Played 36 Won 13 Lost 21 Drawn 2
Points For 716
Points Against 901
It was in the end a disappointing season for Cardiff RFC. 8th place in the league bottom of the B&I pool and knocked out of the SWALEC cup in the second round. That said there were some positives to come out that will give encouragement for the next season.
In all 83 players were used. Aaron Fowler played 33 games in all ( 25 starts 8 as a replacement) Captain Shaun Powell started in 28 games. 8 player won their Cardiff RFC cap for playing 20 games – Aaron Fowler, Joe Griffin, Lewis Smout, Thomas Young, James Murphy, Alwyn Lee, Steve Cullen and Ben Roach.
The season started as normal at the Abercynon sevens where as defending champions Cardiff were not able to retain the Cup having to settle for winning the Bowl instead. The friendly section of the season followed with a very wet trip to Barry to celebrate their centenary, the Blue & Blacks getting off to a winning start in the rain at Reservoir Fields. That was followed by defeats at the hands of English Championship sides London Scottish and Bedford, before returning home to play Ealing for the first time in the clubs history. Cardiff won that game and an experimental side just scrapped home against Cardiff Met. a few days later.
The League season started with a home defeat to Llandovery and another loss on the road at Carmarthen. A week later and all the doom around those defeats was dispelled as Cardiff ran up a record score – 62-17 – against our greatest rivals Newport. Shaun Powell, Macauley Cook (2) Dan Fish and Richard Smith amongst the scorers of nine tries that day. That was followed by three consecutive wins against three sides from the Ospreys Region – Bridgend, Swansea and Aberavon. Cardiff scored 19 tries over the four games with Gareth Davies contributing 37 points. Against Bridgend the Blue & Blacks looked like they would be a match for anyone in the league, ripping the Ravens apart with pace and power.
October though started with a narrow loss at Pandy Park to Cross Keys before the start of the British & Irish Cup. The Blue & Blacks were drawn in a tough pool along side Bristol, Ulster Ravens and Bridgend. A first home loss at home to Bristol was a disappointing start to the campaign, but it has to be remembered that they are a full time outfit. The squad acquitted themselves well in only being beaten in the last quarter of the game when down to 14 men. The next week saw another B&I defeat this time away at Bridgend. The back to back fixtures against Ulster went the way of the Belfast outfit as they were able to call on the assistance of the Ulster full team players where Cardiff were unable to draw from the Blues due to LV= games. In the final two games Bridgend won the dead rubber at the Arms Park and defeat at Bristol saw Cardiff finish winless at the foot of the table. The last game though showed what the squad were capable of. With Bristol going for a home draw in the Semi-finals a heavy defeat looked on the cards, but Cardiff committed themselves to the cause and made the home side work hard for their bonus point win.
In between the League season continued. Two wins and two defeats were squeezed in between the first round of B&I cup games. Losses to away Bedwas and Llandovery were equalled out by home wins against Neath and a revenge win against Bridgend. Christmas saw a drab draw at Rodney Parade where neither side looked like they wanted to win before the games at home to Pontypridd and the visit to St Helens Swansea fell foul of the weather.
The first round of the cup gave Cardiff a real fright. Cardiff Met. ( formally UWIC) had lead for most of the game before a late James Thomas try gave the Blue & Blacks victory by four points. That gave them a second round home tie against Championship leaders Ebbw Vale. That game was to go the way of the Euguene Cross Park men. Polu Uhi scoring the crucial try. The home side had their chances towards the end but poor passing and decision making lead to an early exit from the cup.
With nothing left except pride to play for in the remainder of the season the Blue & Blacks squad pulled together and played some exceptional rugby. Consistency of selection certainly helped and although only three games were won and one drawn the losses were only by narrow margins.
Cross Keys, who at the time were second in the League were well beaten at te Arms Park before a home defeat to Bedwas in the last second of the game. Cardiff had deserved much more from the game and only the conversion of the Bedwas last minute try denied them a draw. Llanelli showed why they eventually ended in the play-off places as the won at Parc-Y-Scarlets before back to back losses against Pontypridd.
Cardiff & District celebrated their 120th anniversary at the Arms Park in April, a fixture that was a feature of the pre-season not so long ago was won by a largely youthful Cardiff XV. The season ended back in Osprey land, a bonus point win at bottom club Swansea and a draw at Cup finalists Neath.
Cardiff will know that it was a ‘could have done better’ end of term report. The defensive system put in place were though a feature of Cardiff’s play throughout the season. Building on that will undoubtedly lead to far greater reward next season. The addition of controlling half backs will enable the Blue & Blacks to close out games. Had they had that this season they would have finished higher up the table and who knows where the cup run would have ended.
For the record
Starts
Rep
Total App
Tries
Pen
Cons
DG
Total Points
CORY
ALLEN
10
10
3
15
SCOTT
ANDREWS
1
1
DANIEL
APSEE
1
1
JACK
BARRATT
1
3
4
KRIS
BARRY
2
2
4
ADAM
BRAKE
1
1
2
JOE
CASELLA
2
1
3
1
5
JAMES
CONNORS
1
1
2
MACAULEY
COOK
12
12
2
10
JAKE
COOPER-WOOLLEY
2
3
5
2
10
ROBIN
COPELAND
1
1
1
5
DAN
CRIMMINS
15
1
16
2
10
STEVE
CULLEN
17
3
20
3
15
KRISTIAN
DACEY
2
2
4
TOM
DALY
1
1
JAMIE
DAVIES
12
2
14
4
20
GARETH
DAVIES
7
7
1
11
14
1
69
THOMAS
DAVIES
2
1
3
1
5
LEE
DAVIES
2
2
DAFI-SION
DAVIES
1
1
1
5
LIAM
DAVIES
1
1
ED
DOBBS
1
1
SONNY
DRISCOLL
1
1
JOSH
DUNLEAVY
1
1
AARON
ELLIOT
1
1
IFAN
EVANS
3
3
ADAM
FIELD
2
1
3
3
15
DAN
FISH
6
6
5
25
AARON
FOWLER
25
8
33
1
5
SIMON
GARDINER
5
3
8
JOE
GRIFFIN
25
4
29
4
30
25
160
STUART
GRIFFITHS
1
1
KYLE
HALLEY
3
3
LUKE
HAMILTON
9
9
1
5
RYAN
HARFORD
12
3
15
SION
HOPKINS
16
11
27
0
JAC
HOPKINS
1
8
9
RHYS
JAMES
3
5
8
ELLIS
JENKINS
15
4
19
2
10
WILL-GRIFF
JOHN
5
7
12
WILL
JONES
6
3
9
1
5
ALWYN
LEE
12
10
22
GEORGE
LEE
1
1
2
CALLUM
LEWIS
4
14
18
ETHAN
LEWIS
6
11
17
ROB
LEWIS
8
1
9
2
10
GARYN
LUCAS
11
5
16
3
15
RYAN
LUCKWELL
2
2
4
CAMPESE
MA’AFU
12
4
16
1
5
JAMES
MONCK
2
4
6
1
5
JAMES
MURPHY
17
4
21
2
10
DAN
PARTRIDGE
9
9
18
1
5
JACK
PHILLIPS
7
3
10
2
10
BRYN
PHILLIPS
2
2
SHAUN
POWELL
28
4
32
6
30
LUKE
PROBERT
2
1
3
LEWIS
REECE
2
2
BEN
ROACH
12
10
22
1
5
HARRY
ROBINSON
2
2
0
DARREN
RYAN
9
5
14
1
1
8
MATTHEW
SCREECH
21
6
27
2
10
RICHARD
SMITH
16
1
17
6
30
MATT
SMITH
9
6
15
1
5
OLLIE
SMITH
1
1
1
5
LEWIS
SMOUT
14
11
25
1
5
RHYS
SUMMERHILL
1
1
JAMES
THOMAS
11
5
16
1
6
15
53
WILL
THOMAS
8
4
12
1
3
1
1
19
GARETH
THOMSON
2
1
3
2
2
1
13
JASON
TOVEY
2
1
3
2
4
14
NATHAN
TREVETT
6
2
8
0
REUBEN
TUCKER
12
8
20
7
35
ALEX
WALKER
6
4
10
RORY
WATTS-JONES
5
5
1
5
NICK
WHITE
13
5
18
0
ADAM
WILLIAMS
1
5
6
1
5
OWEN
WILLIAMS
4
4
1
5
TOM
WILLIAMS
3
3
1
5
RHYS
WILLIAMS
2
2
TOMOS
WILLIAMS
1
1
1
5
MAX
WOODWARD
12
4
16
JOE
XIBERRIAS
1
1
THOMAS
YOUNG
17
2
19
1
5