Gruff Rees is hoping Cardiff RFC can convert a top of the table finish with silverware following an impressive season in Super Rygbi Cymru. 

The Blue & Blacks have finished the regular season in first place and will now benefit from a home draw throughout the knockout stage. They will face the winner of Bridgend vs Swansea at the Arms Park in the quarter-finals.

It’s a position Cardiff have been in before and while Rees insists the priority remains on player development, he admits the entire club is now determined to kick on to lift the title. 

He said: “To finish top of the SRC table is a really good achievement in itself and is something that should be commended. Since lockdown we have finished top in three of the four seasons but that doesn’t always lead to silverware as we know. 

“It is not all about winning for us. We want young players to come through and develop for the first team but being part of a winning environment can also really help them on that journey.  

“I know the players and their families are all really proud to represent the club, they want to achieve things here and know they have to excel at this level to go onto bigger and better things. 

‘The coaching philosophy runs down from Matt Sherratt, and Dan Fish is hand in glove with them. Craig Everett also works closely with Gethin Jenkins so it is all aligned and that cascades down through the pathway with Aled James and Stu Bradfield. Everyone knows how we want to play and what kind of player we want to develop.  

“But we’re all in it to win it now. The challenge for me is to balance individual development with performance but that’s something we get right more often than not. 

“For the likes of Sean Moore, the Hudd boys, Joe Goodchild, Dewi Cross, these guys are the fulcrum of the team, and we want to win it for them. 

“They enable us to develop the young boys and they deserve to win silverware. For these boys, the fans and the people in the background, we are all really motivated to kick on now and win silverware.”

Stef Emanuel and Tom Bowen are two obvious success stories from the Rags this season. Both players returned to Cardiff following a year in England and have excelled in the SRC. 

That form has enabled them to step up and impress for the first-team when required, while they both played starring roles for Wales Under-20s. 

Rees added: “Stef and Tom have had good game time in the SRC and have had opportunities with the firsts, showing they can step up to that level. This is the highest level they can play below the firsts and it’s completely aligned so it’s great for their development.

“In England you might be in an academy set-up but on the weekend you are driving up and down the M4 to a club you don’t know, with different players and different coaches. They knew that would be the case and saw the opportunity and alignment here, and it’s working. That is one of the reasons, alongside education, why Tom Cottle has decided to come here as well. 

 “So the set-up is doing its job, we are developing players and there are a couple more who I think will step up very soon. But for all that to come together and be topped off by winning the title would be brilliant.”