From our Valleys Correspondent

Cardiff Rugby, that weather battered, storm struck clipper of the ages, sails torn, anchor lost. But remains manned by a crew of trailblazers, rebels, hopeful romantics and seekers of new horizons. And now takes shelter in the calm, still harbour of the WRU.

2024/25 will go down as a season which has been discombobulating and exhilarating. Assessed against our history it is underwhelming, but drawn on the canvas of the present it is extraordinary. Cardiff Rugby has not only tickled April, she has given it a full on cwtch.  A season when the Head Coach was asked to step next door to help manage a crisis of confidence which looked positive until a final, frankly bizarre outing. A season which started with the promise of a gleaming palace on the banks of the River Taff but ended with invisible income streams fueled by empty promises. A season where the club stumbled and took a knee but didn't go down - it is probably a time to whisper a quiet yet sincere diolch to the WRU. The dream that is Cardiff Rugby is currently about surviving  rather than striving.

In reality, rugby in Wales has always sailed on a strange tide, ostensible strengths proving false and finite energy expended on ridiculous strategies and misaligned outreach. Never sure if the tide is coming in or out, never sure if the wind is onshore or offshore, rugby on this three shored island of exceptionalism and archaic musings of deeds long since done. Especially since the game 'went' professional rugby in Wales has felt like being on a surfboard in an angry sea. The current ending we are living through, whilst frustrating and upsetting, could be seen through the continuity prism. Cardiff stands, Cardiff plays, Cardiff remains. Like a dark chocolate hobnob post coffee dunk, Cardiff is going nowhere. 

For all this rampant, quasi stoic positivism, recognition that the WRU is a hydra of interest and priorities is paramount. Their latest tsunami of 'Really?' being whether the zip roof walk is actually a realistic business option and how many flowers are too many flowers. A genuine concern is whether Cardiff Rugby can make it as an agenda item at the next Board meeting. It is hard to escape the feeling, it is hard to settle the disquiet, it is hard to suppress the fear that the four professional teams are always considered under AOB! This would, ordinarily, be most acceptable, arms length, seed funding, pump priming the supply chain. But in these days of ostensible central control, the club needs to be at the forefront of discussion, action and delivery. 

Yet! There is always a yet. Players are being signed and re-signed. Adams, McNally, Basham, Lloyd, and others will, next season, don the Blue and Black (and whatever Macron provides as an alternative) to consolidate or begin their journey into the hearts and minds of the supporters. They will hear elongated "Kaaaaaaaaardiffs", they will hear boards being banged, they will write their words in the next chapter of this remarkable club. So not really a beginning at all, more a strange continuity, plus ca change, twas ever thus. If we heed our Heraclitus and embrace change being the only constant, we may well find freedom and space, develop a robust strategy for spotting those crocodiles closest to the canoe and avoid those who promise much but do not heed our rugby craft and sullen art!

Above all, in the afterglow of a huge victory over Munster which will go a long way in defining how 2024/25 is assessed, maybe now is the time to sincerely hope the current all-too-red sunset is but a precursor to dazzling sunrise and new beginnings which will benefit from fair winds and following seas.