Taken from www.CardiffRFC.co.uk

"Coach Howard Stone has described his selection options for Saturday’s vital Premiership relegation battle at Llandovery as “down to the bare bones”.

He said, “A combination of factors have left us with a very limited number of available players from which to choose a starting line-up and full replacements’ bench. There is a seven-day rule that removes several Wales under-19 and under-21 players from the pot and we still have quite a few injuries to cope with. On top of that some of our players have been drafted into the Cardiff Blues regional 22. It is always good to see that our development policy is working as when Dafydd Hewitt and Bradley Davies receive recognition but there is no point in denying that it couldn’t have come at a worse time for us. We have a very important game at Llandovery. I’m sure that the boys on duty on Saturday will give their all but it would have been far better if we had our full registered squad available to us.”

It is anticipated that Leon Andrews will return at full-back against Llandovery after missing six games with a leg injury and Michael Leaman is likely to be on the replacements’ bench after three months on the injured list.

A new addition to the squad is 25-year-old prop Kris Kinsey. The much travelled former Ebbw Vale and Bedwas representative has played for clubs in Ireland, Canada and New Zealand since leaving Newbridge Comprehensive School. He also had a season with Pontypridd Youth and promises to be a useful new face for the rest of the season.

Fly-half Chris Anderson goes into Saturday’s game with a Cardiff career record of 499 points while lock Gareth Knight plays his final game before departing on a world tour."

Squad
Leon Andrews; Elgan Jones, Francesco Brillante, Nick Gill, Jonathan Hill, Jonathan Rimmer, Chris Anderson, Gareth Williams-Davies, Dean Dewdney, Owen Ruttley, Tom Isaacs, Geraint Morris, Nathan Llewellyn, Kris Kinsey, Darren Fenton, Ryan Price, Michael Leaman, Khalid Jama, Gareth Knight, Chris Stamatakis, Rob Meredith, Chris Jones, A N Other, Nick Hampson, James Malpas.

Having stolen Dafydd Hewitt, James Goode, Bradley Davies and Mark Lewis this weekend, why don't the Blues offer some players in return?

Tristan Davies for example isn't good enough for regional rugby anyway, and hasn't played in quite some time. Surely switching him for one game would bulk up the Cardiff side and bring in some invaluable experience.

And it's not just TD either, Rhys Williams needs a big kick somewhere painful, and with Leon Andrew playing only 80% fit, again it suits everyone.

Andy Powell's perhaps more debateable, as maybe he's just being rested, but the RFC are allowed 2 Blues players, with Dean Dewdney now a regestered RFC player, they currently have none.

Other players not in Dai's squad but eligeable for Saturdays relegation-clash include Deiniol Jones, Kort Schubert and Roger Warren, surely any 2 of the above would boost an understrengthed Cardiff RFC side, and it only seems fair that we return the favour when we steal their players.

It's vital that Cardiff stay in the Welsh Premier League, and with them currenly rock bottom, surely Dai and Howard should be working together for the regions sake.

But that's just my view, what do you all think?

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