John Mulvihill has been handed numerous fitness boosts as his side prepare for a crucial run of Guinness PRO14 and European Challenge Cup matches.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference ahead of Monday’s Guinness PRO14 clash against Benetton Rugby, the Cardiff Blues head coach gave an update on the statuses of players such as Ellis Jenkins, Tomos Williams, Jarrod Evans, James Botham and Willis Halaholo.
Mulvihill was positive about the progress made by a number of players as he hopes to bolster his squad depth over the coming weeks.
The head coach explained: “Hopefully we’ll have Jarrod and Willis returning this week, while Jim Botham is not far away.
“We’re still missing eight to the Wales squad, with a few other boys being a couple of weeks away from fitness.
“Liam Belcher and Kirby Myhill are amongst those, but we might still see a few new boys getting a chance again this week.
“Tomos is back training with us now and he was down to return to play next week, so that’s a positive for him.
“Rhys Gill is feeling really good but needs to go back to see the surgeon to make sure everything is ok, but he’s on the mend.
“Ellis is getting closer every week, and it was great to see him in his rugby kit today on the pitch in Pentwyn, going through some return to contact drills. That was on a real small scale, but it’s another step in the right direction for him.
“He struggled for quite a while but his improvement has been excellent over the last couple of weeks.
“We hope to see him with the main squad in full training sessions towards the end of this month, and if he’s up and training we’ll look for some game time at some point in December.
“If the RFC were playing, he’d probably play 20 minutes off the bench for them. The same goes, if we have an A game between now and then he might get 20 minutes in there.
“I think it’s a big ask to throw someone into a European or PRO14 game who hasn’t played in two years.
“But we’ll have a plan in place and we’re really looking forward to seeing him back on the pitch.
“He’s been in-and-around our environment for the last two or three weeks, and was quite vocal in a meeting we had yesterday. That’s the leadership quality we’ve missed over the last six months.
“I wouldn’t lie by saying he’s probably had some pretty dark times early on, and with a few of the set-backs.
“But he’s one of the most resilient players I’ve ever coached and as a young man he’s got a pretty good deal of patience as well.
“He’s had injuries in the past where he’s probably pushed himself to come back quicker.
“He’s certainly resilient, works really hard, he’s intelligent and asks all the questions to the medics and the specialists to know what he can and can’t do.
“He knows his body so he knows when to push and when to hold back a little bit.
“He’s out and about running, and was passing and doing a little bit of breakdown work today, so he’s not far away.
“But the important thing he’s out on the pitch. It’s taken us two years to get him out there, so it’s about how we grade that return to semi-contact, contact and live before we put him into a game.
“Jason Harries trained today with Ellis but again it was a return to contact training for him.
“He’s not in the selection frame for us at the moment.”
However, with some senior players being absent through injuries or international duty over the last few weeks, it’s given opportunities to academy products such as Jamie Hill, Max Llewellyn, Ben Murphy and Ben Thomas.
While the injuries is a blow for his side, Mulvihill can see the long-term benefits from the experience that youngsters have collected in recent weeks.
“It’s a challenge, but it’s an opportunity to give some guys some game time,” added the Australian.
“We’ve still got young players like Ioan Davies and Mason Grady, who will probably get some game-time over the next month or so.
“We’ve built strength in depth in the region over the last number of years, and we’re proud to have eight boys in the Wales squad at the moment.
“Half of them are playing tonight and I’m sure the others will get a chance next week. But all the boys who represent Cardiff Blues want to play for Wales.
“As a coach, you want to encourage them to do their best. The bi-product of successful selections is that the next group of players get going.
“We’ve got a strong academy with a strong group coming through. It’s not ideal when you don’t have around 20 of your senior players on the pitch, but these guys will get experience and they’ll be better for it.”
But the immediate challenge ahead of Mulvihill’s men is the visit of Benetton Rugby to Rodney Parade. The Italian outfit have been out of action for the last two weeks following a Covid outbreak in the squad.
Despite suffering defeats in their opening three games, the head coach is expecting a tough challenge against the Italians, but is confident his side can respond after their recent defeats.
Mulvihill added: “We’ve had a couple of robust days this week. The boys had some time off, but the coaches came in and did some pretty pointed reviews on our performance, our messaging and our clarity within our roles.
“I think you’ll see a bit of a bounce in our performance this week.
“All of us could be better, and that’s across the whole group in terms of players and coaching staff.
“We’ve acknowledged that, and that’s the first point in terms of us getting better this week.
“We always have tight games with them and they’re always high-scoring affairs.
“They’ll come with a real attacking identity. Their two wings are big and strong, and they have a great number eight who gets over the ball and over the gain-line.
“There’s a couple of old internationals who are floating around still as well, and it’s not going to be an easy game for us.
“But I expect a bounce-back performance from us. Not following last week but following the culmination of also knowing we could’ve won against Munster and Ulster.
“With that frustration, you’ll hopefully see it propel us to a good performance this weekend.
“They’ve played some good rugby this season. They might not have got the results but they’ve had a real dig at Leinster and scored some good tries against Ulster.
“They might come into this nice and fresh. We’re bouncing through games at the moment, so that little break might’ve been good.
“You can look at it both ways. We might start fast and they’re off the pace, or they start lightning and then fade away.
“Either way, we need to worry about getting ourselves right and not what’s coming at us.”