Changes at Cardiff Blues

Well, there seems to be nobody talking about it, so I thought I would kick it off, what does everyone think about the changes at Cardiff ?

Dai Young back, Mulvihill leaves under a cloud of controversy. Dwayne Peel being signed, and now it looks as though Rhys Priestland could be back in Wales playing for the Blues next season as well.

Dai Young who probably oversaw one of Cardiff Blues most successful eras returns after hopefully gaining a lot of extra experience from across the border, he was at one time being tipped to be the next Welsh coach.

What do the Ulster supporters on here think about Dwayne Peel leaving to join up with Cardiff Blues ?

What do the Bath fans think about Priestland leaving them to join up with Cardiff Blues ?

All very exciting news coming from the Welsh capitol, what are your thoughts ? Will they improve the region ? What do you all think ?

I think that August 1st will be an excellent day.

Any news / truth over the Peel saga?

mikey_dragon wrote:Any news / truth over the Peel saga?

I think the Scarlets are looking a bringing him in if it's possible but they are speaking to others too.

LordDowlais wrote:
What do the Ulster supporters on here think about Dwayne Peel leaving to join up with Cardiff Blues ?

Very relaxed about Peel.

He has done a decent job and played a crucial part in steading the ship after Kiss left.
Having said that his replacement Dan Soper is a step up when it comes to skills coaching

I was talking to one of the Cardiff Rugby supporters last weekend. He is the classic "Caaaaaaaairdiff are the best club ever" types. He reckons that Louis Rees-Zammit is definitely wanting to play for Cardiff Rugby and will be if not next season then the one after. I must admit I wanted to call bulldung on him with this lol but is there any truth to it?

Well it his (LRZ) home region and he came through their academy, but don't see how it is beneficial to the Blue... I mean Cardiff, they're already quite strong in the back 3. Lane is injured a lot it seems though.

LRZ signed a "long term deal" to remain at Gloucester last January (2020). Long term normally means three years or more in the current climate so the summer of 2023 is probably the earliest he'd be available. I wouldn't be surprised if Glaws have gone for four years as Sale did that a few years ago after their takeover to try and stop the Irish teams nicking their homegrown players (Addison and Haley had just gone and there were rumours over Sam James).

So LRZ may fancy turning out for Cardiff but don't expect it anytime soon.

To be clear Ulster did not nick Addison, they signed a player whose contract was coming up and with the
FULL BACKING of the coach at Sale (Steve Diamond).
Diamond was always of the view England did not give Addison the chance he deserved

Addisons mother was born and brought up in Ulster.

Having said that if he doesn't play next year, because of injury, he will be looking for a new club in 2022
because Ulster will not retain him.

geoff999rugby wrote:To be clear Ulster did not nick Addison, they signed a player whose contract was coming up and with the
FULL BACKING of the coach at Sale (Steve Diamond).
Diamond was always of the view England did not give Addison the chance he deserved

Addisons mother was born and brought up in Ulster.

Having said that if he doesn't play next year, because of injury, he will be looking for a new club in 2022
because Ulster will not retain him.

I didn't mean it as a detrimental thing, Sale were at the time a club with little financial clout and other clubs regularly used them as a source of good young prospects. I suspect for a period of time they wanted to stop the talent from moving away Taylor, Thomas, Gaskell, Addison, Haley etc are players they developed and struggled to replace before their new owners came in and the big contracts came out. Steve Diamond was used to seeing his best prospects cherry picked there's not much point doing anything other than wishing then well.

He certainly handed out a long term deal to Sam James, who's never had a proper chance with England either, as soon as he could. English clubs have also had a tendency to tie down Welsh talent before being capped, Jonah Holmes signed a new deal just before he first joined up with the Welsh national team. Tomas Francis had a rolling contract for a number of years allowing to remain at Chiefs for close to six years after his first cap. Which was more the point I was trying to get at. LRZ won't have signed a two year deal when he renewed in 2020 unless they were particularly stupid he'll have signed for at least three years and possibly longer. No club wants to see the player they've developed leave just as they come into their prime years.

No problem - I kind of realised that after I posted.
I do remember it was a very decent thing of Steve Diamond to do in assisting a player he rated to leave in
order to pursue International recognition

Jimmy Moz wrote:I was talking to one of the Cardiff Rugby supporters last weekend. He is the classic "Caaaaaaaairdiff are the best club ever" types. He reckons that Louis Rees-Zammit is definitely wanting to play for Cardiff Rugby and will be if not next season then the one after. I must admit I wanted to call bulldung on him with this lol but is there any truth to it?

Cardiff boy and ex-Cardiff academy player may wish to return to the club in the future

Non-shocker.

He'll also have to return as he won't have reached 60 caps by the time his Gloucester contract runs out. He'll then have the pick of the Welsh clubs to choose from.

PhilBB wrote:He'll also have to return as he won't have reached 60 caps by the time his Gloucester contract runs out

If he becomes the star he is becoming then I doubt the rule will apply to him. Plus I am sure he wants play at the top of his game. Gloucester will renew his contract. WRU will accept it. Cardiff will be good money for him though if he wants Pro 14 rugby.

Jimmy Moz wrote:

PhilBB wrote:He'll also have to return as he won't have reached 60 caps by the time his Gloucester contract runs out

If he becomes the star he is becoming then I doubt the rule will apply to him. Plus I am sure he wants play at the top of his game. Gloucester will renew his contract. WRU will accept it. Cardiff will be good money for him though if he wants Pro 14 rugby.

Nobody is exempt from the rule. It's a blanket policy (as it stands, of course).

PhilBB wrote:

Jimmy Moz wrote:I was talking to one of the Cardiff Rugby supporters last weekend. He is the classic "Caaaaaaaairdiff are the best club ever" types. He reckons that Louis Rees-Zammit is definitely wanting to play for Cardiff Rugby and will be if not next season then the one after. I must admit I wanted to call bulldung on him with this lol but is there any truth to it?

Cardiff boy and ex-Cardiff academy player may wish to return to the club in the future

Non-shocker.

He'll also have to return as he won't have reached 60 caps by the time his Gloucester contract runs out. He'll then have the pick of the Welsh clubs to choose from.

Depends how long term the long term contract is with Glaws and whether he stays fit etc but I'm sure the WRU will be doing all they can at the earliest possible instance to get him back at a region. They had to wait a while with Tomas Francis but eventually got their man.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

PhilBB wrote:

Jimmy Moz wrote:I was talking to one of the Cardiff Rugby supporters last weekend. He is the classic "Caaaaaaaairdiff are the best club ever" types. He reckons that Louis Rees-Zammit is definitely wanting to play for Cardiff Rugby and will be if not next season then the one after. I must admit I wanted to call bulldung on him with this lol but is there any truth to it?

Cardiff boy and ex-Cardiff academy player may wish to return to the club in the future

Non-shocker.

He'll also have to return as he won't have reached 60 caps by the time his Gloucester contract runs out. He'll then have the pick of the Welsh clubs to choose from.

Depends how long term the long term contract is with Glaws and whether he stays fit etc but I'm sure the WRU will be doing all they can at the earliest possible instance to get him back at a region. They had to wait a while with Tomas Francis but eventually got their man.

Slight difference with Francis is that he's never lived in Wales, isn't 'coming back to Wales', doesn't have his parents living in Wales and so on and so forth. Good point on the length of contract with Gloucester. He's got 50 or so caps to go in order to be beyond the 60 cap rule so he'll probably need to play in every match for the next five years in order to not be captured by it.

Looks unlikely to me.