Highly rated Scrum Half, Gareth Cooper joined the Cardiff Blues from Gloucester Rugby. Part of the Grand-Slam winning Welsh squads in 2005 and 2008 the former British and Irish Lions scrum half currently has 41 caps for Wales. Gareth spent four seasons with Bath but returned to Wales in 2003 to play for the Celtic Warriors and Newport Gwent Dragons before moving to Gloucester.

Sam Norton-Knight joins from further afield, having come over from New South Wales Waratahas. He made his test debut for Australia at outside half during the 2007 season, and finished the 2008 Super 14 Final in that role. Born in Canberra and raised at Harden in south-western NSW, Sam played his junior Rugby with Royals (ACT) and later at All Saints Anglican College on the Gold Coast. He made his Super Rugby debut in 2005 for the Brumbies and joined the Waratahs in 2006.

Two Scarlet players have made the journey East, with Dafydd James and Gavin Evans making the change from red to blue. Gavin made 75 appearances for the West Wales region since his debut in 2003. In the autumn of 2006, Gavin was included in the Wales squad where he made his international debut against the Pacific Islands, having won previous caps at Wales U19 and U21 levels and was part of the U21 Grand Slam winning team in 2005.

Dafydd started his career at Pontypridd RFC before going on to win 48 caps for Wales at wing or centre, scoring 15 tries. A player with a huge amount of experience of top-flight rugby, Dafydd became the first player in Heineken Cup history to score twenty-five tries in the tournament. Dafydd has also toured with the British and Irish Lions playing in all three tests against Australia in 2001, scoring a try in the first test

Another former Lion also joins us. Darren Morris joins the Blues from Worcester Warriors where he made 64 appearances for the club, having joined them from the Leicester Tigers where he made 74 appearances, starting 54 matches and coming off the bench for 20.
Born in Pontypridd, and educated at Aberdare Boys School, Neath College and the University of Glamorgan, Darren first came on to the international scene in 1998 before going on to make 18 appearances for Wales. Darren also toured with the British and Irish Lions in Australia in 2001, coming on as a replacement for Tom Smith in the third test.
Casey Laulala, has been signed from New Zealand Super 14 side The Crusaders and is expected to arrive in the autumn after the Air New Zealand Cup. The twenty-seven year old centre made his debut for New Zealand against Wales in Cardiff in November 2004 and went on to play for the All Blacks against Ireland in 2006.

Described by many as one of the hardest players to contain in broken field play in the New Zealand game, Casey is the son of an airline pilot for Polynesian Airlines, and was schooled at Wesley College - the same south Auckland institution that gifted the world game former Cardiff Blue and international rugby superstar, Jonah Lomu.

Backs

Darren Allinson, Ben Blair, Chris Czekaj, Gareth Cooper, Gavin Evans, Dai Flanagan, Leigh Halfpenny, Dafydd Hewitt, Dafydd James, Tom James, Casey Laulala, Richard Mustoe, Sam Norton-Knight, Richie Rees, Jamie Roberts, Tom Shanklin, Ceri Sweeney, Gareth Thomas,

Forwards

Bradley Davies, James Down, Taufa'ao Filise, Gethin Jenkins, Deiniol Jones, Maama Molitika, Scott Morgan, Darren Morris, Andy Powell, Gary Powell, Xavier Rush, Robin Sowden-Taylor, Rhys Thomas, Paul Tito, Sam Warburton, Ben White, Gareth Williams, Martyn Williams, John Yapp

Blues Academy

Andries Pretorius, Rhys Williams, Scott Andrews, Sam Hobbs, Patrick Palmer, Lloyd Williams, Rhys Downes, James Loxton, Josh Navidi

Arrivals

Gareth Cooper (Gloucester) Sam Norton-Knight (New South Wales Waratahs) Casey Laulala (Crusaders) Gavin Evans (Scarlets) Dafydd James (Scarlets) Darren Morris (Worcester Warriors)

Departures

Rhys Gill (Saracens) Ross Johnson (Bristol) Mark Lewis (Retired) Scott Roberts (Scarlets)
Jamie Robinson (Toulon) Nicky Robinson (Gloucester) Jason Spice (Bristol) Damian Welch (Scarlets) Rhys Williams - TBC