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

List of injured from Walesonline

It is not an ideal start for new director of rugby Phil Davies with more than 10 players unavailable to him.

Wales captain Sam Warburton and fellow internationals Alex Cuthbert, Leigh Halfpenny and Bradley Davies are all unavailable because of their conditioning programmes, Lions centre Jamie Roberts is still recovering from a knee injury, while scrum-half Lloyd Williams is only named as a replacement.

The region have also suffered injury and illness problems with nine more on the sidelines.

These included centres Rhys Patchell and Dafydd Hewitt, wing Chris Czekaj, outside-half Jason Tovey and back-rower Michael Paterson.

Scott Andrews joins a lengthening front-row casualty list with fellow props Ryan Harford and Sam Hobbs already missing and new Fijian signing Campese Ma’afu is not deemed fit enough yet for regional rugby.

This means Davies only had four from nine props to choose from after already losing Wales prop Gethin Jenkins and John Yapp to Toulon and Edinburgh.


..............

Pulling off a win on Saturday would be a fantastic result.

PHIL DAVIES started his competitive reign as Blues boss with a gutsy victory against Connacht in a wet and windy Galway.

Conditions stopped this opening RaboDirect Pro12 match being a classic but the Blues managed this victory without most of the international contingent who will return for the Arms Park league homecoming against Edinburgh next Friday.

Aided by a strong wind, eight points from the boot of outside-half Ceri Sweeney and an opportunist try from half-back partner Lewis Jones had given the Blues a 13-0 half-time lead.

Three penalties from outside-half Miah Nikora pulled Connacht back into contention but the Blues held on to maintain their impressive record in Connacht with only one defeat in Galway since 2005.

Davies had watched his side open up with a pre-season victory over South African Super 15 side the Cheetahs, before defeats against Worcester, Gloucester and Bath.

His Blues squad were almost unrecognisable from last year's outfit having lost New Zealand trio Ben Blair, Paul Tito and Xavier Rush who had retired to become the region's defence coach, Wales props Gethin Jenkins and John Yapp and the retired Martyn Williams.

The Blues were missing Welsh stars Sam Warburton, Leigh Halfpenny, Bradley Davies and Alex Cuthbert who were still in pre-season conditioning programmes, while Lions centre Jamie Roberts was ruled out through a knee injury.

Wales scrum-half Lloyd Williams was named as a replacements bench, leaving teenage wing Harry Robinson, who yesterday signed his first senior contract, starting in the back three.

The Blues were also without nine players through injury including full-back Chris Czekaj, centres Dafydd Hewitt and Rhys Patchell, new outside-half Jason Tovey, back-rower Michael Paterson and Scott Andrews who was one of five prop casualties.

Front-rowers Tom Davies and hooker Andy Kyriacou were among four forwards making their competitive regional debuts alongside second-rower Robin Copeland and blindside flanker Rory Watts-Jones, who was joined in the back-row by new captain Andries Pretorius.

Connacht could not include their former Blues outside-half Dan Parks with the Scottish veteran ruled out with a calf injury.

The Blues played with the elements first-half and struggled in the scrum in the opening quarter. A second set-piece penalty allowed Miah Nikora to open the scoring but his kick held up in the wind.

But Ceri Sweeney's kick was charged down and a try from attacking scrum was thwarted by a knock-on. A burst from flanker Josh Navidi released the pressure and resulted in Sweeney opening the scoring in 20th minute.

Veteran Irish flanker Jonny O'Connor transgressed to allow Sweeney to double the lead five minutes later. Sweeney was targeting Connacht's Tongan wing Fetu'u Vainikolo who dropped three high balls in the first-half

The impressive Navidi and man-of-the-match James Down helped disrupt the Connacht lineout to allow scrum-half Jones to pounce and score in the right-hand corner with half-back partner Sweeney expertly converting.

The crowd were shown the exciting skills of Robinson just before half-time with a jinking run before he was pulled down as the Blues led 13-0 at the interval. The Blues were caught offside six minutes after the break and Nikora slotted over the penalty at his third attempt.

Former Scarlets second-row Lou Reed and Perpignan prop Benoit Borrust were introduced to make their competitive Blues debuts with Borrust shoring up the visitors scrum.

Some abject kicking by Connacht was temporarily halted by a searching touch-finder but the home side wasted possession again with an overlap, with the Blues shading the kicking battle after the interval.

The Blues conceded another penalty in their 22 with Scottish referee Andrew McMemeny warning captain Pretorius before Nikora reduced the deficit to 13-6.

Two minutes later replacement scrum-half Lloyd Williams was penalised for holding on and Nikora celebrated his third success. This set up a nail-biting finale but the Blies held on for a deserved victory.

Connacht

G Duffy (capt); T O'Halloran, E Griffin (R Henshaw 61), M Fifita, F Vainikolo (M Jarvis 61); M Nikora, K Marmion; D Buckley, E Reynecke (A Flavin 61), R Loughney (R Ah You 61), M Swift, M McCarthy (D Gannon 55), J Muldoon, J O'Connor (W Faloon 50), G Naoupu.

Penalties - M Nikora (3)

Blues

D Fish; H Robinson, G Evans, G Davies, T James; C Sweeney, L Jones (L Williams 61); T Davies (B Borrust h-t), A Kyriacou, T Filise (N Trevett 75), R Copeland (L Reed h-t), J Down, R Watts-Jones (L Hamilton 70), J Navidi, A Pretorius (capt).

Try - L Jones; Conversion - C Sweeney; Penalties - Sweeney (2).

Referee: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland).

A fantastic win, no matter the performance.

My favourite bit - "Benoit Borrust were introduced to make their competitive Blues debuts with Borrust shoring up the visitors scrum."

Yup fair play that's a good win, and further ammunition to the 'Blues on the way up' argument

My fav bit was the BBC article saying the Blues won 13-9 (with a Scarlets title above it) and then said that Sweeney had scored 3 pens, 1 conversion and Jones had scored a try (something doesn't quite add up there...)

add to that when I got in from the match last night, the Beeb had the Scarlets results down as 45-18. Incorrect my friends.....

rugbydreamer wrote:add to that when I got in from the match last night, the Beeb had the Scarlets results down as 45-18. Incorrect my friends.....

The BBC live scores is awful. ESPN don't even cover the Pro12, but their live scores are actually up to date and tell you how long is left and when points were scored so you can actually get an understanding of what is happening in the game.

Glad to see blues get Harry Robinson on contract. I have rated him for a while, he could be a very good winger in a few years.

rugbydreamer wrote:add to that when I got in from the match last night, the Beeb had the Scarlets results down as 45-18. Incorrect my friends.....

Yup since the budget cuts at the end of the Labour term, the Beebs rugby coverage has gone awful - they got either the Blues score or scorers wrong and had them listed under Scarlets as well.

We are comprising a list

https://www.606v2.com/t34067-press-mistakes-editorial-bloopers-and-generally-awful-journalism