Transfer Updates
There was disappointing news as it was revealed fly half Nick Robinson will be leaving the rejoin at the end of the season, joining West Country giants Gloucester Rugby. He told WalesOnline,
"To decide to leave my hometown club, somewhere where I dreamt of playing, and spent a large part of my career was always going to be hard. However, it's something I felt I needed to do. It's obviously been one of the hardest decisions I'll ever have to make in my rugby career,"
27 Year old Nicky follows brother Jamie out of the Arms Park, potentially leaving two massive voids in the Blues back line. But there will be two new players arriving in time for next season, Australian Sam Norton-Knight is the man set to replace the Welsh international at 10, while the Blues this week confirmed the signing of Scarlets centre Gavin Evans.
Evans arrives having fallen out of favour at Parc Y Scarlets, but the 24 year old is a player of undoubted quality, and provides a very shrewd acquisition. With Jamie Robinson departing for Toulon, Evans does somewhat cushion the blow, although most fans will still be very disappointed to lose Robinson senior. Dai Young said of the new signing,
"Once Gavin had made the decision to leave the Scarlets to experience a different environment, we were obviously very pleased to hear he was interested in joining the Blues. Although he is a young player he has gained a lot of experience during his career at the Scarlets. He is a player of high quality and hopefully we can help him fulfil his undoubted rugby potential at the Blues - he will be another great addition to our squad."
But there was some excellent news as it was revealed former Cardiff and Wales captain, Martyn Williams, has signed a 2 year extension on his current contract, which will see him through to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
Williams, a British Lion and 6 Nations Player of the Tournament, is regarded as the finest player to don the Cardiff Blues jersey, and news of his re-signing comes as a massive boost.
"Martyn had expressed that he wanted to go to the World Cup and we have supported him. We are just thrilled that he is on board until then. There has been a lot of talk of us looking after him, but we can not look after him anymore. He only played 12 games for us last season. Martyn is excellent to have around the place and is still playing quality rugby. So why wouldn't we want to keep him?"
Cardiff are blessed with three fabulous players in the position, with Robin Sowden-Taylor, a player massively underrated by the Welsh set up, and Wales' former Under 20's captain Sam Warburton, who has already been tipped to be future International star.
Should Martyn make it to the World Cup in 2011, it would be his 4th tournament confirming his place as one of rugby best ever players. He is also favourite to start at 7 for the Lions test this summer.
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