Judgement Day played out in front of the lowest crowd attendance the event has ever seen at the Principality Stadium
Judgement Day.
“That was 10 days ago,” joked Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt earlier this week. It feels like every day in Welsh rugby is facing a judgement day of some kind, from financial woes to miserable runs of form.
When it comes to the actual Judgement Day – JDX as it was billed (even though it’s the 11th event to be billed as Judgement Day) – the only judgement passed is the same one as usual in recent editions. As an event, it just doesn’t work like it’s supposed to.
It feels like one of those big open secrets in Welsh rugby. That no one really likes this day in the Welsh capital.
The die-hards don’t. Nor, seemingly do enough of the casual market. The crowd of 28,328 was the lowest the national stadium has seen when it comes to this event – with the top tier completely empty throughout.
And yet, in the bowels of the Principality Stadium in the hours after the second of the two matches, Scarlets captain Josh Macleod took it upon himself to offer up an almost unprompted passionate plea about what this event should mean for the Welsh game.
“This is vital for Welsh rugby to have some spectacle like this,” said the back-row with a genuine sense of urgency in his voice. “Where you’ve got four quality teams going at each other in back-to-back games.
“We need to get fans through the door and that is certainly one way that is going to do it.”
It was a sentiment shared by his head coach, Dwayne Peel. “There’s a lot of talk around Judgement Day, but we haven’t had three teams going hard at the top eight for a while,” said the former Wales scrum-half.
If anything, that makes the fact this was less than half the crowd Judgement Day used to get at its peak all the more galling.
The day itself didn’t get off to the most auspicious of starts. The roof remained open, despite the wet weather – apparently due to a technical fault.
Perhaps where Judgement Day suffers to past iterations is the lack of stars that capture the public’s imagination. There are superb rugby players no doubt, but is there box office talent that the more casual viewers can instantly recognise?
Judging by the lack of national media in Cardiff, perhaps not.
One man who might fit into that category wasn’t present, with Justin Tipuric having been ruled out injured as he nears the end of his playing career.
Thankfully, one fan remained committed to the Trebanos man’s image – turning up to the first game between Ospreys and Cardiff with a blue scrum cap on his head.
That was one side of the press box – used as a makeshift tunnel for half the teams (with Callum Sheedy hastily making his way off the pitch before half-time before having to sheepishly return after Taulupe Faletau’s try was chalked off.)
On the other side of the press box, a group of lively Dragons supporters enjoyed watching a match with no skin in the game.
“Dewi, Dewi… Eeyore!” shouted one as Ospreys hooker Lake prepared to throw into the lineout. “Everybody wave to Dewi,” he then continued.
When the Wales international nailed his arrows, it was met with a sarcastic cheer from the group of lads. Not everyone was so invested.
It’s often the way at this event, with fans coming and going as the match goes on. As crowds go down and more empty spaces appear, that sense of roaming feels more apparent than when fans are bunched in together.
It’s not all bad, with kids waiting patiently to have photos with pundits and players. There’s a family market to target, even if the choice of date – slap bang in the middle of Easter weekend – perhaps wasn’t ideal.
That ultimate barometer of tedium – the Mexican wave – tried valiantly to get started on several occasions, but, with the gaps in the crowd, often died off after a block or two.
When it did finally get around the whole ground, it did so as the Ospreys were chasing a way back into the game against Cardiff.
Ultimately, that comeback fell short – with two late Cardiff tries compounding their defeat. Blue scrum cap out of sight, our resident Tipuric impersonator – like many Cardiff and Ospreys fans – headed for the exits.
Those that stuck around got to enjoy a gimmick where fans were encouraged to move their arms in unison. ‘It works better in the dark’ is how it was described.
As that went on, coaches and players made their way to post-match press conferences deep in the stadium.
“The concept is the right one where you have a day where everyone comes together and celebrates Welsh rugby with the talent we have got and the way we can perform,” said Ospreys head coach Mark Jones in the moments after their defeat.
“We need to work out how we get 60,000 in there like we used to. That’s the challenge but I don’t know what that looks like.
“The selfish side of me says open it up, make tickets £1 and fill the place out and get them in love with rugby.
“I know electric is not free and you have to pay people to staff it and make money so I get it.
“But at some point we have to get people back in love with Welsh rugby and get them in the stadiums cheering on the teams.
“We have got to create some heroes out of the players and if we can do that it can be self-fulfilling.
“We should definitely try and keep it going and here but everybody is aligned around the fact it needs to be a big spectacle from a visual point of view as well.”
As for Cardiff, as well as keeping their play-off hopes alive, they also were able to show what the club was all about after a rough few weeks.
“It would be massive,” said head coach Matt Sherratt about reaching the play-off. “It’s something I’ve not said publicly, but when I took the job, I was thinking that within three years, I’d love to get us into a play-off or a knockout game.
“We’re in the fight. There’s been a backdrop of a lot of negativity and twists and turns. It’s credit to the players as it would have been so easy to down tools over the last two weeks.
“I spoke to them about how it’s so easy to feel like they’re part of the club. But they are the club. Outwardly, people will judge Cardiff Rugby by watching the players on the field.
“If they can show the heart and ambition they’ve shown in the last two years, that’s what 90 per cent of people will judge Cardiff on. Not the stuff off-pitch.
“It’s important for players to realise they’re the perception of the club. Credit to them, they did themselves proud today.”
By the time the second match between the Dragons and Scarlets kicked off, big gaps in the crowd had started to appear.
The donkey-loving Dragons supporters remained, giving Blair Murray the ‘eeyore’ treatment after he failed to take a high ball.
They remained vocal as the Dragons threatened a shock, only for the Scarlets to come back and win. As Blair Murray dived over for the winning score, the swathes of empty seats – the “green of the first tier, deep red of the second, dark green of the third” as Alun Wyn Jones once described in Partridge-like fashion in his autobiography – were all largely visible.
For a score that kept the Scarlets’ URC play-off hopes alive, the sight of mass plastic broken up by the odd cheering fan felt a little sad.
And then, looking to the left, the man in the blue scrum cap was back. And all was right again.
