Phil Davies appointed as Cardiff Director of Rugby

Cardiff Blues can today announce that former Welsh international Phil Davies has been appointed as Director of Rugby.

Davies played his club rugby for Llanelli and enjoyed a distinguished 46-cap career for Wales between 1985 and 1995.

The ex-Wales captain, born in Seven Sisters, spent a decade at Leeds Tykes between 1996 and 2006 taking the Yorkshire club from Division Three into top-flight Premiership rugby. He steered Leeds to their Heineken Cup debut in 2003 and to a Powergen Cup win in 2005. Davies also spent two years at the Scarlets, leading them to their first Heineken Cup semi-final in eight years.

The former Scarlets and Leeds boss Phil Davies joined Worcester Warriors as a forwards coach from his position at the WRU as Wales Under-20s coach and National Academy Manager in August 2010.

Commenting on the appointment, Cardiff Blues CEO Richard Holland said:

“Phil Davies is a hugely respected coach and we are delighted to have secured him as the new Cardiff Blues Director of Rugby.”

“He has shown during his time at the Leeds Tykes, when he took them from Division Three to the Premiership, that he can develop a young team and deliver success.”

“He is hugely knowledgeable about the game, extremely hard working and we look forward to having him with us for the forthcoming season.”

Speaking of his appointment, Phil Davies said:

“I’m really looking forward to starting the job. It’s a role I’ve been passionate about for a long, long time.”

“The Blues cover a massive region, the biggest in Wales, and it’s a great opportunity for a young group of players and staff to work hard in order to push the region forward and look to build upon the foundations that have been laid over the last eight or nine years, firstly by David Young and more recently, Gareth and Justin.”

“Our aim will be to move forward, play attractive rugby and over time develop the Blues into a very competitive side in all competitions and ultimately win trophies and produce quality players to represent Wales!”

“I know an awful lot of the players from my time at the National Academy and I know not only at the Blues but in the whole of Wales there are some fantastic academy systems producing some good players.”

“There is a lot of change happening and with that comes a element of excitement and uncertainty, with that in mind there will be some growing pains moving forward as we develop the capabilities and experiences of a very talented group of players and staff”

“I know from my time at the Scarlets introducing young players such as Ken Owens, Rhys Priestland, Jonathan Davies and Scott Williams does take some time.”

“They were very young when I was there but look at them now.”

“It’s important that people understand it’s going to time but we are on the starting line here to something really exciting.”

“The players moving on have been fantastic servants to both the region and Wales and we thank them, however this is an opportunity for a new group of people to create their own legacy and that’s what really excites me.”

“I like to develop teams based on a few important principles. We have good basic skills. Some people will say that’s stating the obvious, but I think it is important that we are able to perform the basics well under pressure. We need strong foundations, which are: mean defence, quality kicking game and accurate set piece.

We will look to play the way Welsh players like, which is with flair and expression, hopefully with a lot of tries thrown in”

“That’s the type of rugby I tried to develop at Leeds, the Scarlet’s and during my time with Cardiff RFC.”

“Sometimes things don’t always go to plan, but if you’ve got strong basics and core skills, then you hopefully have the foundations to let players express themselves.”

“With the speed and talent we have in the back line, this will hopefully get people excited to come and watch the Blues watch.”

“I hope this is a fresh start for a young group of players with a new Director of Rugby who has a lot of experience and who will work hard for them and with them.”

“It will be a huge team effort. We want to enjoy what we do, but we are all rugby professionals who represent a fantastic region that has a proud rugby heritage, that responsibility is something we will all take very seriously.”

“We will work hard, have good discipline and team spirit, I want people from around the region to really identify with and be very proud of the team and want to come and watch us play.”

Cardiff Blues will be holding a press conference with Phil Davies and Richard Holland on Thursday 10 May at 11.00am at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Phil Davies wrote:
“I’m really looking forward to starting the job. It’s a role I’ve been passionate about for a long, long time.”

“The Blues cover a massive region, the biggest in Wales, and it’s a great opportunity for a young group of players and staff to work hard in order to push the region forward and look to build upon the foundations that have been laid over the last eight or nine years, firstly by David Young and more recently, Gareth and Justin.”

Is that actually true (not getting into the whole issues of if they repressent or not), I though that landwise the Scarlets were the biggest region.

Anyway IF Phil has learnt from some of his previous mistakes, he could well be a good addition for the Blues. Fingers crossed for him and them.

landwise we've got to be the biggest region, population wise then they might have a point.

Fingers crossed Phil has learnt from past mistakes and he can help get the Blues back on track. We need all the regions to be strong so hopefully he can stop the rot at the Blues before it goes too far!

Well not my "region" so probably shouldn't worry but............

Big Phil inspires no confidence at all. I hope I'm wrong and he can turn things around. Can't help but see this as a one more poor decision on top of the others.

offload wrote:Big Phil inspires no confidence at all. I hope I'm wrong and he can turn things around. Can't help but see this as a one more poor decision on top of the others.

I am not his biggest fan, but I have recently read Simon Easterby's autobiography, and he does admit htat certain things Phil did during his second season with the Scarlets were handled badly, so I would assume that Phil has learnt his lessons about regional rugby during that time. The Blues have some quality players, and if Phil can just lift their confidence (which he does seem good at), and avoid the bad signings he made when he was at PYS (apparently due to getting cover for the RWC) then maybe he could be ht eman for the job.

I always thought that the Ospreys had the biggest region - rugby player numbers-wise and rugby clubs.

I'm warming a little more to this appointment, and he says some good stuff in the interview - such as improving basic skills (which have been poor this year), playing attractive rugby (which will bring in the fans) to unleash the skillful backs they've got.
It all seems a lot more positive than when Baber and Burnell came in.

The problem is it's going to take a long time to kick start the Blues academy and develop the players

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

offload wrote:Big Phil inspires no confidence at all. I hope I'm wrong and he can turn things around. Can't help but see this as a one more poor decision on top of the others.

I am not his biggest fan, but I have recently read Simon Easterby's autobiography, and he does admit htat certain things Phil did during his second season with the Scarlets were handled badly, so I would assume that Phil has learnt his lessons about regional rugby during that time. The Blues have some quality players, and if Phil can just lift their confidence (which he does seem good at), and avoid the bad signings he made when he was at PYS (apparently due to getting cover for the RWC) then maybe he could be ht eman for the job.

For the sake of Welsh rugby I wish him well. I hope your right about him learning lessons.

Just one more reason not to bother going to the CCS...

rugbydreamer wrote:landwise we've got to be the biggest region, population wise then they might have a point.

The largest population areas in Wales are Cardiff first and, Rhondda second, so they have by far the largest population. Swansea is third and Carmarthenshire is fourth. Caerphilly is fifth and Newport is seventh, so I guess maybe the Dragons region is in the wrong area!


As for Phil Davies, right man, right time, right team. Best of luck to him.
I think this will work, he had a good coaching career, it just went a bit wrong at the Scarlets but that doesn't make him a bad coach.

A quick Wiki though shows that Gwent has an estimated population of 560,000 and Dyfed (essentially the Scarlets region plus a bit) is 360k - Blaenau Gwent also had a population of 70,000 so the Dragons have got by far the greater potential audience than the Scarlets and better public transport links as well (without including Monmouthshire or Caerphilly - which I think would be more Blues leaning than Dragons)

thebluesmancometh wrote:Just one more reason not to bother going to the CCS...

Rumour has it that Cardiff won't be at CCS next season which is good.
It won't be the end to the problems, but it could be as Churchill once said;
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
I'll settle for that.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I always thought that the Ospreys had the biggest region - rugby player numbers-wise and rugby clubs.

I'm warming a little more to this appointment, and he says some good stuff in the interview - such as improving basic skills (which have been poor this year), playing attractive rugby (which will bring in the fans) to unleash the skillful backs they've got.
It all seems a lot more positive than when Baber and Burnell came in.

The problem is it's going to take a long time to kick start the Blues academy and develop the players

"improving basic skills". "attractive rugby". "bring in the fans". "unleash the skillful backs". "kick start the blues academy". "develop players".
Add some magic fairy dust to those soundbites and voila!

Good Luck to Phill, apparently he has an autistic like rugby obsession. He is a good coach, he has done well with the Scarlets and Leeds and his under 20s were a good team.

The Blues should be a good team they have some great players, next year they will have a good flyhalf too. THat will make a massive difference.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:A quick Wiki though shows that Gwent has an estimated population of 560,000 and Dyfed (essentially the Scarlets region plus a bit) is 360k - Blaenau Gwent also had a population of 70,000 so the Dragons have got by far the greater potential audience than the Scarlets and better public transport links as well (without including Monmouthshire or Caerphilly - which I think would be more Blues leaning than Dragons)

Monmouthshire does not lean towards the Blues. Wash your mouth out.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:A quick Wiki though shows that Gwent has an estimated population of 560,000 and Dyfed (essentially the Scarlets region plus a bit) is 360k - Blaenau Gwent also had a population of 70,000 so the Dragons have got by far the greater potential audience than the Scarlets and better public transport links as well (without including Monmouthshire or Caerphilly - which I think would be more Blues leaning than Dragons)

Smrnoff, trust me, do not take whar wikipedea tells you as gospel, they are full of wrong stats and facts, it told me on wiki that Merthyr Tydfil had a population of 30,000 but on the official Merthyr Tydfil site it tells me our population is 55,000.

I also remember hearing that Gwent has the more rugby clubs in it than any other region. Is that correct?

Anyway, on Phil Davies: I'm not convinced. He did a great thing at Leeds but I don't think he's done much since. I think the Blues need a higher calibre of DoR, but hope it works well for him and the Blues.

Offload - I meant Caerphilly leans towards Cardiff and Monmouthshire (which I didn't list) is deep in Dragons country.

I know what you mean Lord Dowlais, but the figures seem reasonable, especially the Dyfed ones

Smirnoff - Dyfyd (I much prefer saying the Pembrokershire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthernshire though) figures seem high if anything.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I always thought that the Ospreys had the biggest region - rugby player numbers-wise and rugby clubs.

I'm warming a little more to this appointment, and he says some good stuff in the interview - such as improving basic skills (which have been poor this year), playing attractive rugby (which will bring in the fans) to unleash the skillful backs they've got.
It all seems a lot more positive than when Baber and Burnell came in.

The problem is it's going to take a long time to kick start the Blues academy and develop the players

"improving basic skills". "attractive rugby". "bring in the fans". "unleash the skillful backs". "kick start the blues academy". "develop players".
Add some magic fairy dust to those soundbites and voila!

Well at least he's saying stuff that Baber and Burnell didn't and is looking to concentrate on one of the Blues strengths - it also worked with the Scarlets but as Phil says it would take time.

It seems better than saying stuff like 'the situation isn't as bad as it looks' and 'we will continue trying to impose our gameplan on the opposition with greater accuracy'

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Offload - I meant Caerphilly leans towards Cardiff and Monmouthshire (which I didn't list) is deep in Dragons country.

I know what you mean Lord Dowlais, but the figures seem reasonable, especially the Dyfed ones

Ok forgiven

maestegmafia wrote:Good Luck to Phill, apparently he has an autistic like rugby obsession. He is a good coach, he has done well with the Scarlets and Leeds and his under 20s were a good team.

Yeah I hard something about that, I remember reading he has always videos every game of rugby he could all through his career. I wonder if he got round to converting them all to DVD?

Smirnoffpriest wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

"improving basic skills". "attractive rugby". "bring in the fans". "unleash the skillful backs". "kick start the blues academy". "develop players".
Add some magic fairy dust to those soundbites and voila!

Well at least he's saying stuff that Baber and Burnell didn't and is looking to concentrate on one of the Blues strengths - it also worked with the Scarlets but as Phil says it would take time.

It seems better than saying stuff like 'the situation isn't as bad as it looks' and 'we will continue trying to impose our gameplan on the opposition with greater accuracy'

Burnell was interviewed recently and the Blues propaganda machine contacted BBC Wales to have his quote edited from their original report and they willingly obliged. A coach says something and the management use their political clout to get it changed. Why? That is Cardiff Blues for you i'm sad to say and speaks volumes about why their financial problems and dodgy plans haven't been adequately reported in the past.
Baber and Burnell, if they have faults, still know what is going on with Thomas's regime.
The new guy is saying standard stuff which is still just stuff.

Dave

I heard that Burnell mentioned Cuthbert leaving, and said he'd love to have been able to retain the likes of Jenkins and Laulala, but he was told they were surplus.

Or something along those lines, heard he took a roasting though, and was lined up for media training because of it?!

Arms park would be a good move, and maybe the 'exodus' is the result of the move?

thebluesmancometh wrote:Dave

I heard that Burnell mentioned Cuthbert leaving, and said he'd love to have been able to retain the likes of Jenkins and Laulala, but he was told they were surplus.

Or something along those lines, heard he took a roasting though, and was lined up for media training because of it?!

Arms park would be a good move, and maybe the 'exodus' is the result of the move?

Burnell also answered "yes please" when asked at either the Ulster or Connacht games if he would prefer more games at CAP. I wonder if Richard Holland was required to attend media training after he suggested playing games at Sardis?
I hate saying it, but it's not rocket science. Coaches, players and the vast majority of supporters want the team to play at CAP end of story. It's a million times cheaper too, brings in more money than CCS and therefore a no brainer.

Very revealing guest appearance from Big Phil on Scrum V.

Reveals that Cardiff Blues are probably ****ed.