words hamish stuart pictures Steve Pope
it was always hard to understand “This is the best squad I have ever had to seasons in coming second and as we all know
the level of abuse dai Young work with here. Whether that will be good you do not get anything for coming second.
suffered in the early days of his enough I cannot say because everyone else is
coaching career at Cardiff arms trying to win things as well.” “I think we have overcome a lot of hurdles,
Park. he was a new coach with obstacles in our way, but obviously we have
a below par squad, but some A large part of that is some shrewd got to improve again. To go one step further
supporters who vitriotically voiced recruitment over the last few seasons. Kiwis would be a big achievement for us.
their demands for miracles. Xavier Rush, Ben Blair and Paul Tito, along
with Regan King at the Scarlets and Marty “Certainly we can be pleased that we are
After all Young came into the job on the Holah at the Ospreys, would rank pretty high in there at the end of the season, talking of
back of one of the top careers for a modern up in anyone’s list of best foreign deals. winning things.
Welsh forward, first capped as a teenager in
Wales’s 1987 World Cup campaign, a unique Then there have also been players like Mama “That brings a bit of pressure, but it is a
three Lions tours in separate decades, with a Molitika, who has been around the block a better pressure than we went through two to
six year spell in rugby league interrupting his bit but discovered extra form under Young at three seasons ago when the talk was whether
51caps. the blues. we would be able to qualify for Europe, would
we ever get back to challenging Leinster,
Perhaps most importantly given his new He also surrounded himself with young Munster and those sort of teams.”
occupation, he was always the sort of player coaches, for instance Rob Howley going on to
that others looked to in moments of crisis - make such an impression with Wales, which They certainly have done that, demolishing
and those are often the ones with the stature took a little time to pay off. Stade Francais at the Arms Park last season in
to go into successful coaching careers. Europe and the Heineken Cup will once again
However even when Cardiff Blues fans were be the litmus test of any improvements.
As soon as such an inexperienced coach was quick to voice their discontent, outsiders have
given the job, a little ahead of schedule when been quicker to recognise the qualities. However Gloucester and Biarritz are in the
Rudy Joubert returned to South Africa, Young same group, so the campaign will arguably be
needed to be given time to develop and Young has been linked with top jobs even tougher than last season.
chairman Peter Thomas has always publicly at Saracens and Leicester, coached the
backed his man. Barbarians last summer and has also been “You need a bit of luck in the Heineken Cup,
talked of as a possible Lions forwards coach – with all your best players fit,” said Young.
The Blues have developed year on year if not next summer’s tour, then in the future.
from struggling to finish in the top three “There are three teams in our group that
Welsh regions to guarantee Heineken Cup this year there is a new coaching team at the could all win it, as was the case last year, but
qualification, to reaching the quarter-finals Blues, the blend of Gareth Baber and Justin we have confidence in the squad that we can
last year as well as finishing second in the Burnell moving up from within the Blues go anywhere and get a result.
Magners League for the last two seasons. region, with Billy Millard joining from Australia.
“If anything we were disappointed in our
Although the loss of scrum half Mike Phillips “I am confident we have got the management home form in the Magners League because
to the Ospreys shows where they stand team to take us to another level, which is we lost two games to Edinburgh and Leinster
in terms of financial muscle, the recent important as well, but so will other squads,” which cost us the league in the end.
successes mean the pressure on Young is he said.
different with the expectation of silverware “We have recruited to cover some positions
to go with the improvements. “It is difficult to bring players in because we where we had problems on the wing and at
have the restrictions of the six non-Welsh 10. No coach is ever wholly happy with his
Typically he does not hide. “I’ve seen the players and we have a full quota. squad, we are always looking to improve, but
other type of pressure and I much prefer this I have got a lot of confidence in this squad
sort,” he said, about the demand for titles. “The question is not whether we will move which has got better year on year.
lues
on, I am sure we will, but whether other
b
“I have two years left on my contract and I teams will move on to a greater or lesser “We improved our away form last year, picked
am determined to win something here. degree than us. up a lot of away scalps, what let us down was
our home form in some games which we
“I took over when the ship was sinking, really, “The players want success as much as we probably should have won.
steadied that ship and we have steamed ahead do and the fans do, the hard work is in place
Cardiff
over the last two seasons. I am pleased with and hopefully will reap rewards through the “We are quietly confident we can achieve
our progress but the next step is to get our season. something.”
hands on something and I would like to do
SW
that sooner rather than later. “We have been consistent in the last two
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