Jason Tovey is ready to inspire Cardiff Blues’ next generation, following his summer move from Dragons.
The experienced outside half has returned to the Arms Park for a second stint with Wales’ Capital Region, following a one year spell in 2012-13.
During pre-season, Tovey has been training alongside young, attacking talent such as Ioan Davies, Ben Thomas and Rhys Davies, while outside half Jarrod Evans is a member of Wales’ preparations for the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Speaking to Cardiff Blues Uncovered, the former Wales under-20 international believes he has developed a lot both on and off the field since his first period with the region, and he is excited to continue the Cardiff Blues philosophy of playing attractive, open and attacking rugby.
“Gareth Anscombe left at the end of the season, and Jarrod did really well last year and now he’s getting the chance to go to the World Cup,” said Tovey.
“That opened a door for me to come back here and I’m thankful to get the opportunity again and I’m looking forward to playing some attractive rugby.
“The atmosphere has changed here, it’s more chilled and you put the hard work in on and off the field and it takes care of itself.
“For me, having moved to different clubs, like going up to Edinburgh, and worked under different coaches I’ve been able to learn a lot from them, and I feel like I’ve done that especially over the last three years, and it’s made me be a better person.
“I’ve reached a stage where I’d rather see myself as a role model and have younger boys looking up to me. If I’m there, putting the extras in after training, hopefully it will inspire others to do a little bit more and push themselves on.
“It was nice for me to go to Cross Keys and have a little break outside of professional rugby to give the body a rest, but once I was back into it, I was loving it.
“It was always a goal of mine at the Dragons to get over a 1,000 points and it was also nice to kick two winning kicks in two Welsh derby games last season.”
Tovey is not the only firepower added to the Blues backline this season, with Wales international duo, Josh Adams and Hallam Amos, also joining the back three ranks.
The outside half believes both Adams and former Dragons team-mate, Amos, will put the Arms Park crowd on the edge of their seats when they return from international duty.
He added: “I personally want to play as much rugby games as I can this season, and hopefully be able to spark some good rugby.
“As I mentioned earlier, I also want to help the younger guys coming through and hopefully as a team we can push ourselves to some play-off games.
“From watching them overall, they score a lot of tries and that’s what attracts players to come to this club, and I’m looking forward to throwing it around a bit.
“Hallam is also coming down the road from Dragons, and the damage he can do is great.
“He is brilliant in open play, can break up the play from anywhere, can score tries from anywhere and he’s a match-winner as well.
“He’s had bad luck with injuries at times, but hopefully that’s behind him now and he can start to put a good run of form together.”
“Josh has had a massive international debut season and hopefully when they both come back after the World Cup they can hit the ground running here as well.”