Posted by It’s been another very successful season for Cardiff RFC, as I looked at last week, with both key boxes of development of young players and being competitive in Super Rygbi Cymru ticked.
Unfortunately there was no silverware to show for it come the end of the season, but there is still plenty to celebrate for the Rags, and plenty of internal debate as I hand out the imaginary trophies for these Cardiff Rugby Life Awards.
Glad rags on, grab a drink and settle in to disagree with all my choices!
Breakout Player
Once again the consistency of the mainstay semi-professionals in the Cardiff squad make the shortlist for this award a tough one to put together, but there is one standout winner who could technically also be up for Best New Signing, even though he’s done pretty much all of his rugby development at the Arms Park but wasn’t even signed on for the start of the season.
Ethan Lloyd is an academy graduate and played twice for the 1st XV, in both Misfits matches in the Champions Cup back in December 2021. In the summer of 2023 he made the switch to Merthyr for the final season of the old Welsh Premiership, and then signed for Newport last off-season for the new SRC.
However, when Tom Habberfield was struck down by injury he came back to the capital and hasn’t looked back. 18 appearances in all competitions, 17 of those starts, six tries scored and notable progression shown in his kicking game, control of the attacking tempo and confidence to back himself to make something happen from the base.
The 23-year-old’s form even earned him a call-up back to the professional level in January, stepping off the bench against the Sharks at the Arms Park when injury and international selection left the scrum-half cupboard a bit bare.
Young Player of the Year
Another award with a relatively short nominees list as the semi-professional squad averaged out around 25-years-old to counteract the bigger and younger academy group stepping up into senior rugby. Lloyd was a candidate again, but fell foul of the “one award only” rule, while Benji Williams and Christian Brooke had their hands up.
The winner though is loosehead prop Jared Williams in his first season at the club after joining from Exeter University and BUCS Super Rugby last summer. The Cowbridge man, and former Cardiff & Vale College student, settled into the campaign as the back up to Marc Thomas before taking over the number one jersey during the second half of the season.
The 23-year-old carried on his experienced team-mate’s work as a good scrummager and willing worker around the park, bagging a try against RGC in the cup, and showing enough to suggest he could well be a very effective prop at this level.
Try of the Season
I’m not sure that last season’s kick-off reception and return can ever be topped in the Try of the Season stakes, but this year’s winner is impressive for another reason.
It’s an excellent score from away at Swansea back in October and sees then 19-year-old fly-half Harri Wilde pick out a perfect kick pass for 19-year-old centre Elijah Evans to hit in-stride and beat a man before putting then 19-year-old winger Tom Bowen over the score.
Just for fun Bowen juggles the ball dramatically giving Steff Emanuel a heart attack!
Best New Signing
This was the first award with a really competitive shortlist. The aforementioned Ethan Lloyd and Jared Williams were both considered, back row Aled Ward was a very strong candidate and, although injury and then a move to the Dragons restricted his game time, Josh Thomas was a seriously impressive signing in the back line.
The winner though is another from the too often overlooked front row, where Tom Harper has come in at tighthead and instantly inserted himself as the cornerstone of the pack.
19 appearances in all competitions, 17 of which were starts, and the 28-year-old has anchored the scrum superbly in a regularly switched up tight five. He has also continued to improve his contributions around the field as the season has worn on, culminating with his crashing over for a try against Bridgend in the SRC quarter-final.
Best Academy Player
Another hotly debated award within my own head, although eagle eyed readers may have spotted a spoiler published this week! Lucas De La Rua, Harri Wilde, Steff Emanuel and Elijah Evans could all put together very compelling cases for taking this non-existent trophy home.
However, for me Matty Young has been slightly ahead of them this season, even around a mid-year injury, with the improvements in his season-on-season showing and consistency of his output earning him a title of key player at full-back. Aerial work, broken field running, link play, finishing and defensive solidity have taken him from underappreciated to highly rated.
The 20-year-old’s progression can be marked by the fact he was taken to South Africa with the first team at the back end of the season. Undoubtedly a blow for the Rags with him being unavailable for the semi-final against Newport, but great for his personal development.
Performance of the Season
It’s been a great season for big wins and top performances. In terms of overcoming top-of-the-table rivals, the control shown at home against Ebbw Vale early in the season, and the fight to win away at Newport having lost to the Black and Ambers the week before, were both admirable. The huge scorelines over Bridgend and Carmarthen at home were both eye-catching too.
The winner though is a relatively easy one to pick. Before March Cardiff had suffered seven straight kisses at the hands of Llandovery stretching back to October 2022 and hadn’t won at Church Bank since April 2022. The trip to Carmarthenshire also came on the back of a tough Cup campaign and without a number of Wales U20 squad members.
What followed was an incredible display of Rags rugby, with Fishy’s side running out 19-52 winners on the day thanks to tries from Dewi Cross, Osian Darwin-Lewis, Joe Goodchild and Matty Young, and the boot of Josh Thomas. A completely dominant performance on the road against one of the top sides in the league.
Player of the Year
And we finish with the big one!
A number of award winners could have put their hands up for this one, as could the likes of club captain Sean Moore, future club captain Craig Hudd and utility back Joe Goodchild, all of whom are unlucky to miss out. Nathan Hudd and Dewi Cross would have been in contention too but for the rule of only being allowed to win Player of the Year once in your life.
That leaves a return to the front row, and a man who has been a Rags stalwart now for four straight seasons – Alun Rees.
The hooker pushed his overall appearances figure to 95 this year with 19 games in all competitions, and also enjoyed his best try scoring campaign crossing 13 times to take his total to 36 tries for the club. Now 32 he brings experience and leadership alongside his playing traits of having a huge defensive workrate, a surprisingly incisive ball carrier and a consistently good set piece operator.
A lot of the exciting young academy backs have garnered the headlines this season, but they’ve only been able to do so because Cardiff have been a better all-round outfit, with the pack providing the platform for them to play. Rees has been a key cog in that, and no doubt been valuable for Gavin Parry and Charlie Manship coming into the semi-pro system.
Alun Rees is the Cardiff Rugby Life Rags Player of the Year, llongyfarchiadau to him and all the winners!
Cardiff Rugby Life 