Cardiff battle for ex-Junior Springbok
Cardiff are involved in a stand-off with the Welsh Rugby Union over their bid to sign a stand-off from South Africa, Tinus De Beer.
A last-ditch attempt is being made by the Arms Park club to overturn the Union's blocking of a transfer on the grounds that the former Junior Springbok poses an obstacle to home-grown talent with international ambitions.
Unless their impassioned appeal succeeds, a club famous for its trio of Lions' fly halves – Cliff Morgan, Barry John, Gareth Davies – will stumble on into the summer without one following the departure of Rhys Priestland and Jarrod Evans.
De Beer, uncapped, unsung and relatively unknown outside Super Rugby, had been lined up to fill the void left by Priestland's retirement and Evans' joining Harlequins rather than staying put on a markedly reduced contract.
The financial crisis engulfing the wider game has forced the regions to slash budgets, in Cardiff 's case by more than £3m. A club mourning the death of its perennial saviour, Peter Thomas, cannot afford to bring Rhys Patchell back.
Four years on from starting for Wales at the World Cup third place decider against the All Blacks in Japan, Patchell, above, makes his first appearance today since being released by the Scarlets.
He goes on show at Twickenham as part of the World XV's supporting cast against the Barbarians.
Nobody will be watching more closely than the Dragons, eager to convince Patchell that his immediate future lies at Rodney Parade following the exit of Sam Davies to Grenoble and JJ Hanrahan to Connacht.
Gareth Anscombe's predictable exit from the Ospreys finds Cardiff in no position to make a realistic move for any international fly-half, let alone one for a player expected to head for Japan after the World Cup.
Instead the Cardiff employers he left four years ago are left clinging to the hope that their plea for the green light to sign De Beer doesn't continue to fall on deaf ears. Insiders have told The Rugby Paper they want ‘a resolution to the stand-off as soon as possible'.
As if the club hasn't enough problems, the silence over Dai Young, below, grows ever more deafening. Five weeks after suspending him over alleged criticism of certain players, Cardiff have still said nothing about their director of rugby's future pending the outcome of an independent investigation.
