Matt Sherratt was pleased with Cardiff’s 72-10 victory over Richmond FC as they progress through their pre-season preparations.
The Blue & Blacks ran in 11 tries on an entertaining afternoon at the Arms Park with Harri Millard, Ellis Bevan and Tom Bowen bagging a brace each and Ioan Emanuel, Taine Basham, Tom Cottle, Callum Sheedy and Daf Hughes.
Cardiff now travel to face Leinster on Saturday, before kicking off the BKT United Rugby Championship a week later against Emirates Lions on Saturday, September 27 (7:45pm).
Sherratt said: “It’s hard to put too much emphasis on pre-season games. We just needed to get some contact in our bodies and put some of the things we’ve been working on in pre-season into practice out on the field.
“I said to the boys after, we have 13 new players today. That was a big part of today, getting them in a blue and black shirt at the Arms Park and then I’m sure there’ll be lots of good stuff that we can reinforce and a couple of areas we can tweak.”
Debutants and homecomings
Cardiff handed out 12 debuts in the pre-season friendly and several put their hands up with impressive performances.
Elijah Evans was a handful, Taine Basham got through plenty of work and Ioan Lloyd produced an assured performance with 14 points from the boot.
Sherratt continued: “We’ve made a point of it over the last three years – both Ioan Lloyd and Ioan Emanuel coming back to their home club. We made something of that before the game. We had six pathway players making their debuts today and then another five who have come in from other clubs.
“Of the pathway boys, Elijah Evans was excellent, it was great to see Tom Bowen doing his thing again and I should probably mention Taine Basham as well.
“He’s come into a new club with a point to prove, played 80 minutes and showed glimpses of what he can do.
“Ioan Lloyd’s a Cardiff type player. Obviously, looking back, he played in age-grade teams with Teddy Williams, and I just like boys coming back to Cardiff.
“Callum Sheedy obviously was ex-Cardiff, bringing Stef and Tom Bowen back last year, Ioan Emanuel playing today and Ioan Lloyd’s in that camp.
“He’s such a talented player so the challenge for Ioan is, we want him obviously to be a ten that can control the game, that’s good in our shape but what Ioan has got as well is a running threat. We want that to come out as well. I can see the last couple of weeks he’s really not having to think about our calls now so he’s getting more fluid and more fluid.”
Injury concerns
The only negatives from the victory were injuries to Mason Grady, upon his return to action, Elijah Evans and George Nott.
Sherratt added: “I know it’s a shoulder injury for Mason, but obviously we’ll have to assess it in the next 24, 48 hours. Fingers crossed it’s okay because Mase deserves a little bit of luck
“He’s had a tough 18 months. Let’s hope for everybody, especially Mason, that he’s okay. You learn in this game that until you have a good look at it, you don’t know. I’m hoping that it’s not as bad as it looks.
“George hopefully is okay – I think it’s his toe. Elijah’s thumb, but again we don’t know exactly the extent of that. Let’s hope they’re all at the run in the next couple of weeks.”