Posted by The Cardiff Rugby openside position has, particularly in the professional era, been a long list of top, top players at club, national and even world level.
Sam Warburton is of course the most famous name on the list as a legend of the successful Cymru sides of the early 2010s and a back-to-back British and Irish Lions tour captain, closely followed by Martyn Williams as a 100-cap international and multi-tour Lion.
Perhaps even more popular at the Arms Park though have been the likes of Ellis Jenkins and Olly Robinson who both gave lengthy service to the Blue & Blacks and help win the 2017/18 European Challenge Cup, while Josh Navidi was also semi-regular in the seven jersey during his career.
When Thomas Young – the latest in the list of top players to occupy the position for Cardiff – departed the club last summer it seemed like there may be a pause on that succession of great players and fan favourites though. James Botham had bounced around the back row, Alex Mann is more of a blindside and Taine Basham seemed to be arriving as a number eight.
Dan Thomas had arrived at the club in the summer of 2024 after a very successful seven-year spell at Bristol Bears but struggled to fully make an impact in his first season. He started eight of the first 11 games of the campaign up to the turn of the year but after that made just three starts and five appearances in total.
Fast forward to season two at the Arms Park though and the now 32-year-old has just appeared in all but one of Cardiff’s games across all competitions with 18 starts and five substitute appearances, a true rock of the matchday squad under Corniel Van Zyl.
So what have we seen from Thomas that has pushed him up on to that list of top openside to have played for the club? Well, as the clips above supply a taste of, he’s an excellent jackal. The timing and the technique just superb, leading to his 18 turnovers being third in the United Rugby Championship across 2025/26.
More than that though his reading of the play and general game intelligence put him in positions to make impacts across the defence.
With the evolution of blocking/escorting laws around kick chases, Cardiff have worked quickly to come up with tactics to mitigate those changes. One of those has been the shifting of a back rower into the back field on box kick receptions and more often than not that has been Dan Thomas.
That game reading, matched with his scrappy and physical edge to fight for every ball, has helped the Blue & Blacks retain possession multiple times. It’s similar to watching Dennis Rodman for the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty team of the 90s, seemingly knowing where the ball is going to drop before it’s even happened.
To my eyes Thomas has the most natural rugby intelligence of any of the players listed previously – which is a big statement and could be linked to the fact that he’s on the more experienced side compared to what we saw from some of those other players – but the evidence is overwhelming when it comes to his weekly instances of loose ball retrieval and turnovers.
While Dan Thomas’ defensive contributions are right up in there, it’s also true that he doesn’t quite have a standout attacking attribute in the way that Thomas Young has serious pace or Josh Navidi was an explosive ball carrier. However, I still feel that his attacking game is somewhat overlooked due to the focus on defence.
Two tries and four try assists, 100 carries for 170 metres gained, it’s a solid statline that underlines an important attacking impact, but as the clips evidence perhaps his greatest influence is where that reading of the game allows him to get Cardiff playing into space and with the ball in the hands of those who can do the most damage in that space.
Dan Thomas’ season has been rightly lauded across Welsh rugby, and seen him take home the club’s Players’ Player Award and the even more prestigious Cardiff Rugby Life Player of the Year Award. It’s raised questions around whether national team honours should be incoming, albeit in a very competitive position.
Greater than that though it has confirmed the Carmarthenshire man’s place in the pantheon of top Cardiff Rugby opensides, and with a new contract signed there’s plenty of scope for him to cement his name even further in club folklore after Champions Cup qualification for the 150th year of the Blue & Blacks.
Cardiff Rugby Life 