The News Review:
- Cardiff Blues aiming to build on last season’s success
- Perry heads to Irish
- Gethin Jenkins set to sign two-year deal with Cardiff Blues
- Cohen flys out with Sharks
Cardiff Blues aiming to build on last season’s success
Walesnline
n top of that Young has a quartet of experienced leaders in Paul Tito Xavier Rush Gareth Thomas and Ben Blair to call on during the new campaign. The Blues have a good blend of experienced old heads young bucks and current internationals on their books. There is no doubt that they will throw the kitchen sink at the Heineken Cup and will be looking to go one better than they did last season. But winning the Magners League with the new play-off system introduced at the end of the season is probably the trophy they should really target. Before last season they finished runners-up in successive seasons and they now need to show they can produce the week-in week-out consistency to become the Kings of Celtic rugby. That would be some achievement against the likes of reigning champions Munster Heineken Cup winners Leinster domestic rivals spreys and rapidly-emerging Edinburgh. But beyond the Magners League the Blues are back as a major force in European rugby.
Related from Birminghamspoint: Birmingham’s transfer frenzy
Perry heads to Irish
SkySports
The Exiles opted to sign Perry after their initial bid to sign fellow Newcastle lock Andy Buist fell through due to a failed medical. And Irish head coach Toby Booth is confident Perry will add a physical presence to Exiles pack. Booth said: “Physicality is a key requirement for any successful pack in the Guinness Premiership and the Heineken Cup. “Andy Perry has both physical presence and ability that augments our second row resources. We’re pleased that he has joined our squad.
Gethin Jenkins set to sign two-year deal with Cardiff Blues
Walesnline
It’s understood that he along with several other high-profile Blues players attempted to insert a clause in his contract allowing him to leave should Dai Young exit the region a request turned down flat by the Blues board. Even so Jenkins a former pupil of Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive School Beddau is known as something of a home bird and has decided his future lies with the Blues. It’s a sign that he along with his team-mates believe they possess a squad capable of building on the achievements of last season when they lost a heartbreaking Heineken Cup semi-final to Leicester following a farcical penalty shoot-out. The improvement in training facilities with the Blues now sharing a state-of-the-art home with Cardiff City at the Vale of Glamorgan Hotel complex is thought to have been another factor in persuading Jenkins to stay put. n top of that Jenkins is mindful of the way he is handled by Blues head coach Dai Young who does not overplay him and encourages one of his prize assets to play to his strengths in terms of tackling and running in the loose. In the French system certainly the physical demands would increase manifestly and there would more than likely be an increased focus on what Jenkins produces in the scrum. Jenkins’ capture gives Young’s squad a settled look for the next two years at least with Kiwis Ben Blair Xavier Rush and Paul Tito as well as Welsh internationals like Andy Powell Jamie Roberts Leigh Halfpenny and Martyn Williams all signed up.
Cohen flys out with Sharks
Messenger
? Cohen 30 confirmed he would welcome a return to the England ranks but knows he has to establish himself at club level first. Holder of 57 caps scoring 31 tries he says: ?I?m not looking too far ahead. I?ve never shut the door ? you never ?retire? from the England team!? The club?s first four Heineken Cup fixtures were announced last week pitching Sale Sharks into a difficult opening encounter at Toulouse on Sunday 11th ctober. Cohen reports that the leading French sides can adopt a different attitude to European matches from Top 14 games. ?Toulouse work hard in the Heineken Cup and play the Laws of the Game very well? he says. ?But if you approach a visit there as equals they don?t perform as well. You have to ruffle their feathers early on.