Dai Young has spoken for the first time on a rollercoaster three weeks, which saw the club stranded in South Africa, quarantine across London and go above and beyond to fulfil European fixtures.
The director of rugby was one of 48 Cardiff Rugby employees in South Africa for a pair of United Rugby Championship fixtures when the Omicron variant emerged and the Rainbow Nation was quickly and unexpectedly placed on the UK’s red list.
Positive cases of Covid-19 and numerous logistical challenges saw the majority of Blue and Blacks’ travelling group stuck in Cape Town for a week and they then had to quarantine at Gatwick.
Others were left in South Africa after returning positive PCR tests and faced a double dose of quarantine, either side of their own return flights.
With all of this going on, the club still managed to fulfil their Heineken Champions Cup fixtures against Toulouse and Harlequins and Young has nothing but pride for the way the club handled the situation.
Speaking first of events in South Africa and beyond, Young said: “Being stuck in South Africa for five or six days was trying because at that time there was lots of talk about the variant getting around vaccinations and nobody knew how bad it was so everyone was a bit concerned.
“Then we had the false dawns and there were two days where we went to the airport and were sent back. It calmed down when we got back to the UK but with 10 days you have plenty of time to think!
“But the first thing to say was the hotel we were in was also full, it was full of people from all walks of life not just sportsman and it’s tough for everyone.
“The hardest part for me personally was leaving people behind. That’s a bit corny but we went out there together and we should have come back together but it was completely out of our hands.
“Winning and losing is part of the job and you get used to those stresses. But the biggest stresses are things out of your control, when you don’t feel you have any influence. We certainly didn’t have any influence on any of the proceedings.
“We were lucky that although we had some positives, nobody was really ill. A couple of guys had flu-like symptoms for a day or two but nobody was seriously ill.”
While 42 of the travelling party returned as one group, others filtered back to the UK following their initial isolations in Cape Town and were placed at different quarantine hotels across London.
Sponsors and partners like Matrix Fitness, Pro Athlete Supplements and Uber Eats all rallied around the club at its time of need and Young was delighted with the support that kept his charges active and allowed them to make the best of a bas situation.
He continued: “The biggest thing the guys were struggling with was the inactivity because they are so used to doing stuff – training on a regular basis and so on. That was something they all struggled with.
“The boys kept themselves active and did some workouts in their room and we were lucky that matrix got us some gym equipment – the boys has bikes, rowers and so on and they all had 15 minutes a day outside where they ran their legs off!
“Everybody is back now training and feeling as good as you can feel after 10 days in quarantine. They are really pleased to be back out on the park training and getting back into their day job.”
While Young and the South Africa travelling party were stuck in quarantine, Gruff Rees was put in charge of a makeshift group ready to take on the reigning European champions Toulouse and English champions Harlequins.
It was a formidable challenge in the best of times but Cardiff faced it with a squad made up of academy starlets, semi-professional stalwarts and a handful of first team regulars.
There was no fairytale story for the Blue and the Blacks but they captured the hearts and minds of rugby fans across the UK and again, Young expressed nothing but his immense pride.
He said: “It’s been fantastic. It would have been quite easy for us to call the games off so I think we deserve a lot of credit for actually putting the work in to get a team out there.
“That was the first thing but the guys did the jersey proud. They went out there and I don’t think we could expect any more from the team. They were in both games for a big part of the contest,
“The most important thing that all supporters want is to see teams give it their best shot and on the day if it’s not quite good enough, it’s not quite good enough. Nobody could have asked more from those two squads, they really did the club and themselves proud.
“Gruff is a good rugby man, who has been around rugby for a long time. I work closely with him on the academy, succession planning the kids coming through. For us the first thing was getting the game on because it was important that we played and getting out there and making sure that win, lose of draw they leave with pride – they certainly did that.
“Gruff did a great job backed up by TR doing the forwards and Richie the backs. They thoroughly enjoyed it and they did the club proud.
“It was great to see the youngsters performing and some of the local clubs helping us. Aberavon were great, Cardiff Met as well so we have to thank everyone who helped get the game on.
“The disappointing factor for me is we went out of our way to get the game on and play and we’re bottom of the league. Teams who haven’t played any games are above us! It would have been easier for us to forfeit the game so it’s something Europe need to look at moving forward.
“But we got huge credit out of it, it was great exposure for some of the younger players, which you can’t take away and is something they will always remember. Hopefully it will also give them that hunger to strive to get better. They put a smile of everyone’s face in quarantine because we were all over the moon that they did so well.”