piece, so there was clearly no gamesmanship in Corey Domachowski, Liam Belcher, Evan Lloyd and Keiron Assiratti departing injured.
There was still plenty of effort from Cardiff to stay in the tie, getting back into losing bonus point range twice during the second half, but it is against this context that considering next week’s team selection should come.
After the game there may well be calls for some key changes in personnel ahead of the return fixture against the Scarlets this coming weekend, particularly across the three-quarter line, however I’d urge some caution on the basis that the starters actually weren’t that far off it in the first 40, it’s just that being even 1% below the level required will be punished by a side like Glasgow.
I’d also add that the performances of those off the bench have to be viewed against the backdrop of them entering the game when there was nothing to lose. They had the license to try play with more freedom, take more risks and use their fresh legs to push and pull the opposition in a way that the starters couldn’t, and that they will not be able to from the start in the Welsh derby.
That’s not to say there aren’t valid reasons to consider some changes, particularly around a number of players having played 200+ minutes across the first three rounds of the season with three big games to come before the international break, but it is not as simple as “x player wasn’t very good against Glasgow, y player was so he should start”.
That is the trap of the Welsh scrum-half selection debate.
A bit of a reality check for Cardiff against the champions, but a chance to immediately get back on the horse against Scarlets and maintain what would still be a very good opening to the campaign if we can do a longed for double over our old rivals from the west.
#TrustTheProcess
Cardiff Rugby Life 