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The visitors present a rugby conundrum in that
though blessed with a strikingly impressive squad
over the years the club has stubbornly under-
achieved in the Guinness PRO12.
Indeed, since its re-invention as the Blues
in 2003, the Cardiff Arms Park outfit has
consistently resisted the expectations of its own
fan base and the wider sporting community
in the competition which excites such fervour
in the other less distinguished teams in the
Championship. Second-placed finishes in 2007
and 2008 flattered only to deceive, and mid-table
mediocrity – and worse – has too often marked
its domestic campaigns.
And the Welsh arrive at Kingspan this evening
sitting eighth in the current table, 23 points
behind Ulster which occupies the last of those
critical Top Four positions with just four rounds
of the regular season remaining. But, and what
a significant caveat this is, Cardiff may have no
play-off ambitions of its own but it can heavily
influence Ulster’s hard-earned but still tentative
grip on being part of those mid-May Play-offs.
With a squad packed with international pedigree
the Blues demonstrated in recent weeks that,
when engaged, it can compete with the best: and
the best in the PRO12 at the moment is Leinster
which clung on for a 22-21 win at the RDS two
weeks ago, young scrum-half Tomos Williams
crossing twice in a fiercely-contested match.
Last weekend, Cardiff had a European Challenge
Cup quarter-final to negotiate, and after leading at
Kingsholm by 26-20 with a free-running display,
they were again second-best as Gloucester
– with Jonny Bell in charge as Interim Coach –
turned on the power to progress to the semi-finals
with a 46-26 win. So Ulster will be well aware that
tonight in Belfast it faces opponents with a proven
try-scoring armoury and a forward unit which can
often rouse itself to top-level performance.
Coach Danny Wilson is in his second season in
charge at Arms Park and is fashioning a player
pool which he will not for long tolerate failing to
mirror its collective talents and enjoy the PRO12
and European success the club craves and
believes its resources merit.
The Cardiff club, in an earlier form, boasted such
as Bleddyn Williams, Cliff Morgan, Gerald Davies
and the peerless Gareth Edwards as celebrated
alumni who have decorated rugby, and today
there are tyros of the professional era in the
Blues’ dressing room. Flanker Sam Warburton is
just 28, and his Six Nations’ form has seen him
jump into contention to captain, for a second
time, a Lions party this summer. The skipper,
prop Gethin Jenkins, is a legendary figure already,
‘capped’ by Wales 126 times and at 36 now
concentrating his formidable frame on pushing
his club closer to its ambitions in the PRO12 and
in Europe.
On the other side of the front row is the
intimidating Tongan Taufa’ao Filise, while lock
George Earle was one four key figures lured away
from the Scarlets last summer, though the gifted
playmaker Rhys Patchell made the journey the
other way, from Arms Park to Parc y Scarlets.
Of course ‘one of our own’ joined the Blues last
summer and after early injury blight Nick Williams
is a charismatic and fearsome force, and he’s
added further grit and lustre to the breakaway
unit which performed so well against Leinster and
in the first half exchanges at Gloucester.
Ulster will have studied the opposition this
evening in minute detail, and it is up front where
– as the truism has it – all games are essentially
won, so Roger Wilson, Sean Reidy and Iain
Henderson will need to be at their best and
most alert to stifle the anticipated early Cardiff
onslaught and build the platform from which the
home backline will be anxious to launch attacks
at pace and with accuracy.
Paddy Jackson’s return to the No. 10 shirt renews
the proven pairing with the wondrous pivot Ruan
Pienaar who, on what will almost certainly be
one of his final three appearances for Ulster at
Kingspan Stadium, is guaranteed an embracing
ovation from supporters who have long realised
they have witnessed the best, and the most
excitingly inventive, of one of modern rugby’s
greatest scrum-halves.
Charles Piutau will relish the chance to get the
fans off their seats once again with his powerful
Tonight star-laden Cardiff Blues take to the Kingspan sward for what is truly
the start of the ‘business end’ of Ulster’s long, roller-coasting season.
MOMENTUM CAN DULL THE BLUES
ROD NAWN