Content about Martyn Williams

Richie Rees will leave the Cardiff Blues at the end of the season, the region have confirmed.

Rees, 28, is the latest in a string of players to announce they are leaving Wales at the end of the season to ply their trade elsewhere.  His decision to leave the club makes him the sixth senior player to announce he is to leave the club, following announcements already made by Gethin Jenkins, Rhys Thomas, Dan Parks and Casey Laulala and the expected retirement of Martyn Williams.

Newport Dragons 18-14 Cardiff Blues

The Dragons narrowly beat the Blues in the south east Wales derby, after a game full of silly mistakes and wasted opportunities.

Overall it was a poor performance by both teams, which came down to a slogging match between the kickers.

The game was a sloppy affair with neither side able to take control of the run of play. Both teams made recurrent mistakes throughout the match, with one mishandling being cancelled out by a careless knock on.

Tonight's game against Ulster will see Martyn Williams start for Cardiff Blues for the second time  since recovering from a broken arm which left him on the sidelines for almost five months. 

Williams will start at openside tonight as a late replacement for Josh Navidi, who pulled out with a bruised hip. The Blues will also see international trio Lloyd Williams, Scott Andrews and Gavin Henson return from Six Nations duty.

Cardiff Blues make seven changes for this evening’s RaboDirect Pro12 clash with Connacht, their first home game at the Arms Park since May 2009.

The one-off return to the city-centre ground, which was announced earlier this week, has raised anticipation for the game and the club expects a bumper crowd, having sold 6,000 tickets by last night.

Paul Tito’s men will see this as the perfect opportunity to get their league campaign back on track.

Tonight Wales will have a challenge on their hands. Not least because they kick-off their Six Nations battle against arch-rivals England, but because they will inevitably still be recovering from a rather dismal 2010.

The Autumn Internationals were a series of disappointments for Welsh fans.

Despite a fleeting hope of a win in their second game against South Africa, Wales’s performance took a considerable nosedive in the games to follow - perhaps most embarrassingly of all, only managing to secure a draw against the Fijians.