Posted by When it comes to coveted rugby jerseys the Cardiff number 10 jersey has to be right up there; Percy Bush, Cliff Morgan, Barry John, Gareth Davies, Neil Jenkins. It’s a pretty decent list of genuine legends from the Welsh game and globally.
With respect to the players who have taken on the mantle in recent years they are not quite at that world class calibre, but still the likes of Nicky Robinson, Rhys Patchell, Gareth Anscombe, Jarrod Evans and Callum Sheedy have been genuine terrace favourites, alongside the one-season wonder cult hero that is Tinus De Beer.
Much like a quarterback in American Football it is an absolutely crucial position and so it is no surprise that when a Welsh-qualified player with the quality of Jarrod Evans makes it known he is keen to return home after three years at Harlequins then you sit up and take notice.
There is an easy to make argument that the money spent on another test-capped fly-half could have been better spent on other areas in the squad – namely the tight five – while there was confusion from some quarters over Evans’ choice of destination when signing for the Dragons would almost certainly have guaranteed being the main man at 10.
However, from a Cardiff perspective the thinking is clearly that building depth in such a key position is important going into a season when Corniel Van Zyl’s side will attempt to compete in the United Rugby Championship and Investec Champions Cup, and from the player’s point of view it’s a return to his home club and a chance to play at the top level of club rugby.
It represents an interesting quandary for the Blue & Blacks though because while adding Evans to the squad is great for strength in depth alongside Sheedy and Ioan Lloyd, there is a conveyor belt of young fly-half talent currently moving through the pathway that will have an eye on breaking through into the first team over the next 1-5 years.
Harri Wilde has been a key member of back-to-back league topping Rags sides in Super Rygbi Cymru having also won 23 Cymru D20 caps and enjoying a solid debut for an hour off the bench away at Stade Francais Paris last season.
Lloyd Lucas will step into Wilde’s shoes as the first choice 10 for Dan Fish’s side this season having looked assured when called upon last year alongside winning 10 Cymru D20 caps largely backing up Carwyn Leggatt-Jones.
Ben Coomer is fresh out of last year’s eye-catching Cardiff U18 and Coleg y Cymoedd sides and has continued to mark himself out as one to watch by seamlessly taking to SRC rugby in the first few weeks of this season while Lucas has spent pre-season with the first team squad.
In the short term the Blue & Blacks have managed the log jam by sending Wilde out on a season long loan to Ospreys. First team opportunities should be more accessible there with just Dan Edwards and Lawson Creighton ahead of him in the pecking order to start the campaign, and with Edwards likely to miss some games when called on for Cymru duty.
In the meantime Lucas can take over as the main man at the Rags and Coomer can back him up, while both remain eligible for the D20s. Looking ahead to next summer and there is a decision to be made for Van Zyl and Darren Allinson though.
Wilde will come back from Ospreys expecting a chance to build on the experience gained in Swansea and a realistic chance at a good number of minutes in the URC. Similarly Lucas will likely start to turn an eye towards the senior professional level having graduated age grade representative rugby, and Coomer will need to be taking on more responsibility in the SRC.
On the flip side both Sheedy and Evans will have turned 31 ahead of the 2027/28 campaign, not over the hill by any means but important for Cardiff to bear in mind when plotting out where the squad is going over the next few years.
What needs to be avoided is allowing any of the talented young fly-halves to move on or failing to give them sufficient opportunity to develop, just to end up in 2029 with two first choice 10s on the inevitable decline in performance that comes with heading towards your mid-30s and no successors ready to step in because they’ve all drifted away from the professional level or been moved on.
The Blue & Blacks have curated a deserved reputation over the last three years for bringing through talented academy players, trusting them to step into the first team and allowing them to grow as players. It’s part of the reason the likes of Steff Emanuel and Tom Bowen returned to the club, and so many pathway prospects are choosing to stay rather than cross the Severn Bridge.
Making a headline grabbing move of backing the young talent over players who have entered the top side of the 30-year-old milestone would cement Cardiff as a club where potential stars want to be, rather than where they are keen to avoid.
It would also stand the club in good stead for coming out of what may well be a tumultuous two years of Welsh rugby re-shaping and re-organising, and heading into a new era post-2028 with improved budgets and maybe in a new competition with a core of homegrown quality young players ready to carry the Blue & Blacks for the next decade.
The decisions on the horizon are not easy ones, and this writer is very pleased to not be making them, but the hope is that those who do have to put their necks on the line keep a firm eye on the medium term and trust supporters to understand that, rather than just chasing short-term results.
