A near ever present in Blue & Black last season – he played in 26 of the 27 matches – he takes over from another highly experienced forward, Morgan Allen, in the top role at the Arms Park.
The former Mountain Ash and Pontypridd player signed with Cardiff in 2021 and has gone on to make 75 appearances to date, including winning the Indigo Premiership and WRU Premiership Cup.
“It’s a massive privilege to be asked to take on the role and I’m very proud to be appointed captain at such a huge club,” said Moore.
“I’ll try my best to live up to the standards that have been set by the captains who have gone before me. When you look at the history of Cardiff, and the players who have played in the Blue & Black jersey, you then realise how much of an honour it is to be part of this club.”
Moore won eight caps for Wales U20 in 2017, playing in four games in the Six Nations and then four at the Junior World Championship. In the latter he played against Australia, Samoa, England and Scotland.
He had graduated through the junior and youth ranks at Mountain Ash before taking up an invitation to join Pontypridd. From there he won U20 honours, playing alongside the likes of future internationals Rhys Carre, Keiron Assiratti, Keiran Williams, Shane Lewis-Hughes, James Both and England’s Alex Dombrandt.
He made 79 appearances for Ponty from 2016-20 and is now just short of that mark at Cardiff. All of those games have been in the Indigo Premiership and cup competitions, while the new season will see a step up in intensity and quality in the new Super Rygbi Cymru competition.
“Last season was quite a tough one for us. It was a mismatched campaign with the amount of changes of players and injuries which didn’t help with continuity and momentum,” explained Moore.
“Reaching the play-off semi-finals was a good achievement for us and we are looking to kick on from that this year and go all the way. The new league won’t be unfamiliar as these are teams we’ve been playing against for a number of years.
“I’m hoping the Arms Park will be a good place for young players to come in and get to play a good standard of senior rugby before they push onto the professional level. You only have to look at the number of boys who have gained international caps after playing within our team over the last years to see what’s possible.”
Moore has been delighted to see Cam Winnett, Evan Lloyd, Mackenzie Martin, Ben Thomas, Max Llewellyn, Mason Grady, Ellis Bevan, Jacob Beetham, Teddy Williams and Alex Mann all develop into full-time pros at Cardiff Rugby and go on to gain full international caps with Wales. He wants to keep the production line working.
“Like ourselves, there have been teams who have done really well with recruitment this summer and there are going to be some big games this year,” he added.
“I do like the layout of the double header home and away fixtures with Newport over the Christmas period. They will both be interesting games to look forward to.
“We’ve had some brutal pre-season sessions so far thanks to our conditioners, and we have a great coaching team. There is a good core squad of players and there have been some really sharp academy boys in training.
“We’re building something good here, and we’ve got to keep our standards high. I want everyone to push each other as much as they can.
“We’ve been very competitive over the last few years and that won’t change. We’re going to push to win whatever we possibly can.”
Cardiff kick-off their new Super Rygbi Cymru campaign with a long trek north to face RGC in Colwyn Bay. Then they host Ebbw Vale at the Arms Park, a venue at which the Steelmen won 36-20 last season.
By then Moore will have returned from his honeymoon, having got married on 9 August. That means he will miss the pre-season matches against Pontypridd (24 August) and Cambridge (31 August)
“Those two games will be a good opportunity for some players to showcase what they are about and put their hand up for selection come that first league game against RGC,” added Moore.
