Posted by It can often feel like games in the final throws of a campaign sum up the season as a whole thanks to the biases of both recency and confirmation, but watching Cardiff fall just short against the Stormers in the final round of the United Rugby Championship genuinely did feel like it summed up the year.
The Blue & Blacks were a bit cagey to start, in the same way we were against Zebre and Scarlets, but there were encouraging signs as Callum Sheedy’s tactical kicking was strong and the defence was physical at the gain line, soaking up pressure and winning crucial turnovers.
However, things quickly got tough as Stormers started to turn the screw, regularly winning races around the corners of breakdowns and setting up overlaps for their dangerous backs. A brace from Leolin Zas, a score from Suleiman Hartzenberg and a red card for Danny Southworth felt like the sort of nightmare run that replicated the back-to-back-to-back defeats at the hands of Glasgow, Scarlets and Edinburgh.
At 19-7 down and reduced to 14-men it seemed that Cardiff were already dead and buried, but just as the win over Ulster before the Autumn Internationals proved crucial for keeping the season alive, Gabriel Hamer-Webb’s 6th try in 4 games on the stroke of half-time was huge for the Blue and Blacks. Even if the referee did manage to ignore a knee drop on the scoring winger and mismanage the conversion shot clock.
The game’s third quarter plodded along in much the same way as Sherratt’s side worked their way through the middle of the campaign; encouraging moments where Teddy Williams and Evan Lloyd worked a break down the left wing or Cam Winnett produced a stunning 50/22, a la the wins over Dragons and Cheetahs, but frustrating issues with the lineout and an inability to hold on to the ball and build pressure representative of the draw against Ospreys and defeats in the European Challenge Cup.
Just as it felt things may be limping to a damp squib of a conclusion though, a major shift came when it was most needed. A moment of Hamer-Webb brilliance released Harri Millard to score his joint-league leading ninth try of the season, and in the process the left winger was caught high by Damian Willemse who was shown the second red card of the evening.
In a similar way to how the back-to-back bonus point wins over Ospreys and Munster had kept the campaign going when it just seemed to slipping from the grasp of Jockey’s men, the try and red card gave hope on the back of an incredibly brave fight put up by the squad. After the tribulations of Pretoria at the end of a long season, both on and off the field, to stay in the game as the players did was seriously impressive.
It spoke to both the character of the individuals, the culture built within the squad and the improving quality of both the players and team as a whole that we could go toe-to-toe with a side as good as the Stormers on their own patch.
Unfortunately the similarities between the round 18 game and the 2024/25 season end in disappointment, with Cardiff leaving things just too late in the day. Dafydd Hughes’ late score off the back of a driving maul gave the Blue & Blacks hope, but an even later penalty from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was the nail in the coffin on the day and for the campaign.
It meant that, barring an unlikely set of results elsewhere that did not materialise, the Welsh side missed out on the URC play-offs despite a spirited attempt at sneaking in at the last minute.
The time for end of season reviews will come, but focusing on this game in particular there was just too many moments of being second best to win out in South Africa. To secure victory out there you need to be pretty much flawless, but the aforementioned out-paced defence, lineout and lack of possession meant that it was always an uphill battle for the visitors.
There was a lot to like about the tactical kicking game, attacking incisiveness when we did get through phases and the physicality at the gain line though, areas where Cardiff have previously been weak but have made obvious improvements as the season as worn on as part of this multi-year rebuild.
Last time we visited Cape Town it was a 40-3 loss, this time the deficit was cut to 10. Hopefully next time we return to the port below Table Mountain it will be for a coveted win.
As always, #TrustTheProcess
Cardiff Rugby Life 