It’s great to be back at home after a week off and then playing in Edinburgh on the weekend.
A performance that was far from what we are about, we allowed Edinburgh in, they were at home, they got up on the scoreboard and did a good job of putting us to the sword. Fair play to Edinburgh they played well, however you can rest assured that no one hurts more after a performance and result like that than the players and staff. We know we are better than that, we have taken our medicine and we will be better. We have had an excellent week – initially looking at all aspects of the Edinburgh game and then moving on to prepare for another exciting match at the Parc this afternoon against the Cheetahs.
We want to put in a performance that we and you, our loyal supporters, are proud of. Like I say we are thrilled to be back at home, we love playing at the Parc and look forward to playing a good Cheetahs side today. I have been impressed with the Cheetahs this season. They have had three nice wins at Bloemfontein, up on the Highveld and good continuity through the Currie Cup. Ruan Pienaar is a class addition to their squad and brings a vast amount of European experience. They too will be hurting from their late defeat to Connacht and really motivated coming over here.
We have looked at them but made sure we have had a really good look at ourselves.
We are a group that is growing, getting used to each other, still learning a lot about each other and looking to improve every day. We are an excited side, looking forward to putting a performance on the field that we can all be proud of.
It was great to welcome back Kieron Fonotia last weekend and Blade is back with us on Monday after having a couple of weeks break after the World Cup. By the time you are reading this in your seat Tex Ratuva will have also arrived and you may even be sitting next to him! If so, please make him welcome and say “Bula Vinaka” to give him a good taste of Fiji from West Wales.
Commiserations to Wales on their semi-final defeat to the Boks. We were flying back from Edinburgh when the game was being played and landed in Cardiff with about 15 minutes to go so we all hung around the airport TVs watching the drama unfold.
We were all disappointed for the Welsh boys and particularly our Scarlets who were involved. They have put so much into this campaign & have done us so proud in Japan. It wasn’t a great weekend to be a Scarlet Kiwi!, bring on this weekend!
You may be wondering what happens post RWC for the returning Wales boys. We have been having an ongoing conversation with WRU Performance staff and Wayne. Next week we will sit down and have a chat together about each of the players individually. After some time off refreshing their minds and bodies we and the boys themselves are looking forward to seeing them back on the Parc in the mighty Scarlets jersey.
For us, as a group, we know we can’t look any further than the next match and we are all excited for what promises to be a great 80 minutes of rugby this afternoon.
Enjoy the game. Thanks again for all your support and being our 16th player.
Carpe Diem
Brad