By Gareth James
Theo Cabango is hoping lightning can strike twice for his family at Cardiff City Stadium, although this time in reverse.
The Cardiff Rugby wing will be following in the footsteps of his older brother, Ben, by playing at the football venue at Judgement Day on Saturday 1 June, when he hopes to help his side beat the Ospreys.
Fourteen months ago, Ben turned into a cult hero for the Swansea City fans when he turned in a 99th minute winner against Cardiff City to make it 3-2 and notch a double-double over their arch-rivals in the south Wales derby.
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The ball this weekend may be a different shape, and Theo will be playing for Cardiff rather than the Swansea-based Ospreys, but he is hoping for a similar outcome to the one enjoyed by ‘Big Ben’.
“I often go to watch Ben playing for Wales at the Cardiff City Stadium and I know he greatly enjoyed scoring that goal there to win the derby last year. I’d love to be able to do the same thing at the weekend,” said Theo, who will be playing in place of the injured Josh Adams.
“I’m hoping Ben might come along and watch this weekend, although he might have to go in disguise after what happened last year.”
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The Ospreys are still holding out hope of breaking into the play-off places by picking up five points against Cardiff in the second game on at Judgement Day. Theo’s match-up with Keelan Giles, another player pushing for inclusion in Warren Gatland’s summer series squad, could well be one of the highlights of the whole event.
“I’m just concentrating on doing my job for Cardiff and trying to help them to pick up another win. It’s only by playing well for Cardiff that I will have any chance of getting picked by Wales,” he said.
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The quickest player in the Cardiff squad, Theo only needs an inch of space to turn nothing into something. That certainly suits the current Cardiff style and with nine tries in 25 games to date for his hometown team he is making a major impact.
“I’m certainly the quickest in the club and I work hard on my speed. I used to be heavily into gymnastics when I was younger and I also did some athletics,” he added.
“I was always a fast started in the 100 metres, although I remember being overtaken in one schools race by a boy who was in the year ahead of me. He just came shooting past me at around 60 metres and went away.
“I thought ‘wow’. That was Jermia Azu, who last week became the first Welsh athlete to break 10 seconds for the 100 metres!”
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Theo is one of three changes behind the scrum for the game against the Ospreys, taking over from Adams on the wing. Tinus de Beer returns at No 10 and Ben Thomas moves back to centre in place of the departing Willis Halaholo.
There are three changes in the pack, with a new front row in the form of Rhys Carre, Evan Lloyd and Keiron Assiratti – Carre making his final appearance before his move to Saracens in the summer.
The second row and back row remains the same from Durban, with the departing Shane Lewis-Hughes starting alongside Rory at lock, and Ben Donnell and James Botham accompanying Alun Lawrence who starts at eight.
Cardiff Rugby: Cameron Winnett; Theo Cabango, Rey Lee-Lo, Ben Thomas ©, Mason Grady, Tinus de Beer, Ellis Bevan; Rhys Carre, Evan Lloyd, Keiron Assiratti, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Rory Thornton, Ben Donnell, James Botham, Alun Lawrence
Reps: Efan Daniel, Corey Domachowski, Rhys Litterick, Seb Davies, Lopeti Timani, Willis Halaholo, Jacob Beetham, Gabriel Hamer-Webb
