Moving on: Matthew Rees
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Former Scarlets captain Matthew Rees will leave the region at the end of this season, moving to the Cardiff Blues after nine years.
The experienced 32-year-old hooker from Tonyrefail and Wales and British & Lions player has appeared in Scarlets colours an impressive 175 times. He joined the region in the 2004/05 season.
He has achieved 57 caps for Wales and was as part of the front row for three Tests for the British and Irish Lions against South Africa in June 2009. Rees was previously with Treorchy, Pontypridd and the former Celtic Warriors. He has led Wales eight times - the first in November 2010 against Australia. He was named Wales' 128th captain.
"I'm grateful to all my Scarlets colleagues, coaches and supporters for their backing over the years and I leave at the end of this season with great memories," said Rees.
"There's a number of talented young forwards coming up through our Scarlets ranks now who will take their opportunities and are already progressing well.
"I'm proud of all that has been achieved during my time at the Scarlets and it was a huge honour to captain the team for two seasons.
"Matthew has contributed a great deal to the region during his years with us; he has set high standards, made a mark for others to aspire to and been a strong mentor for a number of our younger forwards in recent years pushing their development forward," added Scarlets head coach Simon Easterby.
"We respect Matthew's reasons for moving to a new region and wish him all the very best with the Cardiff Blues.
"He leaves with our sincere thanks, gratitude as a region and respect for all he has done and achieved in a Scarlets shirt. He has been a key part of our team, has been a true Scarlet in terms of his commitment and imparted experience, knowledge and influence on this team as it developed over the past three or four years - as one of our most senior players.
"He moves on having set a standard which others now aspire to and helped nurture many of up and coming talent forwards in the squad today."
Comments
ShamanSheep says...
Good news for Wales, spreads the resources. For Cardiff - I hope we haven't made a dud signing, he's been pretty poor of late. Then again, we could do with an old head or 3.
Posted 15:22 25th January 2013
dezz says...
Good for both club/Cardiff and region/Scarlets. Cardiff get a decent solid hooker and Scarlets get Ken Owens as no1 hooker with some decent youngsters pushing him.
Posted 15:10 25th January 2013
makemehappy says...
Something clearly needed to give - 2 internationals and 2 good back ups at Hooker!
Posted 13:06 25th January 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Did he fall asleep on the sun bed? Hope Bokavenger does not see this.
Posted 11:06 25th January 2013