Cardiff RFC travel to Tremorfa Park as they begin their preparations for the upcoming Super Rygbi Cymru season, which gets underway away to Rygbi Gogledd Cymru (RGC) 1404 with an encounter against St Albans RFC.
Head coach, Dan Fish, will be returning to familiar surroundings on Saturday afternoon (kickoff, 2:30 PM) as he takes on ‘The Buns, ’ a club that he played a lot for during his childhood and has played for the club since retiring, along with currently coaching their under 7’s team.
Also in 1979, Cardiff RFC’s chairman, Chris Collins, represented St Albans under the captaincy of the Buns’ legend Steve Addicott. During that time, as well, the Tremorfa Park club side was coached by Cardiff Rugby and Wales international Callum Sheedy’s grandfather, Peter Boys.
Full Team News:
Within the starting XV, it will see five players make their Cardiff RFC debuts. Gruff John-Morris is joined by Cardiff Rugby Pathway products Sonny McCabe, Rhodri Morgan, Ioan Leyshon, Harry Turner, and Rhys Cummings.
Whilst Rhys Ruttley, son of former Blue and Blacks captain, Owen Ruttley, will make his first outing from the bench.
Within the front row, Wales U20S international Cam Tyler-Grocott will make his first start for Cardiff since March 2024 at loosehead despite only playing one game for the club last season after recovering from injury. He’ll be joined by hooker Gavin Parry and tighthead Callum Donaghue-Proud (former St Albans player) to complete the front row.
Ethan Phillips will wear the number five shirt as he joins McCabe in the second row. Evan Rees has been named at number eight for only his third time as a Blue and Black and lines up with blindside Morgan and openside John-Morris in the back row.
Ethan Lloyd will captain the side with Lloyd Lucas starting at fly-half to make up the halfback pairing. Within the centres, Ioan Penry is joined by Leyshon, who starts at outside centre, whilst Ollie Das, Turner, and Cummings complete the back three.
On a nine-man bench joining Ruttley, head coach Fish has selected Tom Harper, Christian Brooke, Harrison Rock, Jason Harries, Nathan Hudd, Joe Williams, Joe Goodchild, and Dewi Cross.
Pre-Match Thoughts:
On facing ‘The Buns’ Fish said: “Looking forward to taking the boys for a tough test at Tremorfa Park.
“It will be a special day for me with St Albans meaning a lot to myself and my family as it’s where I started playing and my brother currently plays for them now.
“They have a familiar head coach who is well known to Cardiff fans in Nathan Trevett (former Cardiff prop) so it’s great for two mates to go against each other with both St Albans and Cardiff meaning so much to us.
“It will be a tough test with The Buns having back-to-back promotions, so it will be a good test for us leading into the season, and hopefully we get a good crowd in Tremorfa.”
Cardiff RFC Starting XV:
15 Rhys Cummings
14 Harry Turner
13 Ioan Leyshon
12 Ioan Penry
11 Ollie Das
10 Lloyd Lucas
9 Ethan Lloyd (C)
1 Cam Tyler-Grocott
2 Gavin Parry
3 Callum Donaghue-Proud
4 Sonny McCabe
5 Ethan Phillips
6 Rhodri Morgan
7 Gruff John-Morris
8 Evan Rees
Replacements:
16 Tom Harper
17 Christian Brooke
18 Harrison Rock
19 Jason Harries
20 Nathan Hudd
21 Joe Williams
22 Joe Goodchild
23 Dewi Cross
24 Rhys Ruttley
For those unable to make it to Tremorfa Park on Saturday, you can stay up to date with live updates via our social media channels (X, Facebook, and Instagram).