Posted by It might be too much of a hark back to last season, but as Cardiff suffer a fifth straight loss across all competitions, and still wait to register a win in 2025, there should be a huge amount of confidence to take from Saturday’s defeat away at Leinster.
There rarely seems like a good time to make the trip to Dublin. In recent years the best opportunity for a win has been at the business end of knockout competitions, whether that be the United Rugby Championship or Investec Champions Cup, as Leinster suffer the same fate as their national team in choking with silverware on the line.
The Blue & Blacks though are unlikely to be knocking around in those games in the immediate future, so it was across the Irish Sea on a Six Nations fallow weekend with some 13 players unavailable and the hosts being able to call on the likes of French international Rabah Slimani and South Africa Rugby World Cup winner RG Snyman.
In terms of the outcome, the game was lost for Cardiff in a 10-minute yellow card spell shortly after half-time where Alex Mann was sent to the sin bin and Leinster scored 14 unanswered points, and then a further seven just as the flanker returned to the field. A clinical period from the home side who put us to the sword in a textbook example of how to play against 14 men.
However, that was far from the tale of the tape for the Blue & Blacks who can point to 70 minutes of causing the league leaders real problems in both attack and defence, with a scoreline of 28-24 outside of the sin binning underlining just how competitive the visitors were.
Defensively there was an organisation, physicality and work rate to the defence that impacted the rhythm of Leinster in attack, causing uncharacteristic errors and preventing them building up any momentum. It wasn’t an afternoon for the jackal, but Cardiff adapted well to secure turnovers in contact and force kicks from which counter attacks could be built.
And built they were as the side coached by Gethin Jenkins and Corniel Van Zyl on the day produced arguably the best attacking performance of the season so far to cause the home team’s rush defence all sorts of problems with a skilful display from the forwards and a constant cutting edge in the back line that spawned some excellent tries.
With the discipline issue and being second best at the set piece the win was unlikely to come, but the Blue & Blacks were toe-to-toe with the best team in the league for the majority of proceedings and proved that they were at the level to compete at the Aviva Stadium.
Thomas Young and Alun Lawrence were busy in the back row with touches of quality, Johan Mulder was lively on both sides of the ball again at scrum-half, Callum Sheedy and Rory Jennings’ playmaking was sublime at times, Gabriel Hamer-Webb and Harri Millard were electric on the wings, and Cam Winnett was quality at full-back.
Efan Daniel, Seb Davies and Ellis Bevan all made an impact off the bench, while Danny Southworth put in a huge 70-minute shift after Rhys Barratt’s stint as a replacement was cruelly cut short by a nasty looking ankle injury.
Overall though there has to be a huge amount of confidence taken by Cardiff, with a massive run of fixtures coming up on the far side of the Six Nations.
Leinster are in a bracket of top teams with the likes of Toulouse and La Rochelle. They continue to be out of reach for the Welsh sides with the disparity in financial power, but future opponents Lions, Connacht, Benetton and Munster are there to be beaten if the Blue & Blacks have a little belief in their own ability. No more talk of tough run-ins, time to talk about what can be achieved.
With players returning from injury and the internationals set to come back from Cymru duty, this squad has more than enough quality to be in the running for play-offs and progressing in knockout competitions over the next two months.
Opportunity beckons for Cardiff. #TrustTheProcess
Cardiff Rugby Life 