Cardiff Rugby looking ahead for next season

It wasn't to be in terms of a Play-Off spot for Cardiff last season but the Welsh side, scattered with young exciting talent, made some real progress.

With legendary Wales prop, Gethin Jenkins brought in to look after their defence, Cardiff made more tackles than any other team in the United Rugby Championship last season.

Attacking-wise, Cardiff touched down on 50 occasions last season, racking up 389 points in total. They made a total of 127 clean breaks, beating 331 defenders, and racking up 6537 metres along the way.

Recruitment for next season has been excellent with Wales international fly-half, Callum Sheedy from Bristol Bears and Ireland international prop, Ed Byrne from Leinster among those arriving at Arms Park ahead of next season.

No doubt Cardiff will be looking to improve on results next season and climb into those Play-Off spots, but they can take a huge amount of positivity from some big results last season, with victories over the likes of former champions, the DHL Stormers and a huge win away from home against the Hollywoodbets Sharks.

Key Players

Callum Sheedy as we mentioned will be a huge asset to Cardiff next season but Tinus de Beer will continue to be a real asset for the Welsh team, while Ben Thomas looked good for Wales in their summer series.

Mason Grady continues to impress as does Alex Mann, while they will also be able to call on Theo Cabango who returned from injury late last season.

British and Irish Lions Josh Adams is always a try-scoring threat, while Taulupe Faleatau should be back from a fractured shoulder by the start of the new season, all going well.

Ins & Outs

Ins:

Callum Sheedy – Bristol Bears

Gabriel Hamer-Webb – Northampton Saints

Steffan Emanuel – Bath

Tom Bowen – Bristol Bears

Joe Cowell – Cardiff Metropolitan University

Danny Southworth – Exeter Chiefs

Ed Byrne – Leinster

Iwan Stephens – Newcastle Falcons

Rory Jennings – Newcastle Falcons

Dan Thomas – Bristol Bears

Josh McNally – Bath

Outs:

Tomos Williams – Gloucester

Rhys Carré – Saracens

Owen Lane – Valence Romans

Shane Lewis-Hughes – Dragons

Arwel Robson – Chambery
Lopeti Timani – Narbonne

Jamie Hill – released

Max Clark – released

Gonzalo Bertranou – released

Aled Summerhill – released

Shane Lewis-Hughes – released

Willis Halaholo – released

Matthew Aubrey – released

Ciaran Parker – retired

Josh Turnbull – retired

Ellis Jenkins – retired