Posted by Giving Cardiff v Dragons the strapline of “East Wales Derby” has always seemed a bit odd to me as, unless you’re of a certain age and you recall old East Wales XVs, then East Wales doesn’t actually exist as a place.
As is universally (and by universally I of course mean in all of the capital) accepted there is South Wales -made up of Cardiff and suburbs to the east up to the Severn and north up to Merthyr – West Wales is everything west of the M4’s Junction 33, and then North Wales starts from the slightly imperfect Crickhowell to Machynlleth line.
Now though the oddness of the strapline has taken on a new angle, as can you really call a game where one team wins 20 league encounters in a row a “Derby”?! Perhaps the “Cardiff and eastern suburb foregone conclusion” is a better description of what takes place at the Arms Park and Rodney Parade every year.
Boxing Day’s encounter was what has become a typical clash at the latter of those two venues. On the grass pitch in Newport, where the weather always seems to be overcast, windy, raining or a combination of all three, it seems to descend into a slog no matter what each side aims to put on the field.
As against the Cheetahs, the Blue & Blacks kicked off playing into the weather and compounded that with another error strewn slow start. Exiting was tough and with the hosts dominating possession and territory the refereeing seemed to favour the side in ascendance as Cardiff were on the wrong side of a 0-6 penalty count across the first quarter.
However, we did not help ourselves in the slightest as the lineout faltered on too many occasions, tactical box kicking was too short and just invited Dragons to start attacks from good field position, poor back field coverage allowed Angus O’Brien too much space to kick into, and our own kicking from hand in open play and for touch was often wayward.
Fortunately, as was also the case against the Cheetahs, while some of the technical aspects of the Blue & Blacks’ play was below par, the defensive effort was outstanding. Despite only having 41% possession and 31% territory in the first half the visitors were able to restrict Filo Tiatia’s men to just a 15-5 lead with Teddy Williams’ smart finish cutting the deficit.
Staying in the game was crucial as, along with already having the psychological benefit of knowing we could beat the Dragons, and they having the psychological disadvantage of knowing they could very much lose to Cardiff, we needed some time in the sheds to get the necessary tactical tweaks to make that a reality.
Matt Sherratt spoke post-game about needing to kick longer, pin the Dragons back, and be braver with ball-in-hand in order to get our attacking game going. That was certainly put into practice as the Blue & Blacks secured 57% possession and 61% territory in the second half and scored two particularly subline tries with Josh Adams flying over after an intricate first phase strike play and then Gabriel Hamer-Webb sliding in out wide after good handling from Teddy Williams, Callum Sheedy and Cam Winnett.
It was the backs that dominated the headlines, but the forwards that more than laid the foundations. The aforementioned Teddy, along with second row colleague Josh McNally, gave us a physical edge at the gain line, supported by the graft of James Botham and Alex Mann in the back row. The latter may have crossed the line discipline-wise at one point, but having a bit of spite in the pack is something we’ve missed for too long.
In the end the victory leaves Cardiff a remarkable third in the United Rugby Championship table, with only Bulls below us capable of jumping above should they win their game-in-hand. Five wins from eight games, plus the win and loss in the European Challenge Cup, sees us with two more victories than last season already and with just two fewer total points.
It is the first time since October 2022 that the Blue & Blacks have won three league games in a row, the best league record to this point since that same season, and the best points total across the first 10 games in all competitions since the 2008/09 campaign.
There’s no question it’s been a successful year so far, and possibly already marks the whole season as a success on a progression basis, but there is narrative around our league position in terms of having much tougher fixtures after the turn of the year, beginning with the hosting of Ospreys on New Year’s Day in a fixture we haven’t won at the Arms Park since 2007.
Having said that, this is a Cardiff side with a different outlook. There’s a confidence to the pack that we can compete in the tight, there’s a steeliness to the half-backs that we can execute at key moments, and there’s a quality to the backs that can produce tries from anywhere. Momentum is all-important and the Blue & Blacks definitely have that!
So #PackCAP and get behind the bois… #TrustTheProcess
Cardiff Rugby Life 