Cardiff Blues squad and off-field updates.

First topic message reminder :

It appears that the following players will be leaving the Blues at the end of the season


DEPARTURE

Gavin Henson - Sacked

TRThomas - Despite being given the captaincy a few times this season, Thomas is due to leave - He is one of the players who has been excellent for us, is available all year round and we should be building a team around him. But he is off to Wasps.

Gethin Jenkins - 1 of our 4 world class players is off to Toulon

Casey Laulaula - The second centre to go, he is off to Munster, despite being available all year round.

Dan Parks is off to Connacht

Ritchie Rees is going to Edinburgh

Deniol Jones is retired

Martyn Williams is retiring

Mamma Molitika is retiring

John Yapp is leaving to go to Edinburgh

Ben Blair has apparently been offered a contract in France, at Lyon and is leaving

Jamie Roberts will miss a large part of next season through injury

Paul Tito is retiring

Ryan Tyrell is returning to Australia

Xavier Rush has retired as a player due to injury

Justin Burnell has left with immediate effect

Richard Mustoe rumoured retirement



ARRIVING AND STAYING

Xavier Rush has become the next defence coach

Jason Tovey is the only new signing of any significance announced so far, from the Dragons

Robin Copeland is confirmed from Rotherham RFC - some good reports, a replacement for Molitika

Lou Reed is signing though from the Scarlets

And Gavin Evans has signed a new 2 year contract extension...woop

Benoit Bourrust a THP from Perpignan is arriving

Fijian LHP prop Campese Ma'afu has signed from Australian side West Harbour Pirates

Hooker Andi Kyriacou is being targeted from Ulster - confirmed

Ceri Sweeney is staying with the Blues with a contract extension

Fau Filise has signed a contract extension (Probably 1 year)

A new Director of Rugby Phil Davies has joined.

Alex Cuthbert has signed a 1 year extension

Rob Lewis confirmed coming at SH from London Welsh

Deniol Jones is now team manager

Lee Jarvis has been appointed skills coach


Squad for next season


Props
Sam Hobbs
Ma'afu Campese
Benoit Bourrust
Scott Andrews
Fau Filise
Ryan Hartford
Nathan Trevett
Thomas Davies

Hookers
Andy Kyricau
Kristian Dacey
Mark Breeze
Rhys Williams

Locks
Bradley Davies
Lou Reed
James Down
Cory Hill
McCauley Cook
Matthew Screech

Backrow
Michael Paterson
Robin Copeland
Sam Warburton
Josh Navidi
Andreus Pretorious
Ellis Jenkins
Thomas Young
Luke Hamilton


Scrum Halfs
Lloyd Williams
Rob Lewis
Lewis Jones

Fly Halfs
Jason Tovey
Ceri Sweeney
Rhys Patchell

Centres
Jamie Roberts
Daffydd Hewitt
Gavin Evans
Cory Allen
Owen Williams

Back 3
Alex Cuthbert
Tom James
Leigh Halfpenny
Dan Fish
Chris Czekaj
Harry Robinson

Filise at least gives a stable platform though. Sam Hobbs or Andrews can't do that.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:If this is true, along with the Phil D rumour, then it indicative of where the Blues have been are going for the last 3 years, Fiilse has been poor for a while and been getting worse while on a big(ish) contract.
One of the reasons the Blues are poor (and going down the toilet) is their reliance on over the hill expensive NWQ players and now they are (apparently) re-signing Fiilse and (rumoured) to be giving Tito another year, instead of bringing through young players and developing them.

Filise and Tito are both listed as leaving on the Blues website and were given shirt presentations on the field yesterday so can't see that they will re-sign them.

doctornickolas wrote:

Smirnoffpriest wrote:If this is true, along with the Phil D rumour, then it indicative of where the Blues have been are going for the last 3 years, Fiilse has been poor for a while and been getting worse while on a big(ish) contract.
One of the reasons the Blues are poor (and going down the toilet) is their reliance on over the hill expensive NWQ players and now they are (apparently) re-signing Fiilse and (rumoured) to be giving Tito another year, instead of bringing through young players and developing them.

Filise and Tito are both listed as leaving on the Blues website and were given shirt presentations on the field yesterday so can't see that they will re-sign them.

That would be good if true - I was just responding to the comments on here that said Fiilse was re-signing

Filise wasn't given a shirt. He was due to walk out on the field with his kids to say goodbye but a Blues person held him back as there's still ambiguity over whether he's going or not. Poor that, if you ask me.

rugbydreamer wrote:Filise wasn't given a shirt. He was due to walk out on the field with his kids to say goodbye but a Blues person held him back as there's still ambiguity over whether he's going or not. Poor that, if you ask me.

That is pretty poor to be honest dreamer - but then everything else they've done this season has been poor so why stop at an event designed to honour experienced players?

Filise will stay if Cuthbert goes apparently

Great cover for Cuthbert on the wing that, Fillise!!!!

"Robin Copeland has won the English Championship Player of the Season award."

yeah just read that on thearmspark, seems to be well thought of and hopefully he can make the step up.

thebluesmancometh wrote:Great cover for Cuthbert on the wing that, Fillise!!!!

Can you start him there this weekend just to get him used to playing there.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

thebluesmancometh wrote:Great cover for Cuthbert on the wing that, Fillise!!!!

Can you start him there this weekend just to get him used to playing there.

Scared of North being shown up by hat-trick Cuthbert?

wales606 wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

thebluesmancometh wrote:Great cover for Cuthbert on the wing that, Fillise!!!!

Can you start him there this weekend just to get him used to playing there.

Scared of North being shown up by hat-trick Cuthbert?

I was actually hoping that we would have to win the match this time instead of Cuthbert and Parks gifting it to us.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

wales606 wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

thebluesmancometh wrote:Great cover for Cuthbert on the wing that, Fillise!!!!

Can you start him there this weekend just to get him used to playing there.

Scared of North being shown up by hat-trick Cuthbert?

I was actually hoping that we would have to win the match this time instead of Cuthbert and Parks gifting it to us.

Tyrell likely to be returning to Australia

I hope Dacey gets given a chance, he could be something special

Tyrell's no great loss, nor would Breeze be in reality, but there is a gaping hole at hook.

In reality Filisse wouldve done a better job at preventing either of those tries V Scarlets, and dare I say it would not have fallen of North so easily either!

thebluesmancometh wrote:Tyrell's no great loss, nor would Breeze be in reality, but there is a gaping hole at hook.

In reality Filisse wouldve done a better job at preventing either of those tries V Scarlets, and dare I say it would not have fallen of North so easily either!

Dacey could be the answer, he is young but could be a very good hooker with regular gametime.

Possibly, but he's not quite ready yet. He doesn't need throwing in the deep end, he needs to be introduced.

agree with thebluesmancometh that losing tyrell or breeze wouldn't be a huge loss. not sure what their contract situations are - but i'd look at rhys lawrence at bristol or emyr phillips at the scarlets. also isn't the lad baldwin at the ospreys out of contract?

pioden gorllewin wrote:agree with thebluesmancometh that losing tyrell or breeze wouldn't be a huge loss. not sure what their contract situations are - but i'd look at rhys lawrence at bristol or emyr phillips at the scarlets. also isn't the lad baldwin at the ospreys out of contract?

"Cardiff Blues are set to bring in Irish hooker Andy Kyriacou from Ulster........

The signing of Kyriacou is also quite ironic, they sacked Henson for getting drunk on a plane flight, and have now brought in Kyriacou who a couple of weeks ago was internally suspended for a week by Ulster for getting drunk and urinating in a taxi in Treviso."

http://rugby-transfers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/cardiff-blues-set-to-bring-in-irish.html

pioden gorllewin wrote:agree with thebluesmancometh that losing tyrell or breeze wouldn't be a huge loss. not sure what their contract situations are - but i'd look at rhys lawrence at bristol or emyr phillips at the scarlets. also isn't the lad baldwin at the ospreys out of contract?

They have Dacey and Rhys Williams who are better than Baldwin and with gametime could be better than Phillips.

Apparently they are bringing in a hooker from Cross Keys aswell, Gerrwyn Price

what i've seen of gerwyn price with neath & cross keys he'll have to work on his lineout throwing, although he shows up well in open play.

What about if Lyon get relegated and Huw Bennett's transfer doesn't go through as a result?

doctornickolas wrote:What about if Lyon get relegated and Huw Bennett's transfer doesn't go through as a result?

Lyon lost to Bayonne on the weekend, so they will be relegated at the end of the season. Not sure what that means for HB.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

doctornickolas wrote:What about if Lyon get relegated and Huw Bennett's transfer doesn't go through as a result?

Lyon lost to Bayonne on the weekend, so they will be relegated at the end of the season. Not sure what that means for HB.

Blues made him an offer before, I would love to see then sign him rather than Kyriacou - probably a bit to late in the day though.

Apparently Dafydd Jones has recommended Phil Davies to the Blues!

Lucky Blues (maybe Dafydd is doing his bit to further the Scarlets...)

well to be fair to Daf, on the face of it Phil isn't a bad coach, he did take us to a Heineken SF after all! However his managing of finances and signing players is dire. Not sure he'd be the right man considering the situation the Blues find themselves in....aha, I see your point

rugbydreamer wrote:well to be fair to Daf, on the face of it Phil isn't a bad coach, he did take us to a Heineken SF after all! However his managing of finances and signing players is dire. Not sure he'd be the right man considering the situation the Blues find themselves in....aha, I see your point

Looks to me as if the new DOR will have to work with what they inherit and will not have the opportunity to sign any players, good or bad.

rugbydreamer wrote:well to be fair to Daf, on the face of it Phil isn't a bad coach, he did take us to a Heineken SF after all! However his managing of finances and signing players is dire. Not sure he'd be the right man considering the situation the Blues find themselves in....aha, I see your point

I think that was more to do with the players he had

The only plus to PT is he probably won't allow Davies to throw money around, maybe before but now we're up a creek without a paddle he may think twice

gcBlues wrote:The only plus to PT is he probably won't allow Davies to throw money around, maybe before but now we're up a creek without a paddle he may think twice

But what you really need when a club has got no money is a coach/manager/DoR that can spend shrewdly and pick up very good squad players/1st teamers for very cheap. I'd imagine if you said to Phil Davies you've got not much money who will you sign, he'd probably try and sign a Nathan Brew type player for most of his transfer budget

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/17859455

Halfpenny wants to stick around at least.

Wales606 - that is good news for the Blues, and even better news for the nation. It should douse the panic of player drain, and also show that things are not as bad in the Blues camp as we are all making out on here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/17867005

Kyriacou confirmed/reported

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Wales606 - that is good news for the Blues, and even better news for the nation. It should douse the panic of player drain, and also show that things are not as bad in the Blues camp as we are all making out on here.

I doubt it will - it's too easy a headline to say "regions in panic - exodus continues" and it hasn't stopped with the news that A Jones, Priestland, North, Foxy and Roberts are staying - as well as Lydiate and Faletau.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Wales606 - that is good news for the Blues, and even better news for the nation. It should douse the panic of player drain, and also show that things are not as bad in the Blues camp as we are all making out on here.

I doubt it will - it's too easy a headline to say "regions in panic - exodus continues" and it hasn't stopped with the news that A Jones, Priestland, North, Foxy and Roberts are staying - as well as Lydiate and Faletau.

True. I guess if the western fail or Scrum V says that things are bad and we have no talent in Wales the public just agree.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Smirnoffpriest wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Wales606 - that is good news for the Blues, and even better news for the nation. It should douse the panic of player drain, and also show that things are not as bad in the Blues camp as we are all making out on here.

I doubt it will - it's too easy a headline to say "regions in panic - exodus continues" and it hasn't stopped with the news that A Jones, Priestland, North, Foxy and Roberts are staying - as well as Lydiate and Faletau.

True. I guess if the western fail or Scrum V says that things are bad and we have no talent in Wales the public just agree.

Well we're all disagreeing! But it's probably a nice easily digestable story for the 6N's glittery cowboy hat fans!

Don't knock the cowboy hat fans, with only 25K fans supporting the regions at discounts prices these cowboy hat fans out number the club fans 2:1 or more and they are paying premium prices i.e., they are paying for you to watch your local super club (if you have one).

glamorganalun wrote:Don't knock the cowboy hat fans, with only 25K fans supporting the regions at discounts prices these cowboy hat fans out number the club fans 2:1 or more and they are paying premium prices i.e., they are paying for you to watch your local super club (if you have one).

I don't have a local super club - but my point about these cowboy hat fans is generally they don't take much interest in rugby, definately not for the majority of the season - just while the 6N's is on. And I doubt they could tell you which region each Welsh team player plays for. As such it would be easy for them to believe the Western Fail headlines that say Halfpenny/JD2 are in the minority by not following the 'exodus' to France - even though only 2 of the (current) Wales starting XV have moved to France for money, and 1 (Phillips) because none of the Welsh regions wanted him.

glamorganalun wrote:Don't knock the cowboy hat fans, with only 25K fans supporting the regions at discounts prices these cowboy hat fans out number the club fans 2:1 or more and they are paying premium prices i.e., they are paying for you to watch your local super club (if you have one).

Oh dear, another myth of Welsh rugby.
Cardiff are a club, yes, but hardly super.
Seriously, it appears that the WRU don't pay enough for what they get which is why the 4 instigated the PWC audit. The £3.5m wage cap, agreed by the 4 is a bit of brinkmanship basically, that is all and therefore intended to put pressure on the WRU.
It would be good idea therefore, for the WRU to openly encourage the sparkly hatted types to attend games other than when team Wales are playing. As it is i'm not sure if many of these people know that rugby exists unless it has three feathers on the jersey.

3 feathers? They don't know the shirt has 3 feather!!!

Western Mail are jumping on this bandwagon now.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/focus-on-rugby/2012/04/13/focus-on-rugby-ospreys-on-the-up-as-clouds-continue-to-gather-at-cardiff-blues-91466-30753378/

Regional rugby is in rude health and doing fine. Anyone who doesn't think so, including the Western Mail, obviously knows nothing about rugby. Rome wasn't built in a day.

The Scarlets are planning to open a cafe in Llanelli and the Dragons are thinking to play a game in Ebbw Vale. If that's not worth a 9 year wait and millions of pounds in expenditure then I don't know what is.

The dead wood is off to France. We'll be fine when the youngsters come through.

And we get a playmaker in midfield with soft hands and plenty of dog....

Regional rugby is doing fine...if you listen to all the Llanelli, Newport and Cardiff supporters on here

Casartelli wrote:Western Mail are jumping on this bandwagon now.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/focus-on-rugby/2012/04/13/focus-on-rugby-ospreys-on-the-up-as-clouds-continue-to-gather-at-cardiff-blues-91466-30753378/

Regional rugby is in rude health and doing fine. Anyone who doesn't think so, including the Western Mail, obviously knows nothing about rugby. Rome wasn't built in a day.

The Scarlets are planning to open a cafe in Llanelli and the Dragons are thinking to play a game in Ebbw Vale. If that's not worth a 9 year wait and millions of pounds in expenditure then I don't know what is.

The dead wood is off to France. We'll be fine when the youngsters come through.

And we get a playmaker in midfield with soft hands and plenty of dog....

"dead wood"?

Steffan wrote:Regional rugby is doing fine...if you listen to all the Llanelli, Newport and Cardiff supporters on here

Ohh you could just close down all the current regions and raise Ponty RFC up to play in the Pro 12, then everything will be fine

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Casartelli wrote:Western Mail are jumping on this bandwagon now.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/focus-on-rugby/2012/04/13/focus-on-rugby-ospreys-on-the-up-as-clouds-continue-to-gather-at-cardiff-blues-91466-30753378/

Regional rugby is in rude health and doing fine. Anyone who doesn't think so, including the Western Mail, obviously knows nothing about rugby. Rome wasn't built in a day.

The Scarlets are planning to open a cafe in Llanelli and the Dragons are thinking to play a game in Ebbw Vale. If that's not worth a 9 year wait and millions of pounds in expenditure then I don't know what is.

The dead wood is off to France. We'll be fine when the youngsters come through.

And we get a playmaker in midfield with soft hands and plenty of dog....

"dead wood"?

Dead wood.

Llanelli are opening a cafe.

Casartelli wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

"dead wood"?

Dead wood.

Llanelli are opening a cafe.

Eh?

Cafe!

I think Casartelli has finally cracked.....

Casartelli wrote:Cafe!

Au lait or should I say, ole?

rugbydreamer wrote:I think Casartelli has finally cracked.....

+1