Posted by If you come here for blatantly obvious takes on Cardiff Rugby stuff then you are in luck – tying Taulupe Faletau down to a new contract is brilliant for the Blue & Blacks.
Yes, he has a pretty substantial injury record and yes, he turns 35 in November, but I’d challenge anyone to watch his performances across the back end of the Six Nations and into Cardiff’s run-in and deny that he’s still a world class operator at number eight.
When he’s fit and gets a run of games Faletau displays that the pace and power are still there in abundance – just look at his line break against Munster that resulted in Harri Millard’s try – while his soft skills and general rugby IQ remain at an incredibly high level. That there were clubs from all over the world ready to step in with major financial offers underlines the quality he retains.
Of course that’s not where the 108-times capped Wales international’s influence stops at the Arms Park. Commercially he remains a huge asset as one of the best and most recognisable figures across Welsh rugby, while his experience is ideal to be passed on not just to talented back rowers but any young player making their way through the pathway system at Cardiff.
This is where a slight issue may arise for Matt Sherratt though as he looks to build a squad not just for the 2025/26 season, but continues to grow and progress the Blue & Blacks on this multi-year rebuild from the point he stepped in as Head Coach during the summer of 2023 to hopefully regularly making the United Rugby Championship play-offs towards the end of the new PRA cycle.
Mackenzie Martin will turn 22 towards the end of the first fixture block in the new season. In his breakthrough campaign of 23/24 he played 15 times in all competitions for Cardiff and won five Wales caps across the Six Nations and summer tour. Last season he was on the field for just 99 minutes at the professional level, instead turning out nine times for the Rags in Super Rygbi Cymru.
Now that altering of the big number eight’s trajectory is to be expected. Circumstances dictated that explosion on to the scene the season before last, but in truth it was rushed. Under any normal operating conditions Big Mac would likely have seen little to no game time during that first campaign, before maybe a slight increase on that during 24/25.
Either way we reach this summer in the same position – Martin needs to be playing first team rugby at Cardiff next season. The Ely boy has done his time in training, he’s overcome injury setbacks and got his head down with the Rags. Now is the time to get him back on the Arms Park at the top level and proving what he’s about.
How does that happen? Well for starters there are plenty of minutes to go around. Faletau can’t churn out back-to-back-to-back 80-minute performances. He needs to be managed in-game and week-to-week in order to get the best out of him, leaving opportunity for Big Mac to start on weeks when the senior man is being rested or when it’s time to head for the bench.
And that bench holds the key for getting the 21-year-old a good amount of minutes, at least in the early part of the season. With Sherratt’s preference for a 6/2 bench at Cardiff seemingly set in stone after the back end of the most recent campaign, there is a spot there for a 6’5″, over 115kg frame to step on to the field in the final quarter of games and make a serious impact.
To make that work though there has to be an element of bravery on the part of Jockey and the coaches to put young, inexperienced but talented players into these potentially tricky positions. It may necessitate have a young number eight like Martin at the back of a defensive scrum with seconds to go, or utilising him at blindside or lock with a possible compromising of lineout options.
It may also mean on occasion selecting a Big Mac over an Alun Lawrence to ensure there is game time for everyone, thinking beyond just the immediate future where Big Al is playing so well and into the medium-to-long term where the younger man’s ceiling could be even higher again.
That’s not just true of the back five forwards either, that’s true of Rhys Barratt with Corey Domachowski and Danny Southworth at loosehead, Sion Davies with Aled Davies and Johan Mulder at scrum-half, Harri Wilde with Callum Sheedy and Ioan Lloyd at fly-half, Steff Emanuel with Ben Thomas and Rory Jennings at centre, Tom Bowen with Iwan Stephens and Harri Millard on the wing, and Matty Young with Cam Winnett and Jacob Beetham at full-back.
Bringing through so much talent is a blessing and a curse, but the real curse would be to see any of that talent walk out of the Arms Park door without really having a chance to show what they’re about, and that’s the risk with Mackenzie Martin at the moment.
Men of that size and that ability don’t come along too often, so as good as it is keeping hold of a legend of the game in the form of Taulupe Faletau, it’s still Big Mac who could have the keys to Cardiff success for the next decade. Make sure he stays on the menu!
Cardiff Rugby Life 