Following their win over the Dragons at Rodney Parade last weekend, there were a lot of happy faces in the Blues camp as they travelled to Penygraig for the first of their community training sessions.
The Blues had previously held sessions in Merthyr, the Vale of Glamorgan and Pontypridd but Tuesday’s event was the first time the club had visited the Rhondda leaving Davies delighted with the reaction his team received.
“I’ve done things like this a few times in my coaching career and to get the team out into the region and get a great response is what it’s all about,” he said.
“They love watching people like Sam Warburton and Jamie Roberts train and the rest of the squad really. We had a great response and reaction. You try to get the young kids to be enthusiastic about the club and the region and I think that’s what we saw today.”
The training session was open to all schools in the Rhondda area and over 40 of them made the most of the good weather to come down and watch Davies put the likes of Warburton, Roberts and Alex Cuthbert through their paces.
The session was organised by Chris Jones, Valley Kids Rugby Development Officer for the Rhondda.
“Cardiff Blues should be highly commended for this initiative,” he said.
“It’s the first time the Blues have been to the Rhondda and the children here have shown what they think of it by turning out in their droves.”
“Today is about the recognition of the importance of rugby development in the Rhondda,” added Chris Ower, Rugby Development Manager for the Blues region.
“The Blues have been looking at the development of the game in the area and this event is part of Phil Davies’ mantra of taking the Blues out to all areas of the region.”
Following the training session, the schoolchildren had a chance to collect autographs from the Cardiff Blues stars and pose for photographs as they prepared for Saturday’s match against Treviso.
And the players themselves were quick to praise the success of the event.
“For me it’s fantastic, I’ve never trained in front of people I was at school with, family members and obviously fans as well so it’s been a great day today,” said lock Lou Reed who went to school in the region.
“This is the way I come to training, I drive through here every day and I live two miles up the road so I’m a local boy.
“We were expecting about 1000 people today but I think we’ve doubled that.”
Fly-half Ceri Sweeney, who is struggling for the Treviso game with knee problem, echoed Reed’s thoughts.
“It’s great to get out into the community and to come up into the Rhondda, I know how important it is to the children up here as I’m a local boy,” he said.
