7 Blues in Squad for Fiji

Rhys Thomas
By Andrew Collins
November 9 2005

6 Cardiff Blues players have been selected for Wales' match against Fiji on Friday night. 4 players make the starting line-up, with 2 more hoping to make an impact from the bench.

Following on from last weeks disaterous match against New Zealand, Wale will be looking to start a new winning streak by beating a strong Fiji side on Friday night.

With an amazing 65,000 tickets already sold for what is considdered the poorest of the Autumn matches, the Blues stars will be looking to pen their name in to Mike Ruddocks squad for the 6 Nations.

Ruddock has clearly picked a weakend team, from the side which was already lacking 7 Lions tourists.

The Blues have 2 of their hottest prospects on display in the front row with John Yapp and Rhys Thomas starting next to debuant Chris Horseman. The newly qualified Welshmans' long saga finally seems at end as he will make his first start after appearing last week against the Kiwis.

Also in the forwards, Martyn Williams returns to the back row, following a week off after suffering a family berivement.

Elsewhere, Mike Phillips loses his scrum half birth to Gareth Cooper, but is included on the bench. Nick Robinson starts at fly half after coming on at center last week.

Joining Phillips on the bench, is Robin Sowden-Taylor. RST was expected to start against the South-Sea Islanders after featuring against the All Blacks, but with Martyn's return and also the inclusion of Scarletts flanker, Dafydd Jones, he'll be looking to make an impact before the Australia and South Afica games. Robert Sidoli also makes the bench for Wales.

Unfortunately, there was no room in the squad for youngster Chris Czekaj. The wingers origional inclusion begged questions, with Czekaj not producing any great form, but the experience of being in a Welsh squad preparing for big games will've done him a world of good anyway. Saying that, Dai sure could've done with him aginst Munster last Friday.

Best wishes to all the Welsh boys, particularly the Blues represntatives. I will be at the game at the end of the week, and look forward to reporting on a strong Welsh win sometime over the weekend.