 Young says he will not pick Andy Powell and his Wales colleagues |
Ex-Wales skipper Jonathan Davies will be scrutinising Blues coach Dai Young's decision not to pick the majority of his Wales stars against Bath on Friday. "It's an interesting situation because Dai is under pressure," said Davies. "With the EDF Cup for the Blues to win that would be a real feather in his [Young's] cap." Young has bucked the trend of the other regions by picking only three players returning from Wales training ahead of the EDF Energy Cup semi-final deciders.  | 606: DEBATE |
Going into the Cardiff Arms Park game, the Blues top Group B by four points from Bath, with Leicester also retaining a slim hope of qualification if they beat Sale and the Blues lose. Young saw his players released for Wales training from Monday to Wednesday following the bitter and protracted row between the regions and the Welsh Rugby Union over player release. Young, who has been in charge of the Blues since their inception in 2003, is under pressure to deliver silverware this season, but Davies says that his policy could pay off. "If the players aren't training all week with him he [Young] has faith in his squad," Davies told BBC Sport Wales. "The squad has been performing extremely well over the last couple of weeks so maybe he's confident with the players that are there. | It's unfortunate that the players are caught in the middle again trying to please two masters, you can't do it |
"You know, the key players, for example Ben Blair and Nicky Robinson and Jamie Robinson really won't be with the Welsh side so the nucleus of the successful Blues at the moment and the good players won't be there. "But, yeah, it's very interesting and we'll see who will play at the weekend. "It's a big competition when you get to the semi-finals and the finals and players want to participate in it." Davies says he feels sorry that the players have been enmeshed in another political row in Welsh rugby, but he feels that they will be able to put the issue aside on the pitch. "It's unfortunate that the players are caught in the middle again trying to please two masters. You can't do it," said Davies. "You've got to just switch off and get on with your job. "Players get extra training with Wales which is great with a very, very tough month coming up. "They can iron out a few things that they did in the summer and last season just to get reacquainted. "Then they go back to the regions to get a little bit of a touch up . . . to get things right for the weekend. "The weekend is very big for the regions - big games with three sides with great chances of going through and the Dragons hopefully just getting a great performance and waiting to see what happens."
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