The Great Cardiff Take Off

Under a dazzling coloured sky and in front of a Saturday night audience of just under 5000 Cardiff Blues kicked off their 2016/17 in some style with bonus point win against a poor Edinburgh side. Common sense dictates that as John Lacey wasn’t the most influential person on the pitch it points to just how good Cardiff were or how poor Edinburgh were but this does a huge disservice to the Cardiff side who looked at times, like a team ready to take the next steps on their journey back to respectability.

There was much to analyse from this game, from the Saturday night kick off to the rampaging Nick Williams to the much less noticeable yet equally impressive honesty of George Earle. Maybe not since Bradley Davies revealed an alarming fondness to sign for teams named after flying creatures have we seen such an honest, grunt fuelled performance from a Cardiff second row. Williams understandably took the majority of plaudits but I for one was mightily impressed by Earle and if he can stay fit he should provide a degree of consistency in the boiler house for the coming season. Taking the usual excellent performance from Ellis Jenkins aside it was nice to see a Cardiff pack begin to remember how to overawe a clearly disjointed opposition eight. That the rolling maul continues to develop is a positive, there is a hope that 2016/17 will see the team start to develop defensive ploys to stop the opposition. For all the positives of Saturday night, a niggle remains that defensively the pack are overly vulnerable to a well drilled maul. As they head over to Munster it is hoped that Danny Wilson has spends a little time this week on this aspect of play.

Behind the forwards the positives flow where Tomos Williams played exceptionally well and showed glimpses of real promise. He bossed the forwards with authority and whilst his box kicks were maybe a shade too long, his all round game was enjoyable to watch. He forged a good partnership with Steve Shingler and in the latter stages Gareth Anscombe and between them ensured Cardiff played the game in the right areas of the pitch. Those of us longing to see a return to good old fashioned ‘footballing sense’ must have been overjoyed with the variation and ambition shown by the half-backs on occasion. Overall the game was well won, the hint of a home record continues to blossom and regardless of opposition it augers well for the oft-quoted bigger tests that lie in wait.

So, on the pitch the curve continues its upward trajectory and this above all is to be welcomed. Turning attention to off the field and perhaps matters the team have little control over, the kick off time and its affect on the crowd. Now, I think just below 5000 for a filthy Saturday night, the weekend before school returns is decent enough, not stellar but steady. On a personal note I could not make the game and offer this in advance of any assessment that follows in a spirit of openness. There are many things that make the sport special, both on and off the pitch. There are many things covered elsewhere in much greater depth that explain the link between supporter and team. There is much research on the effect of live television coverage and size of crowd and in the final analysis it comes down to personal choice about whether to attend a game. Now, if only there was a survey that supporters could complete to assess their preferences around match day.

In this light, I would suggest that 7.30pm on a Saturday will be a huge determining factor in keeping crowds lower than maybe desired. At a stroke it ensures families have to think twice before even considering whether to attend. My own feelings are that I do not want to be walking back to the car or train station with my young son gone 9pm on a Saturday night, it means getting home around 10pm and he plays rugby on Sunday morning and we have to be out of the house and on the road by around 9am for some away games. Maybe the boys who play junior rugby are not professional but sleep and rest are still hugely important factors in sports performance at that age. At 9 years old a lack of sleep may contribute to lacklustre games and perhaps more chilling the complete meltdown when a tackle is missed or pass not given on time. I saw this in evidence on Sunday morning at Rumney RFC! S4C have a habit of choosing the most inappropriate times for games, from Thursday at 6pm to Sunday at 4pm, now choosing 7.30pm on a Saturday. Broadcasters are moving the one vehicle that may well inspire young players to emulate what they see when they play on Sunday mornings to competing against programmes such family viewing as X Factor, Ant or Dec’s Saturday Shenanigans and Strictly Come Dancing (however awful these programmes are). It is a battle that cannot be won.

The professional game is, as has been highlighted previously, the pinnacle of the sport. It deserves to centre stage not a toy that fits in and around lower levels of the game. Striving for excellence is lost in this universalism of opportunity and I think the sport is poorer for it. For what it is worth the brilliant pink, purple atmospheric dust infused sky did not make up for, what is in my view at least, a horrible time to play a game.

On the field of play, it was great to see the Tee Bird, the subsequent #nametheplane competition on social media is proving popular, this is the type of marketing the club needs, if it can exploit its new agreement with Land Rover and Great Western Railway then so much the better. I have visions of model train rides for the children (of all ages) beneath the North Terrace, Sam Warburton and Ellis Jenkins snarling down from posters at passengers at Paddington, Reading and Swansea demanding they come to Cardiff to watch Great Rugby the Real Way.

Saturday was a start on the many fronts the club and business must compete on. It was on balance positive and shows Cardiff possess the tools that will enable a start on the long road to competing with the best. That destination is long way ahead, there are teams in Wales they must catch up with before the sprint ahead toward teams in England and France but it would be churlish not to recognise that a building block has been inserted over the summer and we all hope it is sturdy and not undermined in the coming months.