My Personal Favourite Cardiff Team

By Craig Muncey
November 30 2015

A light hearted article away from the league and cup campaigns. We all have our own personal favourite players, those we wanted to be when playing with our friends that we saw on TV, or those we watched live on the terraces, that we just instantly liked and admired. This article looks at my personal favourites by position, with a brief description on each as to why, this not a greatest ever side, but those I enjoyed watching the most. I hope you enjoy my trip down memory lane.

Cardiff RFC/Cardiff Blues Combined Team

15. Mike Rayer - My all time favourite Cardiff player. The master of defusing the garryowen kick, was great under the high ball. Gifted runner and had a good kicking game. His favourite moment of mine was his match winning drop goal against Swansea in the 1987 Schweppes Cup Final, 16-15 after extra time, as soon as he struck it, I knew it was over from my position in the stadium. Fantastic memories. How he only won 21 Welsh caps is beyond me, a great player.

14. Gerald Cordle - "Teflon" as he was known to us, because of his non-stick hands, used to take so much stick off the terraces, but I used to think he was great. Big strong winger, who scored his fair share of tries, went north to Bradford Northern and went onto represent Wales and Great Britain, in that version of the game.

13. Jamie Robinson - Local lad who had his fair share of injuries, but when fit was an outstanding outside centre, had plenty of pace and used to make many outside breaks, which was a great sight to see. Was a very capable footballer as well with good vision. Played 23 times for Wales scoring 7 tries. Pity injuries curtailed hs career, but I enjoyed watching him at Cardiff Arms Park

12. Pieter Muller - What a player, when we bought him I was expecting a hard running centre who was good in defence. How wrong I was, his game had so much more than that, very intelligent player, with subtle hands. One of my favourite performances of his for the Cardiff against Saracens at Vicarage Road in the European Cup. Cardiff were outstanding that day winning 32-23, Muller and Dan Baugh were the stand out performers that day in a great team performance.

11. Nigel Walker - Still to this day, the fastest winger I have seen live. One try he scored at Sardis Road against Pontypridd I will never forget, from his own goalline, it was like everyone else was moving in slow motion and he was on fast forward. Scored some great tries for Cardiff and Wales, an Olympic athlete who could also play rugby. Great athlete.

10. Adrian Davies - On a fast track on a sunny day, I used to know with him on the pitch Cardiff were going to go through the hands and attack at every opportunity. Was a lovely gliding runner and a fantastic support player. Kicking could be a bit hit and miss, but in my eyes he was a fantastic 10 for Cardiff, used to love watching him play.

9. Terry Holmes - A rugby legend simple as that, no matter the conditions, or the opposition, with him on the pitch Cardiff had a chance. Was like having another back rower in your team. Whenever I played rugby against my cousin, he always had to be Terry Holmes. Holmes was a colossus on a rugby pitch, had a presence, when I interviewed him recently I was in awe of him, bit embarrassing really for a grown man to admit but there you go, I have now ;)

1. Gethin Jenkins - An unbelieveably good prop, arguably the best prop Wales has ever produced, and we have produced some greats over the years. "Melon" is a workaholic, and is work at the breakdown in defence is fantastic. A very very intelligent rugby player. Make the most of him guys as his rugby career cannot go on forever.

2. Jonathan Humphreys - Humph was hated by opposition fans, I remember one cold night at the Brewery Field against Bridgend, one of their fans wanted to get on the pitch and beat him up (dutch courage, it's a wonderful thing), Humph was totally committed on a rugby pitch was fearless and a great leader. Was often to be found on the wrong side at rucks ;)

3. Lyndon Mustoe - This player looked shattered during the warm up, and he looked that way from the first minute to the last minute. I think I only ever saw him with the ball in his hands less than 6 times in his Cardiff career, but by god could he scrummage, he used to have the loosehead in all sorts of problems and hardly ever took a backward step.

4. Tony Rees - Came to Cardiff from Brive who had won the European Cup. Rees was an old school type lock, during all hs good work in the tight, was a real tough guy, seemed to be a very unassuming type of player, but I loved his attitude and the way he went about his business, vastly underrated in my opinion.

5. John Tait - Canadian international who was a fantastic line out operator, and was a fantastic athlete, used to pop up in all positions in the backline and you knew more often than not would take the right option. A player I used to love watching.

6. Maama Molitika - The Tongan hitman, hard as nails and when he was missing, Cardiff Blues pack were nowhere near the force they were when he played. A top and a top bloke as well, as I found out with an interview a few months back, nothing was too much trouble for him. Great guy.

7. Gareth Roberts - Ming the Merciless, was a hard bloke and had such an engine on him, was always there to carry the ball forward in support or win the ball on the floor. Been many 7's I have enjoyed watching for Cardiff such as Mike Budd, Gwyn Jones, Matthew Lloyd, Martyn Williams and Sam Warburton to name just a few, but Gareth Roberts was and is my favourite.

8. Xavier Rush - What a player, the amount of ball carrying he did was phenomonal, at one point I thought in the pack he was our only ball carrier. Played with a smile on is face, and just kept coming back for more and always got over the gainline. Great player.

Bench

Leigh Halfpenny, Casey Laulala, Andy Moore, Mike Griffiths, Thomas Rhys Thomas, Phil Sedgemore, Howard Stone, Dan Baugh

And there is my team, writing this has brought back some great memories, and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Please feel free to send me your own personal favourites, either on Twitter @1876Cardiff or on the website or alternatively on Facebook 1876 Cardiff Rugby

My Personal Favourite Cardiff Team

Posted by: 1876 Cardiff Rugby (IP Logged)

Date: 30/11/2015 14:41

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