Shanklin raring to go again

Tom Shanklin is relishing the start of the Magners League season having enjoyed the 'best break' of his career.

Tom Shanklin is relishing the start of the Magners League season having enjoyed the 'best break' of his career.

Despite heading to South Africa with Wales, and featuring in both Tests, Shanklin was still able to get a month-long break from action.

The break, one which Shanklin describes as the best break he has ever had, has left the Wales and Cardiff Blues centre raring to go.

“I had a nice long break – about four and a half weeks in all,” the 28-year-old told The Western Mail.

“It's the best break I've had in my career really, apart from being injured.

“That's very good for a player. All the niggles clear up and you come back hungry and motivated again.

“Mentally, I'm feeling totally refreshed.”

Having been granted an extra rest period by Head Coach Dai Young Shanklin, and his fellow Welsh tourists, have only been back in pre-season training for three weeks.

With Chris Tombs and Trystan Bevan putting the squad through their paces Shanklin was quick to stress he is heading in the right direction for the coming season.

“The first week back was a bit tough, but it always is,” he said.

“We've still got about another three or four weeks of pre-season to go, but I'm feeling pretty good.”

Since the end of last season it has been all change at the Arms Park with a new coaching team in place. Young will be joined by Justin Burnell and Gareth Baber, whilst Australian Billy Millard has taken over from Rob Howley – who is now with Wales on a full-time basis.

“We were pretty used to Rob and Dai, who did a great job together, so it is a bit different,” said Shanklin.

“But it's exciting as well. We've got new coaches with new ideas and it's good to share their thoughts.”

Shanklin echoes the general message from within the Blues camp that this is the season when winning silverware has to be the target.

With two consecutive runners-up finishes in the Magners League, as well as a quarter-final spot in last year's Heineken Cup, the Blues are looking to improve this year.

“We always set goals,” Shanklin said.

“We want to do better than last season and to do that we've got to finish higher up in the Magners League, which means winning it, and reach the semi-final in Europe.

“That's obviously easier said than done. But if we can keep everyone fit, we've got a chance. We've got a lot of players coming back from injury and we've got a good, strong squad.”

On the international front, Shanklin will be looking to add to his 54 caps and is targeting a big southern hemisphere scalp during the autumn when South Africa, New Zealand and Australia all visit the Millennium Stadium.

“It is difficult playing the Tri-Nations teams, but, if you want to see where you are in world rugby, you've got to play the best teams,” he said.

“There's no point playing Romania, Japan or whoever. You win the games, but you don't really learn a lot from them.

“When you play New Zealand, Australia and South Africa you see where you really are.

“I feel we are ready for the challenge and I really hope we can pull off a big scalp.

“They are going to come to us and we are going to play them at the Millennium Stadium knowing we can actually beat these teams if we play well on the day.

“We've got to match them physically, like we did all through the Six Nations, but we realise we can match them in that area given the way we went in the second Test in South Africa.”