Matt Sherratt will lead Cardiff Rugby for the first time as head coach when his side face Scarlets in a pre-season friendly at Cardiff Arms Park this evening (7pm KO).
He was confirmed as head coach back in August but the Rugby World Cup delayed the start of the season. Now Sherratt and his squad are eager to get their campaign underway after an extended pre-season block.
“It’s been a long pre-season and you can tell that in the last two weeks that everyone is ready for a run now," said Sherratt.
“I’ve really enjoyed it, and obviously I’m very familiar with the staff and the Club, so if I’m honest there’s not a huge amount different in terms of the day-to-day running of the rugby programme.
“A little bit more in terms of recruitment and retention and little things like that, but I’ve loved it so far."
Cardiff are missing Lopeti Timani and Seb Davies due to illness and are fielding a young side, but Sherratt is looking forward to seeing the squad finally take the field in what he is expecting to be a typically open pre-season friendly with both sides making plenty of changes during the game.
“I’ve looked at the Scarlets team and I’ve spoken to Dwayne Peel a little bit and we’re both keen to get as many young players on the pitch as possible, but we’ve had a little but of illness in camp too, so we’re probably a little bit younger than we’d want.
“It will be rolling subs and trying to match the teams up as much as possible so there’s no mismatches with the young players going against some of the more experienced players boys, and I’m hoping it will be a good game.
“Both teams historically play a decent brand of rugby, there will be a lot of effort on show, there will be a lot of changes, so there will be mistakes as well, but it’ll be a typical first pre-season run out.”