By Simon Thomas
For Matt Sherratt, there’s the sense of a new beginning as he embarks on his second season as Cardiff’s head coach.
It’s been a summer of major change at the Arms Park both on and off the field and he is hoping that will now extend to his team’s results as they look to turn those narrow defeats into victories – starting with Friday night’s BKT URC opener at home to Zebre Parma.
Sherratt has brought in a raft of experienced players from the English Premiership with the likes of Callum Sheedy, Aled Davies, Dan Thomas, Josh McNally, Rory Jennings and Iwan Stephens coming on board, along with Ireland prop Ed Byrne.\
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There have also been additions on the management front, with Corniel van Zyl and Johnny Goodridge joining as forwards and attack coaches respectively, while Wales legend Gethin Jenkins is now full time with his defensive duties.
“It’s my second season but, if I’m honest, it kind of feels a bit like my first,” says Sherratt, known throughout the game as ‘Jockey’.
“Everything happened fairly late last year in terms of recruitment and, before we could breathe, we were into the season.
“It’s been a very different pre-season this time around and much better in terms of our preparation.
“There has been a massive amount of change at the club
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over the summer, with a lot of new players and new staff coming in, so it does feel pretty fresh.
“We have had 14 new starters who had never trained with the first team squad before. In a squad of 47, that’s a significant amount.
“We have two new coaches, a new analyst, a new S&C and Gethin Jenkins is now full time. We’ve also got a new gym here at the Arms Park. So we are in a real restart.
“The foundations are much better and I am hoping that will lead to some more successes.”
It’s well documented how competitive Cardiff were last term, as demonstrated by them picking up no fewer than 11 bonus points in BKT URC defeats.
But they only won four games. Sherratt is hoping the new personnel will help address that.
“It’s pretty obvious we have brought in some seasoned operators with good leadership qualities to try and help some of the youngsters.
“Off field, they have made a huge difference. The intensity of training has gone up. It’s that senior voice which steers the ship.
“I’m hoping their arrival, along with improving the basics in our game, may turn some of the tight losses into wins.
“But we’ve still got to keep our identity intact. That’s more important than anything else.
“It’s really important that I don’t change my philosophy.
“We talked a lot about staying in the fight last season and playing a good brand of rugby. If we go away from that, I think we get lost.
“It’s about not forgetting why we were in so many games last year.
“Obviously, we didn’t win as many matches as we would have liked, but I think people enjoyed watching us play and enjoyed seeing how committed the team was.
“We are a pretty brave team in terms of how we want to play. I think it’s important I don’t forget that as it’s 95 per cent of what we were about last season.
“What I’ve said is let’s keep our fight, let’s fight harder, let’s enjoy how we play even more and then people will enjoy watching us even more. Hopefully that will translate to a couple more wins.”
Out of the adversity of reduced squad numbers, the departure of seasoned pros and injuries, opportunity arose for a number of exciting young players last season.
They grabbed it with both hands, so much so that the likes of Cam Winnett, Alex Mann, Mackenzie Martin, Evan Lloyd and Ellis Bevan were all fast-tracked into the Wales squad.
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Now, alongside the older recruits, they have a key role to play as the club looks to move forward.
Sherratt concluded: “Last year was about fighting to survive really. This year is around settling down a little bit. It’s almost like the rebuild starts now.
“The younger players who were thrust into international rugby are a year further down the line and we are hoping the experiences of having played for us and for Wales will put them on a better footing.
“Then you’ve got guys coming in with experience of playing in big Premiership, European and international games and we are hoping some of that seeps into the club as well.
“We are going to go into every game trying to win it. We were close a lot of times last year against top opposition.
“We have just got to show the same fight and style of play and hopefully there will be a little bit of growth in some of the decision-making and our basics.
“Growing on last year is the message really.”
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