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Dai Young: 'Everybody wants the situation resolved sooner, rather than later'

By PA
Dai Young, Director of Rugby of Cardiff Rugby, speaks to the media after the European Challenge Cup Pool A match between Cardiff Rugby and Newcastle Falcons at Cardiff Arms Park on January 15, 2023 in Cardiff, Wales. (Photo by Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)

Cardiff boss Dai Young hailed his players after they delivered a bonus-point victory over United Rugby Championship opponents Benetton against the backdrop of Welsh rugby’s professional contracts freeze.

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With Welsh rugby currently dominated by the possibility of a players’ strike over the contracts situation, there was an air of relief among the Arms Park crowd to see competitive action taking centre-stage.

Next Saturday’s Six Nations clash between Wales and England – to be played next door at the Principality Stadium – could be in doubt with a long-term agreement between the four professional regions and Welsh Rugby Union still to be signed off.

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Players out of contact at the end of this season – believed to number between 70 and 100 in Wales – cannot be offered new deals in writing until agreement is reached.

It has been a demanding period for players at all four Welsh regions – Cardiff, Ospreys, Dragons and Scarlets – and their families.

“The players have been outstanding in training,” rugby director Young said, following a 30-13 success.

“I think everyone knows it is bubbling on in the background, and a lot of players have spoken about the anxiety it brings them, but their focus in training has been excellent.

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“They have not brought it out on to the training paddock. They have been excellent.

“I am really pleased they went and put a performance in. It was nice to see them coming in with smiles on their faces.”

The threat of Wales players striking currently hangs over the England game, and talks are continuing in pursuit of a swift conclusion.

Young added: “Everybody wants the situation resolved sooner, rather than later.

“It is a shame it has got to this position. We just want to get back to Welsh rugby making big strides forwards, not talking about things that are dragging us down.

“We all know what is going on, and we all know the anxiety and frustration with all the events that are going on.”

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Tom 1 hour ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.


I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough. 


England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.


England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.

 

England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.


If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.


England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.


I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.


On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.

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