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Welsh Rugby Union
  • 28/08/2024
Transcript
00:00You look out every week to win a game. Like I said, it's not going out to win, you'll
00:07be lying, but obviously the development part is massive for us here. We've had great success
00:12over the last couple of years with graduates coming through our academy, leading on to
00:16play for our Cardiff rugby team. Not so long ago we had a fair few boys representing Wales,
00:22so the development part for us is massive. Like we said, these young boys have got to
00:26be doing that right. They know that, they work hard week in, week out. The semi-pro
00:31boys at Cardiff, they're exceptional, they work hard in training, they show these young
00:37boys things that some of us coaches haven't seen. They treat these boys real well and
00:43some of these young boys do look up to them semi-pros, so I think to have that balance
00:47is right. I was in this scenario when I was coming through the ranks when I was young
00:51and if you go all out too young, you could come and suck. It's about getting that blend
00:57right of youth and that experience and I think if we do get that right this year, it could
01:02be a good year for us. I'm fortunate to play 100 games for both Cardiff rugby and Cardiff
01:07RFC and I know what it means to put on this blue and black jersey and that's what we've
01:10got to feed into this next generation. People around here know how passionate I am and sometimes
01:16I do get carried away with that but the players are in the forefront of my mind and it's about
01:22me developing them, developing the team and I get my success now of these boys coming
01:27through the ranks of the senior academy to represent Cardiff RFC and to go on to play
01:31for Cardiff Rugby and that's where I get my joys from now. As a coaching group, we get
01:37on which is obviously the main part and we're all passionate, we all focus on the same goals,
01:41we all know what we want to get out of the season. It's about us guiding each other and
01:45the players to get that outcome and like we said, that outcome we know is going to
01:49be winning. Like we said, we've got a long journey here now, we know what path we're
01:53going on and obviously we're going to be a tough team to beat. That doesn't mean we're
01:58just going to roll over now because we're saying it's about development but people who
02:01come to the Irons Park, it's going to be a tough place to come, like it has over the
02:04last however many years. It's just about these boys developing and stepping up to that challenge
02:11like teams know in this league. When you play Cardiff RFC, they put out their best
02:16performance and there's mountains of games that we look at throughout the years of the
02:21team last week but you can guarantee when a team plays against Cardiff RFC, they are
02:25going to come all guns blazing. That's a good thing about representing this team, you have
02:29a target on your back every week and it's obviously a good one for you to be able to
02:32step up and wear it with pride and meet them battles head on. Let's be honest, I'm glad
02:39that we were the best team by a mile last year. You take nothing away from them, they've
02:41got some, exactly like what we have here, they've got some real good experienced older
02:45heads and they've got some great young boys coming through as well. Everything they got
02:49last year was very deserved and the year before they beat us here on our home pitch and we've
02:54had some fantastic battles against them so I'm sure again there's going to be every team
02:59in this league can win the league. You can't just rock up any weekend and think that or
03:02this week's going to be a walkover because if you don't turn up with your A game, you
03:07can't get turned over and that's why this league is tough and I think that's what makes
03:11it so exciting as well. As I said, each individual player is on a different path. We sit down
03:16with all our academy players and we go through a player plan for them so they know when they're
03:21available for selection and they know if they want to be picked, they have to be training
03:24well, playing well, knowing their individual roles. Then there will also be parts in the
03:28season where we might take them out for a week or two because they might need to get
03:33that extra conditioning or they might have to get their week sessions in so they've got
03:37a player plan and we honestly believe that their player plans are for the bigger picture.
03:41Some of them players will get frustrated because they want to play every week but it's almost
03:47impossible nowadays to develop and to play every week so it's our job to make sure that
03:52they get them good development opportunities when they're playing but also off the pitch
03:56and they get that development opportunity which is just as important as when they're
04:00on the pitch as when they're off it because like you just said then, when they're off
04:03the pitch, that's where they can get a lot of joy which will aid them for when they get
04:06back onto that pitch.
04:07We want to play an excited brand of rugby. We want to have high ball and play. I think
04:11the league will suit that, the players we have here will suit that. There's going to
04:15be errors and there's going to be times where we get frustrated but I just think if we just
04:18keep backing what we're training and backing what we're doing, hopefully we'll reap the
04:21rewards come the end of the season.