Posted by Friday nights under the lights for an important European game at the Arms Park should always be a special occasion. There’s been so many great examples of that down the years, whether in the Champions Cup or Challenge Cup.
Cardiff going into a game needing a win to secure qualification for the knockout rounds and bag a home tie would usually be a massive fixture, but the body in charge of the competitions, European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), have lost all control over the format and scheduling of the pool stages, driving these once great weekends into the abyss.
The amount of teams in each competition, the split of those teams between the three leagues, the introduction of South African sides, the reduction of the pool stage from six weekends to four, the format of the pool stage, and the round of 16 and quarter-finals being on consecutive weekends in April, all take the shine off what was once the pinnacle of European rugby.
For the Blue & Blacks we ended up playing United Rugby Championship opposition Connacht needing that win, with just over 6,000 turning up in stark contrast to the sellouts seen against English rivals Bath and Harlequins last season. It was televised on the obscurity of Premier Sports, who can’t even be bothered to launch the dedicated rugby channel that they promised on securing the rights.
At a time when trying to get eyes on the game and drive associated commercial revenue is absolutely key to the survival of Welsh rugby, let alone the prosperity of it, having this little interest in what on paper is a big night is just sad, more than anything.
On to the game then and without a Premier Sports subscription to watch it back there’s not much detail to be going into! Off the top of my head we lost the gainline battle, had very little lineout ball to work from, and made too many errors to really build any pressure or create any try scoring opportunities. It was individual moments of brilliance, mostly from Thomas Young, that really got us anywhere in possession.
The main consequence of all of the above issues though was that Cardiff spent far too much time defending. It was dogged defence, no doubt about that, with 225 tackles made at a 93% completion rate. Young, Alex Mann, Teddy Williams, Alun Lawrence and Rhys Barratt all made over 20 tackles, and nine different members of the team won a turnover, but spending so much time with backs to the wall took its toll on the legs.
Despite keeping the scoreboard close and having the chance to go for the win in the last 10 minutes, there was nothing left in the tank. Connacht kept us at arms length and, in truth, the Blue & Blacks never looked like coming out of this clash with the win.
It left Matt Sherratt’s men needing results elsewhere to qualify, which duly arrived as Lyon hammered Cheetahs in France. This led to another item for the “ridiculousness of European rugby in its current guise” column, as Cardiff qualified for the round of 16 after just one win throughout the pool stages and will travel to…Connacht again! Three games against the Irish side in three months.
In terms of the pool stage as a whole it was definitely a disappointment for the Blue & Blacks. Failure to secure a home knockout game, one win from four games despite having the chance to win all four, and some momentum lost from what was a promising start to the season as a whole.
However, there have definitely been positive aspects, mainly in the minutes played by fringe players and the experience given to young members of the squad.
Getting the likes of Will Davies-King, Johan Mulder, Tinus De Beer, Rory Jennings, Jacob Beetham and Gabriel Hamer-Webb valuable minutes was important for the squad environment at the Arms Park, to avoid any unhappy players kicking their heels, and to get them ready to take the field during the upcoming Six Nations period with Wales squad members unavailable.
Key though is exposing Rhys Barratt, Steff Emanuel and Tom Bowen to this level, seriously talented operators who will only benefit from these games no matter the result. Emanuel looked composed in Lyon, Bowen is clearly electric and should have had more tries than the one scored against Cheetahs, while Barratt has impressed with his work around the field and quick learning at the scrum despite only being 22.
It should have been better, no doubt about it, and is a short-term frustration, but could well become a medium-term success as these players hopefully keep us competitive through this next phase of the season and the young players develop into first team talent across the upcoming years.
While that is going on at the Arms Park, hopefully at the EPCR headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, they too are hunting medium-term success with the revolutionising of European rugby, overhauling what is fast becoming second and third rate competitions that are disappearing into irrelevancy.
Cardiff Rugby Life 