It is now finalised that Andy Powell has left the Cardiff Blues and joined Wasps – not the move to rugby league that many were predicting.
This is interesting in a number of ways. Firstly that the Blues are prepared to get rid of their Lions and Welsh star despite him having two years left on his contract. Whilst they may have managed to somehow keep Xavier Rush when he looked set to join Ulster the loss of Andy Powell is a significant loss in depth at the 8 …

So we did it, heaven knows how. After being behind almost all game we managed to come back and beat Scotland with the last touch of the ball. Helped by them being down to 13 players. But helped by Gatland actually learning how to use his substitues.
What do I mean by this? Gatland has traditionally made substitutions almost by numbers – always making the same substitutions at the same point in the game, with little effect in general. However vs Scotland he realised things needed …

The Welsh team to play Australia in this years Autumn International has been named, and only one change has happened, with Dwayne Peel starting ahead of Gareth Cooper. Other than that head coach Warrent Gatland has said pretty much same again.
That means Tom Shanklin doesn’t recover in time to play, with Jon Davies staying at twelve and Jamie Roberts continuing at 13.
The bad news is that it means that Andy Powell continues at blindside flanker. God knows how, the guy hasn’t got the skills or technique to pull …

Cardiff Blues Team
The huge Cardiff Blues injury list has hit even harder with Xavier Rush missing out on the Heineken Cup clash away at Sale.  The flu bug that struck him, Tom Shanklin and Sam Warbuton has ruled him out – though both Shanklin and Warburton have recovered to resume their places in the team following on from the win against the Harlequins.
With Rush out the backrow has been rejigged, Robin Snowden-Taylor comes in on the openside flank, Andy Powell moves to number 8 and Sam Warburton moves over to …

Seems the media explosion has begun following his debut for Wales vs South Africa in the close loss on Saturday. The Western Mail has, predictably, tipped him for the Lions… backed up by comments from Barry John and Martyn Williams.
Interesting. Not very accurate though. Indeed calling his game exceptional is pushing it beyond the realms of belief. Through my beer induced haze I admit I thought him the best player on the park and was confused why Mr Warren Gatland appeared to pour cold water on that by commenting on …