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Blues eye new faces

Blues eye new faces

Cardiff Blues boss Phil Davies is hoping to add fresh faces to the region as soon as this week.

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Davies has seen the Blues hit hard by injury problems in recent times and he wants to strengthen his squad as they get set for a particularly demanding period approaching Christmas and into the New Year.

The Blues were dealt a double blow during Wales’ Dove Men Series campaign when second row Bradley Davies and centre Cory Allen were ruled out following respective shoulder surgeries, while fly-half Rhys Patchell is also currently sidelined with a shoulder problem and lock Lou Reed, prop Scott Andrews and wing Harry Robinson are among the others in the treatment room.

Flanker Andries Pretorious and centre Gavin Evans picked up an ankle problem and dead leg respectively in Saturday night’s league defeat to Munster, while club captain and former Wales hooker Matthew Rees is battling testicular cancer.

The various setbacks have left the Blues struggling in some positions and Davies intends to bring in a couple of players on loan as quickly as possible, with a second row and a back top of his wanted list.

“We are looking to bring a couple of players in on loan if we can. We have been busy with that over the last couple of weeks and hopefully we will get things finalised by the middle or end of this week and we can bolster the squad a bit,” added Davies.

“We need some cover in the backline and we need some front-five cover with Brad and Lou going down. We need some quality to put in there and that’s what we’ve looked at.”

The next few weeks will be a real test of strength-in-depth at the Blues, with a RaboDirect PRO12 trip to Treviso this Saturday followed by a huge Heineken Cup double header with Glasgow. A trio of domestic derbies follow on December 20, 26 and January 1 as the Ospreys come to Cardiff before the Dragons provide the opposition on Boxing Day and again on New Year’s Day.

A mouth-watering match up with reigning European kings Toulon at the Stade Felix Mayol is next on the cards on the weekend of January 10/11/12, before a home tie with English outfit Exeter Chiefs that could see the Blues seal a first Heineken Cup quarter-final spot in five seasons if results go their way in the build up.

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