View from the South Terrace: Lions

It’s almost April and here Cardiff Rugby are still legitimately fighting on two fronts! Is it unnerving? Is there a danger the hope could kill us? Yes, and yes, but it’s brilliantly exciting at the same time.

When it comes to sneaky big games, Friday night against the Lions at the Arms Park was the dictionary definition. A rival for the top eight, no win in six for the home side, and a tricky run of fixtures to follow that meant without a win to kick the fixture block off we could have conceivably not won again this season.

Rewind 12 months and Matt Sherratt’s side were in a similar position form-wise. Five straight losses in all competitions and a run of games that did not exactly fill anyone with confidence. Credit to Cardiff they battled through March and April of 2024, but a series of close defeats meant the positives were derived from areas of the performance other than results.

Now though, the results are coming. A drizzly night against a big South African pack is not what anyone linked to the Blue & Blacks wanted to see, the sheer size of Asenathi Ntlabakanye sums that up nicely. They were physical at the set piece and in contact, and showed flashes of pace and x factor in the wide channel.

The home side were ready for that though. The additions of Danny Southworth and Josh McNally, the development of Ben Donnell and Alun Lawrence as mid-season joiners last year, the progression of youngsters Rhys Litterick, Teddy Williams and Alex Mann, and the ever growing talismanic figure of Liam Belcher can get us into an arm wrestle now.

Sprinkle in the experience and quality of Corey Domachowski, Keiron Assiratti, Seb Davies, James Botham and Thomas Young, and suddenly we’re not only matching the Lions at scrum time, we’re actively pushing them back to win crucial penalties in the final quarter of the game, the lineout is giving us a good platform to attack from, and the driving maul really should have been rewarded with a penalty try.

At half-back the combination of Johan Mulder and Callum Sheedy is flourishing in a way few would have predicted. Their tactical kicking on the night was seriously good, giving Cardiff broken play attacking opportunities and field position, while the fly-half going 100% off the tee was huge for the scoreline and hopefully for him on a confidence level.

On this occasion the stats tell a pretty accurate story of the game; the Blue & Blacks having just 36% possession and 39% territory, but making 229 tackles at a 92% completion rate, snaffling two interceptions and scoring a try from one of those. Eight retained kicks is very impressive too, as is making five line breaks while restricting the opposition to just two.

The effort summed up as a team by the defensive set on our own goal line with the clock red, and individually by Cam Winnett rising from a leg injury to collect a loose ball and step a man to give us front foot ball. That emotional outpouring as the referee blew his whistle was one of celebration, but also of knowing that we would have lost this game at the same point last season.

There’s still work to be done, no doubt about that. We can’t be playing with our backs to the wall constantly and expecting to come out on top. A quick and effective way to help make us a dominant side would be to simply receive and retain a kick-off, something we did just 40% of the time on Friday.

However, with an inconsistent Benetton to come out in Treviso, and then the European Challenge Cup round of 16 clash away at Connacht on the horizon, Jockey’s men can take a huge amount of pride in their defensive effort and confidence from the fact that they can scrap out a tight win when the attack isn’t fully firing.

With Aled Davies, Taulupe Faletau and Ben Thomas to come back in, and a full week of training to get things clicking, excitement is building for the Blue & Blacks. #TrustTheProcess