Posted by Looking back to the beginning of Cardiff Rugby’s 2024/25 campaign, you can’t help but long for what was a somewhat peaceful and hopeful time at the Arms Park.
The Blue & Blacks were under new and seemingly solid ownership, there was optimism around Welsh rugby regarding a new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA) between the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) and the four professional clubs, and Matt Sherratt had bolstered his squad smartly ready to kick on from an encouraging first season of an on-field rebuild.
It’s easy to say that every season is a rollercoaster, rarely does any campaign run smoothly for any club, but what followed was a particularly vicious ride for Cardiff that traversed tough results, financial collapse, huge uncertainty, fantastic performances and ultimately finished up within a whisker of qualifying for the United Rugby Championship play-offs.
In terms of on-field action it’s difficult to argue that 24/25 was anything other than a success for the Blue & Blacks. From the well-reported summer of 2023 it was all about improving slowly and when comparing the recently finished campaign to the one prior, the year-on-year progress is undeniable.
In the URC, four wins and a draw improved to eight wins and a draw, points scored rose from 384 to 409 as did tries scored from 50 to 63. Try bonus points were also up from four to 10, and most importantly competition points went from 32 to 47 as Cardiff finished 9th, up from 12th.
That was achieved in a few ways; the recruitment of key new players; Danny Southworth, Josh McNally, Dan Thomas, Johan Mulder, Aled Davies, Callum Sheedy and Iwan Stephens all made important contributions on the field and in the dressing room, while the likes of Evan Lloyd, Teddy Williams, Alex Mann and Cam Winnett all took steps forward after their major exposure over the previous 12 months.
The boosting of the coaching staff was important as well, with Corniel van Zyl and Jonny Goodridge adding to the always improving trio of Matt Sherratt, Gethin Jenkins and Scott Andrews. This all led to the turning of narrow losses into important wins, particularly at key moments of the season to keep the team in the play-off hunt right up to the final round of games.
Looking back at the last game of the first fixture block at home against Ulster, kicking off the final fixture block at home against Lions, and then the back-to-back bonus point wins over Ospreys and Munster that were required to head to South Africa with something to play for, they are all games that Cardiff likely would have lost in 23/24.
Of course what was particularly impressive about those back-to-back wins was that they were the first games after the club had gone into administration, a tough time in the history of the Blue & Blacks placed solely at the door of Phil Kempe, Neal Griffith and Helford Capital as they failed to produce any funds promised and contractually obliged to put in.
Undoubtedly an uncertain time for the players, coaches and staff, as well as supporters, and an arrival in Union ownership which is welcomed to keep the club going, but not what anyone on the Arms Park terraces will have wanted, even if it has offered a level of protection during the shenanigans of the last few weeks.
So where did things ultimately fall down for Cardiff? Well it’s impossible to review the 24/25 campaign without mentioning the goal kicking. Callum Sheedy was a brilliant addition to the squad as a fly-half in open play and as a leader, but off the tee we were too often lacking this season. Some of the guys on the Cardiff Central Pod calculated it to be 38 conversions of the 63 tries scored.
On top of that Cardiff only managed to kick six penalties in the league, thanks to the wayward direction off the tee and the favoured choice being to kick for touch or tap-and-go from close range. To kick on again there is undoubtedly a need to improve that ability to keep the scoreboard ticking over and putting pressure on the opposition.
The other aspect to look at for the Blue & Blacks, and particularly the rugby management, is whether the correct decisions were made around the prioritising of competitions, and if that is something that can be learned from going forward over the next few years.
When considering the European Challenge Cup campaign it was clear that the pool stage was treated as second fiddle to the URC either side of the festive period with mixed up sides facing Lyon, Cheetahs, Perpignan and Connacht, while full strength 23s were named in the Welsh derbies. Fast-forward to April though and it’s a mixed up side facing Benetton in the league while a full strength 23 went to Connacht in the Challenge Cup round of 16.
The problem with not obviously going after one competition or the other is that in the end the pursuit of both suffered. If we had nailed our colours to the mast of the Challenge Cup we could well have beaten Lyon and Perpignan to earn a home knockout game and given us a better chance of progressing towards the final.
Meanwhile if we had done the same to the URC then we could well have beaten Benetton in Treviso which would have been enough to sneak into the play-offs. It’s not an ideal situation to have to choose, and there would likely be disagreement between supporters on which one should be prioritised, but I think the majority would understand that we do not have the financial resources to properly compete on two fronts.
In the end though it’s still a definite success for Cardiff in 2024/25 taking another step forward on this road to rebuilding. To still be going, and to be disappointed by not quite making the play-offs, are two major plus points after the last 24 months, with focus now shifting to what comes next.
There remains a significant amount of uncertainty over the future, and no clear path to getting beyond battling for the Challenge Cup and getting into the URC play-offs, but if this group continues to improve, investment continues in the development pathway and the coaching ticket garner more experience, then on the field at least we are in a great position to battle our way upwards.
Cardiff Rugby Life 
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