Cardiff Rugby have a special talent on their hands.
It’s hardly incisive analysis to proclaim as much because Theo Cabango has made everyone stand up and take notice in the chances he’s had this season. Thrown into the bizarre saga that was Cardiff’s European campaign, he grabbed his opportunity with both hands and produced performances that demanded he get more chances. And he keeps taking them.
The 20-year-old scored two tries as the Arms Park side roared back to beat Glasgow last weekend. People are justifiably excited. Team-mate Willis Halaholo insisted: “We have good players that are made for the big stage and he’s one of them. He has a big future.”
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TV pundits have been branding him a ‘baby-faced assassin’ and comparisons have also been drawn to Italy full-back Ange Capuozzo, who played a starring role in his side’s win over Wales recently. And so to Cardiff Director of Rugby Dai Young. Cabango will have to learn to deal with the hype and it is Young’s responsibility to help him navigate what can often be the choppiest of waters.
“But from my point of view, we’re really guilty in Wales of when someone shows a little bit of promise, we don’t half build them up,” said Young.
“It’s nice for everybody but all it does is heap all sorts of pressure on them. My job is to bring him through and develop him but at a rate I’m comfortable and he’s comfortable with. You don’t want somebody coming in and then bouncing back out. As quick as we build people up, we tend to knock them down.
“He’s shown up really well in training, deserves his opportunity, he’ll have more opportunities as the season goes on. He’s got something that you can’t coach and I don’t think we’ve got enough of it in the team. He’s got out and out gas, real top-end gas. We’ve got some fast boys but he’s by far the quickest we’ve got.
“We saw when we played the Stormers and the Bulls here, having that real gas on the wings can get you out of trouble.
“First and foremost, we have to help him develop at a rate he’s comfortable with and just keep working on the things he needs to work on. Then it’s about not handcuffing him too much by the way you want to play because he plays with a smile on his face and we want to encourage that.”
As well as the weight of expectation, Cabango will also have to deal with the weight of his own body. Cabango is more than two stone lighter than fellow Cardiff winger Owen Lane. The 85 kilograms he has bolted onto his diminutive frame will not be enough to sustain a career in professional rugby.
The balancing act now becomes putting on enough weight to make him robust enough to deal with the rigours of the game – some of which will happen naturally as he ages – and putting on so much that it leads to injuries. Much of Cabango’s talent, as Young alludes to, is natural. His speed is a gift but athletes who possess those fast-twitch muscle fibres tend to be the ones who must be managed most carefully.
He looks set to miss this weekend’s derby with the Scarlets with an ankle niggle and missed out on age-grade honours due to injury, illustrating the point.
“We are not sitting here and saying to him: ‘You need to put on weight’. He’s here for a reason and he’s doing things well,” insisted Young. “Obviously, with the training he’ll do he’ll get bigger with age, like everyone does. We don’t think he’s too small and we don’t want to take away from what he’s good at. We’ve got to be careful with him because if you look at his history, he missed out on under-18s and under-20s through injury and that’s why we have to be careful.
“We can’t expect Theo at his age, the level of his development and the training that he’s got behind him, to play six or seven games on the bounce. That would be a dull thing to do because he’s going to break. Hand-in-hand with his conditioning and development, we’ve got to bring him through at a rate that he’s going to keep developing.
“We’re not trying to change what we’ve got. Of course we’ll want to bulletproof him, of course we’ll want him to be robust. But we’re not going out of our way to say: ‘You need to put loads of weight on’.”
Of course there must be patience. Young athletes need time to adjust to the game at the professional level. There are examples of players who have taken to it quickly but those are few and far between. But it will be difficult for Young to keep a lid on the excitement if Cabango keeps scoring tries.
“We all want to watch exciting rugby players,” the former front-rower admitted. “Unfortunately, some of us big boys up front don’t excite too many people but somebody’s got to carry the water for others to drink!
“The reality is that when he gets the ball he’s someone who gets you on the edge of your seat. That’s what we all come through the gate for, to see these types of players. I’m excited by one or two of the youngsters we’ve got coming through and my job is to bring them through. Because it’s a step up from what they’re used to but it’s exciting to have him [Theo] on board and the more senior players feel that too.”
