Cardiff’s young... and not shine on dismal weekend
HERE are this weekend’s winners and losers amid heroics, chaos and not as much rugby as we would have hoped for.
WINNERS
Gruff Rees: Cardiff’s academy manager has been a bit of unsung character in the past fortnight or so.
Rightly, the players have received plaudits for the way they have represented themselves and their club in the last fortnight, but Rees deserves his mention too.
Firstly, in his day job, he is tasked with overseeing the development of the majority of the players that have won hearts and minds in recent weeks.
Then, of course, he was thrown in as a sort of interim head coach in Dai Young’s absence to bring the whole band of misfits together for two huge European encounters.
Cardiff were well up against it and any talk of upset was the stuff of fantasy against top opposition. But Rees set up his team to play with freedom and encouraged them to throw caution to the wind.
Onlookers purred as Cardiff leaned into their daunting challenge with abandon. Former Ospreys coach Rees deserves a lot of credit.
Cardiff’s kids:
The semi-pro front-rowers with day jobs caught the headlines because of their backstories but it was Cardiff’s young backs who really lit things up.
Against Toulouse, Jacob Beetham looked every bit a professional rugby player in the making but missed the trip to Quins after receiving a red card.
Leave it to Cam Winnett and Theo Cabango to pick up the baton at The Stoop.
Winnett, Beetham’s replacement at full-back, was superb and kicked brilliantly throughout, nailing a 50:22 in the first half and scoring the opening try.
Cabango put European rugby on high alert with his stunning solo effort from over 50 metres. All three mentioned here still have plenty of room to develop but Cardiff have some serious talent on their hands.
Dan Fish: A cult hero in Cardiff for many a year, Fish made his mark in the game against Quins.
The story of his attempted retirements gripped fans and pundits and he became everyone’s favourite player for a moment when he began pulling strings in London.
From Will Greenwood to David Flatman, former players and pundits were pleading for him to put retirement on hold for another few years.
Greenwood tweeted: “Don’t retire @ DanFish15 -- your first half against @
Harlequins was absolute class!! @ Cardiff_Rugby.”
On commentary, Flatman added: “He can’t retire.
“He’s too good to retire. He’s the sort of player who 10 years from now you’ll see a video of him on social media, if social media still exists. He’ll be playing for a vets’ team on a Sunday afternoon, scoring four tries and setting up nine.
“The sort of bloke who never loses his touch.”
It’s unclear whether Fish will be convinced to keep the boots on for a little while yet but, either way, he’s been brilliant over the last fortnight.
Aaron Wainwright: Friday night was another difficult one for the Dragons but there was a bright spark in Wales international Aaron Wainwright.
As his transition to No.8 continues, Wainwright was the standout figure throughout for the hosts.
All in all, he made 97 metres on the night, was heavily involved with ball-in-hand, was the main target at the lineout and came up with some notable defensive work.
There was also a try to top it all off. Overall, there was little to smile about for the Dragons but Wainwright was their best performer by a distance.
Jasmine Joyce: The Welsh speedster can’t step onto the field without going viral at the moment.
It almost seems ridiculous at this point but she’s scored yet another scorcher, this time in a XVs game for club side Bristol against Loughborough.
In the opening minutes of the match, Joyce picked up scrappy ball in her own 22 and had a wall of Loughborough forwards in front of her.
She scythed through that before hitting the jets and motoring towards halfway, where she outran two more covering defenders to score a stunning try.
Just another day at the office.
LOSERS
EPCR: This was a grim weekend for the Champions and Challenge Cup.
The former has claims to being the best club competition in the world but its organisers have not covered themselves in glory this past few days.
The inconsistent decision-making has led to serious questions about fairness over the imposed forfeiture of some games and postponements of others.
Throw on top that they now have to find room in a congested rugby calendar for half a round of rearranged fixtures and the organisers have created a monster for themselves.
These are incredibly difficult times to be running a cross-border competition and there are now calls to scrap the whole thing.
It’s been a fairly disastrous weekend for both tournaments.
Scarlets and Ospreys: Which follows on nicely to the Scarlets and the Ospreys.
The Scarlets had to forfeit their round one match against Bristol with the bulk of their squad unavailable after the nightmare trip to South Africa.
They were told rearranging the fixture was not possible as there was no room in the calendar to do so. Imagine their surprise, then. when EPCR suddenly found room to rearrange a number of matches this weekend.
The playing field does not appear level and they were among this weekend’s affected matches with
Bordeaux being told they did not have to travel to Llanelli.
In a slightly different case, the Ospreys were told to forfeit their game against Racing 92 as they did not meet EPCR’s Covid protocols after a number of positive cases in their camp this week.
The victory was awarded to Racing 92 less than two hours before half the round was postponed due to French Covid restrictions.
Ospreys, then, have forfeited a game that was never going to take place.
Cardiff also warrant a mention here as they have had to field significantly under strength sides against Toulouse and Harlequins after also being told that rearranging the fixtures was not possible after their South African difficulties.
Dragons fans: It has rarely been easy being a Dragons fan but times are particularly tough at the moment.
A handful of injuries has exposed a lack of depth at the region and they are currently boasting a record of one win and eight defeats so far this season.
It was hoped that Challenge Cup clashes against French teams - who usually treat the competition with disdain - would be a good opportunity to snatch a much needed win.
But they had into the festive period off the back of defeats to Perpignan and Lyon. And in recent weeks, head coach Dean Ryan has admitted the region are ‘drowning’ and that they are currently not able to compete in the URC.
The Dragons always seem to perform well over the Christmas derbies and they desperately need a win.