The Season Can’t End Soon Enough…

Having missed Friday night’s visit to the Liberty Stadium, I was thankfully spared the humiliation of one of the worst Blues performances ever. Fans and players alike can’t wait to see the end of the 2013/14 season.

The season may have started with quiet optimism, but after peaking with 3 good Heineken Cup victories over Toulon and Glasgow (home and away) things went rapidly gone downhill following the loss crushing Exeter defeat. That loss saw Cardiff not only miss out on qualifying for the quarter finals of Europe’s top tier competition, but indeed also crash out of Europe entirely having failed to get into the Amlin Challenge Cup.

Since that match, the Blues have lost 6 of their past 7 games. In fact, the Arms Park side have won just 1 league match and 1 LV Cup match in 2014 – that’s 2 wins from 10.

Exactly what has gone wrong is hard to say. In previously articles I’ve noted injuries, lack of confidence, lack of leadership figures and an overall lack of quality, but even those excuses can’t justify the poor results, lack of direction and unacceptable performances.

Taking the Ospreys performance alone and it’s clear that even for the players, the end of the season simply cannot come soon enough. They look totally devoid of confidence, have next to zero desire and are playing like a team which has never met before.

The lack of any sort of team spirit, ethic or culture is painfully evident.

Our destiny for next season is sealed. We will not be in the Heineken Cup (or whatever the top tier competition will be named) for the first time in the region/club’s history. Things are at an all-time low, and it’s hard to see how they’re going to turn around any time soon.

That said, if you start to look closely, there are tiny shoots of recovery growing through the Arms Park’s artificial surface. Perhaps most notably, the imminent signing of three-cap Kiwi Jarrad Hoeata, replacing the departing Bradley Davies in the second row.

30-year old Hoeata, who can also play in the back row, ticks every box the Blues could possibly hope for in their recruitment drive. A player with massive experience and genuine quality, the 6ft 5inch 17 and a half stone unit is the sort of player any young squad member would immediately look up to. When the chips have been down this season, there has been no player who could take the game by the scruff and drag the inexperienced squad members through a difficult patch. Robin Copeland has been out and out the Blues best performer this year, but having no international experience, even he comes up short against the likes of Leinster, Toulon and Ospreys.

But perhaps most importantly, he will be available all year round.

Along with the news that Fijian number 8 Manoa Vosawi is also set to arrive from Treviso, it seesm that the penny has finally dropped that we need more experience and more non-Welsh players.

When Dai Young began his rebuilding process, he based it around experienced foreign imports who would be the mainstays of the squad. While other players would be in and out on Wales duty, there was always a solid core of players who were ever present - Xavier Rush, Paul Tito, Tao Felise, Jason Spice, Casey Laulala, Ben Blair – these were the players who the young stars of the future turned too when they went down to 14 men at Gloucester or when the game seemed dead and buried with 10 minutes to go against Leicester in the HC Semi Final.

Hoeata and Vosawai aren’t going to turn the Blues’ fortunes around overnight - in fact in the latter’s case he’ll be hard pushed to match the performances of his predecessor – however they both bring much needed bulk to a painfully weak set of forwards and should provide more stability in squad selection.

While the other Welsh-qualified signings won’t immediately inspire the casual supporter, the Blues have recruited well given their financial restraints. Craig Mitchell is a renowned prop who, if he can stay fit, has the potential to significantly improve the Blues front row fortunes; Tavis Knoyle has the determination and quickness of thought to replace the largely anonymous Lloyd Williams; Josh Turnbull and Ieuan Jones add depth to the back row and talks are taking place to keep hold of centre Iceman. However, arguably the most exciting prospect is that of winger George Watkins, whose try scoring record makes for much better reading than that of Harry Robinson’s.

More signings are needed, undoubtedly. This season we’ve over-relied on promoting Welsh Premiership players in key positions and been found totally out of our depth.

We still need an experienced outside half to relieve the burden on Rhys Patchell’s shoulders, another big prop to replace the creaking Tao’ Felise and a full back to fill Leigh Halfpenny’s shoes, but things seem to be going ok on the recruitment front.

So reasons for renewed optimism next season? Perhaps. But like the players, the fans have a few more miserable matches to endure before the sweet relief of the summer break.