Cardiff Blues sign Filo Paulo

Posted on Mar 4, 2013

Blues add bulk to pack with the signing of Samoan international Filo Paulo

Born in Wellington, of Samoan heritage, Filo Paulo plays for Auckland Blues where he has been capped 26 times at Super Rugby level and made 35 appearances for North Harbour in the ITM Cup competition since 2008.

A physical player and strong line out jumper, Paulo can play in the second row or blindside and made his international debut for Samoa in their Autumn 2012 tests, playing against Canada and France. He was also part of the Samoa team that defeated Wales by 26 points to 19, at the Millennium Stadium in November.

Standing at 6ft 6in tall and weighing in at 19 stone Paulo is certainly a formidable presence on the pitch and had a stint with Ulster early on in his career before returning to New Zealand.

Speaking of the move Filo Paulo said,

"I am very excited to be joining Cardiff Blues. I know a lot of great players have worn the team’s colours so I am extremely grateful to be offered this opportunity and I will be giving my all in order to meet the high standards set by my teammates, the coaching staff and the supporters.

“Cardiff is a great city and the people are very friendly which will make the transition to Wales much easier. The dedicated fans and awesome game atmosphere are second to none so I am really looking forward to the challenge."

Cardiff Blues CEO Richard Holland, added,

“Filo will be a strong addition to our squad and we are delighted to have secured his services after long discussions with his people in New Zealand.

“He is a big ball carrying second row or blindside and the attributes he has certainly fits the bill of what we require at the Blues.

“We were monitoring him before he became an international and were impressed with his performances during the autumn internationals when he was part of the Samoan team that played France, Canada and defeated Wales.

“Filo will be arriving in the Blues in the next few weeks and once he’s settled in the supporters I’m sure will look forward to seeing him in action on the pitch.

Cardiff Blues Director of Rugby, Phil Davies, said,

“We are looking at specialist positions in recruitment, such as front row players and scrum halves.

“However, wherever possible in your back five of the scrum or the back five from the half backs, centres, wingers, full backs we are looking for some versatility.

“Because of the restrictions of the salary cap it is important to have certain versatility.

“Taking those principals on board Filo’s ability to play four, five, six or eight was a big influence on him coming here.

“He is only 24 years old and has played Super 15s for Auckland Blues and has played international rugby for Samoa.

“He is the right age profile and has an immaculate injury record, physically he is extremely fit.

“He will definitely add value to the current crop of back five players for us.

“He will be with us all the time, week in week out, and we have four other second rows who are all Welsh qualified.

“His arrival will add strength and depth to the team.”

Cardiff Blues season ticket holders are reminded that the deadline to reserve their seat and renew their season ticket is Sunday 31st of March.

Tips in for injured Warburton

Posted on Feb 7, 2013

Justin Tipuric starts at openside flanker in place of injured captain Sam Warburton as Wales prepare to take on France in Paris on Saturday.

Ryan Jones takes over as Captain, having recovered from an injured thumb and starts the game at blindside flanker, replacing Aaron Shingler, who drops to the bench.

Matthew Rees drops out of the squad altogether, as Richard Hibbard starts at hooker with Ken Owens keeping his bench spot despite loosing several lineouts against Ireland.

Gethin Jenkins, who has been the subject of media criticism retains his position as starting loosehead prop.

WALES: Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues); Alex Cuthbert (Blues), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Blues), George North (Scarlets); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Bayonne); Gethin Jenkins (Toulon), Richard Hibbard (Ospreys) Adam Jones (Ospreys), Andrew Coombs (Newport Gwent Dragons), Ian Evans (Ospreys), Ryan Jones (Ospreys, capt), Toby Faletau (Dragons), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys).

Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Paul James (Bath), Craig Mitchell (Exeter Chiefs), Lou Reed (Blues), Aaron Shingler (Scarlets), Lloyd Williams (Blues), James Hook (Perpignan), Scott Williams (Scarlets).

FRANCE: Y Huget (Toulouse); W Fofana (Clermont Auvergne), M Mermoz (Toulon), M Bastareaud (Toulon), B Fall (Racing Metro); F Michalak (Toulon), M Machenaud (Racing Metro); Y Forestier (Castres), D Szarzewski (Racing Metro), N Mas (Perpignan), J Suta (Toulon), Y Maestri (Toulouse), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), T Dusautoir (Toulouse, capt), L Picamoles (Toulouse).

Replacements: B Kayser (Clermont Auvergne), V Debaty (Clermont Auvergne), L Ducalon (Castres), R Taofifenua (Perpignan), D Chouly (Clermont Auvergne), M Parra (Clermont Auvergne), F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), F Fritz (Toulouse).

WRU sign six year sponsorship deal with Gilbert

Posted on Sep 27, 2012

The Welsh Rugby Union has signed a major new six-year sponsorship deal with Gilbert which, for this season, means international rugby balls will carry gold markings to symbolise the fact that Wales are the current RBS 6 Nations Grand Slam Champions.

The deal will provide balls to all of the WRU’s national teams and domestic league clubs, with a specific design scheme to reflect the needs of each competition and group of players.

Gilbert take over from Webb Ellis and will provide the international match balls, predominantly red and white with gold markings, which Wales will not only use to defend their Championship title in 2013, but also to take on the might of Argentina, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia at the Millennium Stadium this autumn.

All WRU member clubs will receive an allocation of balls each season, with the number of balls they receive depending on the number of sides they run.  This arrangement is designed to further enhance the WRU’s policy of rewarding clubs who make efforts to increase participation in the sport, and to incentivise clubs to continue growing their player pools.

The design of each category of ball illustrates a clear development pathway through the levels and age grades of Welsh rugby.  In keeping with Gilbert’s trademarked design, each ball will be trimmed with a coloured ‘ellipse’ which will be an aspirational red for national elite level teams (Wales, Wales Sevens, Wales Women and Wales’ international age grade sides) and green for community club sides, to symbolise grassroots rugby in Wales.

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The future looks bright as Wales U18 return home

Posted on Aug 20, 2012

France U18 13-13 Wales U18

Wales U18 returned home this morning from their tour of South Africa on the back of a 13-13 draw with France in their final game.

The three match developmental tour has been an unqualified success with head coach Allan Lewis describing the trip as “hugely successful.”

Narrow defeats to England and South African Schools preceded Saturday’s draw with the French when Wales recovered from a 7-3 half-time deficit to secure a share of the spoils.

Another try from Dafydd Howells who enjoyed a brilliant tour and a score from Tom Ball put Wales in front before a French penalty levelled things up on the hour mark.

But it was the whole experience of the tour and the way the team played that Lewis believes was the main thing to take from the trip.

“The players experienced their first international tour – it’s about going to a different culture, a different country with different food and coping with moving from place to place,” he said.

“To play those three teams away from Wales was a marvellous experience.

“It is all about preparing for future World Cups and future tours. You just can’t measure that experience.”

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Webb itching to get back onto Liberty turf

Posted on Aug 16, 2012

The Ospreys return to action on Saturday afternoon when Bath visit the Liberty Stadium and scrum-half Rhys Webb said that the players are excited about ‘coming home’ for the first time since claiming the RaboDirect PRO 12 title in dramatic style at the end of May.

Webb was one of the Ospreys’ international contingent over the summer, and as one of a number who will pull on the Ospreys jersey again this weekend he says he can’t wait for 3.00pm Saturday to come.

Looking back at his summer, which saw him travel to Australia with the national squad, Webb commented:

“I really enjoyed the trip, it was a great experience for me and has given me a real taste of something special. If I want to do it again I know that I’ve got to keep driving on and improving with the Ospreys this season.

“I’ve had four weeks off, come back in for pre-season where we’ve had some really tough sessions in the build-up to Saturday’s game. After a tough training camp in France last week I suppose I’m pretty much like the rest of the boys who weren’t involved against Clermont and itching to get back on the pitch at the Liberty wearing the Ospreys shirt again.”

Given their delayed return to pre-season training, Webb and his Wales colleagues used last week’s training camp in France to work on their conditioning ahead of this weekend’s game and the Bridgend Athletic product said that while it was a tough week, it was hugely beneficial in terms of preparation for the new season.

“It was great being out there together as a group” said Webb.

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