Posted by Cardiff’s trip to Leinster on Saturday night was supposed to answer all of the questions hanging over the 2026/27 version of the Blue & Blacks, at least that’s what I had decided before kick-off.
Having played perennial last place candidates Zebre and early season strugglers Scarlets, Corniel Van Zyl’s side were looking for a test, and what better test than facing the reigning league champions on their big homecoming night in the newly refurbished RDS Arena (now known as something else for sponsorship reasons).
However, after the 29-5 defeat in Dublin there are probably more questions swirling around the Arms Park than there were before, heading into a return to the Champions Cup away at Northampton Saints and then the welcoming of Sharks to the capital on a five-day turnaround.
The big overarching question from Saturday night’s loss at the hands of Leinster is essentially ‘how much weight do you give the trip to Ireland when assessing a team’s quality?’. This is Leinster, after all. The primary beneficiaries of the Dublin public school system, the biggest playing budget in Europe by all accounts, and essentially the Irish national team in club form.
Even with the likes of Andrew Porter, Ryan Baird, RG Snyman, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris and Jamison Gibson-Park missing they were still able to field a team containing 14 Ireland internationals, of which 11 have toured with the British and Irish Lions. It’s a remarkable amount of strength in depth available to a coaching ticket containing former Springbok defence guru Jacques Nienaber.
So losing out there brings no shame. Were some of the tries conceded in the first half a bit soft? Yes, without question. Was it disappointing to have quite so much possession and territory in the second half and not score a try? Yes, without question. Yet both can be partially explained away by playing against a side that are hard to break down and score with relative ease against the majority of teams.
Add in the losses of Scott Sio, James Botham, Ellis Bevan and Ben Thomas to injury, plus the late withdrawal of Taulupe Faletau apparently during the warm-up, and Cardiff were on a significant back foot going into an already tough evening.
It leaves the Blue & Blacks still searching for exactly where this team is. Better than those towards the bottom of the URC, behind those at the top, but there’s a great chasm between 4th and 14th where any of the teams can beat each other on their day, and usually only a win or two separates play-offs from lower mid-table obscurity come the end of the season.
The answer is not going to come in the immediate future, as the season takes a random turn for one week in mid-October towards European action and Cardiff get their Champions Cup campaign off to a start by travelling to another reigning champion – this time it’s the PREM and Northampton Saints.
How Van Zyl approaches that remains to be seen with an excruciatingly short week awaiting before the game against South Africa’s Sharks. Do you ask players to go to the well twice in five days, give the Champions Cup the focus it should deserve as the top table of European rugby, or target an important home fixture in the hunt for the URC play-offs? No easy answer there.
The positives are there to be focused on from Saturday though as the Blue & Blacks didn’t let the game get totally away from them despite a somewhat sluggish start, regrouped well and dug in for a tight second half. Their control over the possession and territory shouldn’t be sniffed at either, even if the points didn’t quite follow.
And individually while Taine Basham deservedly dominates headlines with a remarkable run of consistently high level performances, it was the league debut of Matty Young that garners the most excitement here as the full-back finally got the opportunity to impress at the professional level and took it with both hands.
Having done everything there is to do in Super Rygbi Cymru, the 21-year-old was assured in the back field, confident with ball-in-hand and displayed some excellent handling skills as he did not look out of place at all against top quality opposition.
So while we may see some rotation over the course of the next two games, either in trying to balance the side against both Northampton and Sharks or targeting one over the other, it will allow plenty of other individuals to step in and put their hands up for Cardiff selection and possibly in the test shop window.
A testing week, but one where there are names to be made.
