Blues boss Dai Young hails young gun Tom

Apr 16 2008 by Simon Thomas, South Wales Echo

BLUES boss Dai Young has hailed Wales tour candidate Tom James as one of those rare talents who get fans on the edge of their seats.

The young winger, who will be 21 tomorrow, was named Man of the Match following an explosive display during last Friday’s Magners League victory over the Scarlets.

He smashed through Dwayne Peel for his 10th try of the season and also produced a searing break to put Marc Stcherbina over in the 35-26 Arms Park triumph.

It’s a performance that will no doubt have caught the eye of watching Wales coach Warren Gatland, who will soon be putting together his squad for the summer tour of Africa.

James, who has won two caps off the bench, has had his health problems this season, having undergoing surgery to remove his appendix.

But now he is back firing on all cylinders and pushing hard for further international recognition.

Young is quick to point out that the Rhymney product – who only took up rugby seriously a couple of years ago – is still far from the finished article, but he acknowledges he has immense raw ability.

“He’s one of these players that gets you on the edge of your seats and we haven’t got many of them in Wales,” he said.

“He showed the other night what a talent he is with ball in hand.

“He’s very strong, he can beat people and he’s certainly got the gas to exploit space.

“He’s certainly a talent and someone we’ve got to keep maturing, but he’s far from the finished article yet.

“Against the Scarlets, I think he went from being their Man of the Match to our Man of the Match in the space of about 20 minutes.

“He made about four or five mistakes for us in the first 20, dropped the ball three times and missed three tackles, but then he certainly rose above it all.

“In the first quarter, everything went wrong for him, but he showed lots of character and confidence to come back from making those few mistakes and become one of our key players and one of the main differences between winning and losing.

“In fairness to him, he’s only going to grow with the more games he plays.”

The eight-try thriller with the Scarlets was one of the games of the season, but Young says it was hard for him to watch at times.

“It must have been great TV but it certainly wasn’t great for the two coaches,” he said.

“There was a lot of good stuff out there, but a lot of poor stuff as well.

“Both teams went out there with attack to the forefront of their game.

“Our biggest disappointment was the ease at which they scored their tries because in realistic terms they probably had four opportunities and scored four tries.

“Our defensive display wasn’t up to standard and that’s something that’s been good for us all year.

“In the second half, we knew we had to control the ball and not give them the possession to cause problems and we did that pretty well.

“I thought we played some good stuff on occasions and we were pleased with the win.

“We lacked some accuracy at times, but showed tremendous character to come back from 14-0 down.”

The victory over the Scarlets took the Blues up to second in the league table and – with Ulster the visitors to the Arms Park this Saturday – that’s where Young wants to see them stay, with champions-in-waiting Leinster now away and 12 points clear at the top.

“We were disappointed to go out in Europe, but we didn’t want the season to peter out,” he said.

“We wanted to finish in a strong vein and hopefully be the best-placed Welsh team.

“If you add that to a Heineken Cup quarter-final, it will have been a big step forward from where we’ve been in the past.

“What we’ve got to do is take it on again next season.”

With an eye on the future, the Blues have been boosted by Welsh international Jamie Roberts signing a three-year contract extension.

The 21-year-old medical student, who has shone at both wing and full-back since breaking into the regional set-up, said: “Things have gone really well for me this season, better than expected if I’m being honest.

“I’ve played a lot more games for the Blues than I thought I would and getting the Wales call was a massive bonus, I hope to get more caps in the future

“One of the main reasons I signed up was that there’s a real buzz about the squad and moving to a new stadium and new training facilities is something that everyone is looking forward to.

“I’m working hard on my game and fingers crossed I’ll have more of a chance at full back next year, but I’m happy to play anywhere in the team.

“We’ve had some great results this year, especially on the road.

“I’m a local boy and can’t imagine playing for any other side.“I’m really proud to be playing for the Blues. I’m fortunate that they have been flexible with my medical studies and the University has been fantastic.”

simon.thomas@mediawales.co.uk