We talked to Gruff Rees about how last season went
“Last season was very good season” reflects Director Of Coaching Gruff Rees “finishing top of the league by six points in the regular season and only losing three games was a remarkable achievement, but we fully recognise the nature of the competition and if truth be told our performances levels did drop in the last few fixtures, and Llandovery were definitely worthy champions.
And of course, winning the Welsh Cup was another milestone in our amazing season. The boys showed great character all the way through the competition, especially on a wet day at Church Bank where we did what we needed to do to get through. The final against Newport was such a tense affair, but we can out on the right side to bring the cup back to the Arms Park.
From a player development point of view, it was brilliant to see players such as Rhys Barrett, Harrisson James, Evan Lloyd, Mackenzie Martin, and Ethan Lloyd, play in 21,23,16,11 & 19 games respectively and develop into well rounded rugby players as a result. And we had Cameron Winnett (11 games) Alex Mann (12) and Efan Daniel (11) play for Cardiff RFC as well as senior commitments, and in Cams case a full Under 20s international programme.
We also saw two former Cardiff RFC players from the 2021 / 22 season go on to full international honours, two more have joined them from the recent season – Keiron Assiratti and Teddy Williams who will be on the bench on Saturday – whilst squad member Will Davies-King also featured at the start of the RFC season.
A nod of gratitude to some of the players who have moved on to pastures new. Particularly Ethan Lloyd (Merthyr), Ioan Evans (Cornish Pirates), Ryan Wilkins (Pontypridd), Ollie Drake (Pontypool) as well as illustrious retirees in Dan Fish and Scott Andrews who deserve huge recognition. Also, to Ellis Thomas who will no longer play due to work commitments, we thank him for his support and excellent commitment to the RFC shirt.”
In the next part of or chat with Gruff we look at the players that will be running out in Blue & Black in the forthcoming season