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

wales606 wrote:Alex Cuthbert has signed a 1 year contract extension at the Blues.

thank god for sweeney. the blues would be nothing without this tireless professional.

stephen the count turk wellies jones was only ever the poor mans sweeney.

dogtooth wrote:thank god for sweeney. the blues would be nothing without this tireless professional.

stephen the count turk wellies jones was only ever the poor mans sweeney.

???

wales606 wrote:

dogtooth wrote:thank god for sweeney. the blues would be nothing without this tireless professional.

stephen the count turk wellies jones was only ever the poor mans sweeney.

???

and i have always been a fan of the newport dragon

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Seems like an odd time to start complementing Sweeney in this thread - sarcastically or otherwise.

I think people are harsh on Sweeney. He's a good back up FH, experienced and can actually pass the ball. Never really understood the massive negativity towards him.

martyr_94 wrote:I think people are harsh on Sweeney. He's a good back up FH, experienced and can actually pass the ball. Never really understood the massive negativity towards him.

He becomes decent after a run of about 5 games.

He also can't kicks for toffee - he is basically a centre playing 10, I don't know why he doesn't play 12 more often to be honest.

not being sarcastic. just over egging it a bit.

and

to be fair to sweeney, he's had to pick up the pieces at FH left by a number of the recent imcumbants and he does the best he can.

He's not going to set the world alight, but he was a visibly better fit for the blues than SNK and Parks.

still, he isnt the way forward and I think we're all extremey glad Tovey's been signed.

ahhh Dog, im slightly jealous at this time of day! enjoy!

Comfort wrote:

ahhh Dog, im slightly jealous at this time of day! enjoy!

dude. i wish i could have another. it was a bad move really. nice lunch but, oh dude. i need a lie down now.

only 4 or 5 hours before i can follow it up with another.

not too long now dog.

maybe the sun will even hold out for you!

im off soon, and we've got a gig to play, so im going to get hammered.

I would like to apologise for any (more) rants about Steven Shinglers eligibility later on tonight in advance!

managed to hold out till evening. just bottled 40 pints of my tidy home brewed ale and drank 3 or 4 i made earlier.

i must be drunk. just heard a rumour that matthew rees is coming to the blues.???

we are on the up.

dogtooth wrote: managed to hold out till evening. just bottled 40 pints of my tidy home brewed ale and drank 3 or 4 i made earlier.

i must be drunk. just heard a rumour that matthew rees is coming to the blues.???

we are on the up.

Just a rumour about talks at the moment - although I did hear a similar rumour several months ago, which makes me think that the Blues have been talking about talks for a while and the Scarlets have now agreed. Certainly a good possibility with TRT, Rhys Williams and (I think) Tyrell all leaving (+Gareth Williams retirement) - Which leaves just young Dacey, Breeze (who is second rate) and the new guy Kyriacou.

Rob Lewis is a potential joiner to replace Ritchie Rees at SH

Word on the street is Fau has extended his stay. Who is Rob Lewis?

Rob Lewis is a Welsh U18/19/20 Scrum half at London Welsh - Former Scarlets I think, apparently he is pretty good.

Fau Filise has extended his contract with the Blues - Im guessing this means no Bourrust as I was told Filise would only get an extension if Cuthbert left.

Apparently the new season tickets have started selling like hot cakes, with queues around the block for the renewals at 8am on Monday. So hopefully we should see some decent turnouts.

Also included again in the ticket price is Cardiff rfc games which means you could go and watch some rugby every week of the season at the Arms Park if you wanted to.

So, who's going then?

Are there people getting a season ticket who haven't before. Or maybe you dropped out after the move to CCS and are now looking to go back?

Just curious to see if there is a groundswell of support building up for the Blues next year. £180 for a terrace ticket is not too bad for 11 Rabo, 3 HC and 2 Anglo welsh games as well as 11 Cardiff rfc league games.

It would be good to see decent crowds there as well as at the other regions. The Ospreys are reporting great ticket sales also.

If you include the Cadiff RFC games it's actually not that bad - When I first heard that they'd be charging that much I thought it was rather expensive and worked out at £12 a game just to stand on the terrace but actually it's not too bad.

I'll be getting a season ticket when they come on general sale. £180 isn't much when you get the RFC games thrown in with the price. Hopefully there will be space on the South Terrace!

Hopefully there's a big push for season tickets and we can return to a 'fortress' style ground which we lacked at CCS.

£80 for a Student Ticket is a bargin. We really need to forge better links with Glamorgan and Cardiff. We already lost UWIC to the Scarlets.

Coleman wrote:£80 for a Student Ticket is a bargin. We really need to forge better links with Glamorgan and Cardiff. We already lost UWIC to the Scarlets.

Cardiff blues market to the valleys?

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Cardiff blues market to the valleys?

Peter Thomas - 'The Valleys? Where the hell is that?'

Coleman wrote:£80 for a Student Ticket is a bargin. We really need to forge better links with Glamorgan and Cardiff. We already lost UWIC to the Scarlets.

How the hell did that happen and why?

gowales wrote:

Coleman wrote:£80 for a Student Ticket is a bargin. We really need to forge better links with Glamorgan and Cardiff. We already lost UWIC to the Scarlets.

How the hell did that happen and why?

They swapped, can't remember where the Blues got.

Coleman wrote:£80 for a Student Ticket is a bargin. We really need to forge better links with Glamorgan and Cardiff. We already lost UWIC to the Scarlets.

Yet the UWIC captain and tighthead prop Jake Cooper-Woolley has apparently been signed by Cardiff Blues.

I thought they became a feeder team to the Scarlets when they switched to Div 1 West. But yeah, the Blues could really market to the three Uni's in the region a lot better.

Coleman wrote:I thought they became a feeder team to the Scarlets when they switched to Div 1 West. But yeah, the Blues could really market to the three Uni's in the region a lot better.

Marc Breeze, the Aberavon captain down Ospreylia way, plays for Cardiff Blues.
The term feeder means diddly as players, if offered a contract can join who they like.

Steffan wrote:

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Cardiff blues market to the valleys?

Peter Thomas - 'The Valleys? Where the hell is that?'

Pontypridd Rugby Football Club
Sardis Road
Pontypridd
Rhondda Cynon Taf
Wales
CF37 1HA

Jake Cooper-Woolley plays for Cardiff University not UWIC

BIGFASE100 wrote:Jake Cooper-Woolley plays for Cardiff University not UWIC

Oops.
Thought everywhere was UWIC these days. My mistake.

Dave they are still feeder clubs because they feed the Regions. But players tend to go to wherever offered in other countries with this system aswell anyway, (NZ, Ireland...). Perhaps Blues should establish a better realtionship with their 'feeders' as well as the three Uni's.

Morgannwg wrote:Dave they are still feeder clubs because they feed the Regions. But players tend to go to wherever offered in other countries with this system aswell anyway, (NZ, Ireland...). Perhaps Blues should establish a better realtionship with their 'feeders' as well as the three Uni's.

Ok.

doctornickolas wrote:Apparently the new season tickets have started selling like hot cakes, with queues around the block for the renewals at 8am on Monday. So hopefully we should see some decent turnouts.

Also included again in the ticket price is Cardiff rfc games which means you could go and watch some rugby every week of the season at the Arms Park if you wanted to.

So, who's going then?

Are there people getting a season ticket who haven't before. Or maybe you dropped out after the move to CCS and are now looking to go back?

Just curious to see if there is a groundswell of support building up for the Blues next year. £180 for a terrace ticket is not too bad for 11 Rabo, 3 HC and 2 Anglo welsh games as well as 11 Cardiff rfc league games.

It would be good to see decent crowds there as well as at the other regions. The Ospreys are reporting great ticket sales also.

Only existing st holders have been renewing, so far. The mad, life or death scramble will kick off next Monday and my initial guess is that they will sell around 4000 in total not including the corporate lot.

best be prepared, as it took me over 2 hours to renew my season ticket on Monday with only 50/60 in front of me in the queue

Welcome to the board bluebarry.

bluebarry wrote:best be prepared, as it took me over 2 hours to renew my season ticket on Monday with only 50/60 in front of me in the queue

I would have hoped the service would have improved now they've moved out of the CCS - I always thought it was the stadium/bluebirds staff that were poor in the ticket office (I've waited ages buying Blues and Bluebirds tickets - and even WFA tickets if I remember)

Apparently the ticket office are using technology from the 1960s which has made the process so slow.

wales606 wrote:Apparently the ticket office are using technology from the 1960s which has made the process so slow.

I imagine Steffan or Castrelli could make a joke out of that LOL

Probably state of the art for them

THE CARDIFF Blues are to go on a pre-season tour of South Africa, which will include a game against the Free State Cheetahs.

They will be away for 10 days in late July and early August and be based in Bloemfontein on the high veldt.

The centrepiece of the prestigious trip will be a meeting with Currie Cup side the Cheetahs on August 4.

It will be an opportunity for new director of rugby Phil Davies to run the rule over his squad in training and in action on the field.

On returning to Wales, they will take on Davies’ former team Worcester in their first game back at the Arms Park as part of a series of pre-season friendlies.



Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/rugby-news/2012/05/24/cardiff-blues-confirm-pre-season-tour-of-south-africa-91466-31037338/#ixzz1vmKAJSr8






So much for being skint

Smirnoffpriest wrote:

bluebarry wrote:best be prepared, as it took me over 2 hours to renew my season ticket on Monday with only 50/60 in front of me in the queue

I would have hoped the service would have improved now they've moved out of the CCS - I always thought it was the stadium/bluebirds staff that were poor in the ticket office (I've waited ages buying Blues and Bluebirds tickets - and even WFA tickets if I remember)

Look, this isn't about punters simply buying matchday tickets from the ticket office who aren't really that bothered where they sit. In fact those shown queueing are nowhere near the ticket office as they are selling them from the Pack lounge.
Up until the end of today (Thursday) it concerns only those who had reserved seating at CCS and who wish to pick and choose a specific seat or seats. No doubt there has been much indecision, so the process is bound to be slow.
I'll be getting a terrace ticket and i'll sort it over the phone. No rush and no need to stand in a queue either.

gcBlues wrote:THE CARDIFF Blues are to go on a pre-season tour of South Africa, which will include a game against the Free State Cheetahs.

They will be away for 10 days in late July and early August and be based in Bloemfontein on the high veldt.

The centrepiece of the prestigious trip will be a meeting with Currie Cup side the Cheetahs on August 4.

It will be an opportunity for new director of rugby Phil Davies to run the rule over his squad in training and in action on the field.

On returning to Wales, they will take on Davies’ former team Worcester in their first game back at the Arms Park as part of a series of pre-season friendlies.


So much for being skint

I think being £6m in debt is sort of skint, but if you are able to service that debt then no probs.
Didn't see this tour coming.
I'm flabbergasted.

Be interesting to see how they play against a super 15 side, they'll probably get well and truly beaten but hopefully they can get a few tries at least to show they are going in the right direction.

So are B + B now staying under Davies? Would have though he'd bring his own staff in, well, I was hoping he would anyway.

could we not have guarenteed a front row instead and played some english/french opposition instead of going to SA? fecksake.

I was thinking the same thing comfort, what would be our options at TH, Filise and who?

Comfort wrote:could we not have guarenteed a front row instead and played some english/french opposition instead of going to SA? fecksake.

On the other hand, they might make money on this venture.

martyr_94 wrote:I was thinking the same thing comfort, what would be our options at TH, Filise and who?

Well for starters the man who played THP in almost every game this year - Andrews

and hopefully new signing Bourrust.


This SA will be interesting, not really sure how they are paying for it - they must have some sort of deal going on.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Smirnoffpriest wrote:

bluebarry wrote:best be prepared, as it took me over 2 hours to renew my season ticket on Monday with only 50/60 in front of me in the queue

I would have hoped the service would have improved now they've moved out of the CCS - I always thought it was the stadium/bluebirds staff that were poor in the ticket office (I've waited ages buying Blues and Bluebirds tickets - and even WFA tickets if I remember)

Look, this isn't about punters simply buying matchday tickets from the ticket office who aren't really that bothered where they sit. In fact those shown queueing are nowhere near the ticket office as they are selling them from the Pack lounge.
Up until the end of today (Thursday) it concerns only those who had reserved seating at CCS and who wish to pick and choose a specific seat or seats. No doubt there has been much indecision, so the process is bound to be slow.
I'll be getting a terrace ticket and i'll sort it over the phone. No rush and no need to stand in a queue either.

Apologies - I just took the queues to mean that they didn't have telephone system in place or that there weren't many ticket office staff as I thought most people would renew over the phone. But as you say at the start of the season/off season there'll be a lot of 'faffing' around, i didn't think of that.

wales606 wrote:

martyr_94 wrote:I was thinking the same thing comfort, what would be our options at TH, Filise and who?

Well for starters the man who played THP in almost every game this year - Andrews

and hopefully new signing Bourrust.


This SA will be interesting, not really sure how they are paying for it - they must have some sort of deal going on.

Uncle Pete's cash up front no doubt and there must be some kind of deal involved. In general touring sides don't go on tour for nothing.
You never know they may bring a SA prop back with them.