Theo Cabango: Cardiff wing relishes 'luck' going his way

Cardiff wing Theo Cabango is relishing the chance to make up for lost time and believes "luck" is going his way after injuries disrupted his junior career.

The 20-year-old scored twice as Cardiff overhauled Glasgow in the United Rugby Championship (URC) on Saturday.

In a period of Welsh rugby soul-searching, Cabango's promise has helped lift spirits.

But having missed out on Wales Under-18s and 20s honours, Cabango is happy to be "showing what I can do".

He added: "[I] Did my shoulder and missed out on [Wales] U20s completely; before that, missed out on 18s as well - just missing certain things, that could help with your career.

"I feel like I've worked hard and deserve to be where I am now."

Cabanago's explosive pace brought him a brace on his home URC debut helped bring a feel-good win in the Welsh capital a week after Wales succumbed to Italy in the Six Nations.

"It's quite surreal," he said.

"I was pleased with the first and to get the second then is the cherry on the cake; really pleased for the crowd that we could get the win. [I] just want to carry that on into next week.

"I'm always trying to get better, work off my wing and get the ball more. So it was nice to get different sorts of tries. It's something I'm working on."

Cabango - younger brother of Wales and Swansea City defender Ben - first came to prominence as Cardiff won admiration for the manner of their performances in Europe while most of their senior squad were unavailable after Covid-19 blighted their late autumn trip to South Africa.

He faced star-studded Toulouse before scoring a spectacular try at Harlequins and before and since has impressed for Cardiff's second string at Welsh Premiership level.

Theo Cabango runs in to score a try against Glasgow

"The Covid stuff was unfortunate but you've just got to take your chances," he said.

That approach has led to Cardiff boss Dai Young to show faith in Cabango, who said: "At first, I felt I wasn't doing enough. He [Young] gave me my chance and now I'm showing what I can do and achieve.

"[I'm] Really pleased they're behind me and telling me not to look back, but keep going forward."

• Cardiff fight back to beat Glasgow

Young also underlined the qualities and potential he sees in Cabango.

"Theo showed what a quality player he is going to be in the future. That second try he scored was a real injection of pace to get him over."

"The main thing is he's got something you can't coach: genuine pace. I think we've seen when we played the Stormers, that's the one area we're lacking.

"We've not got four or five players in our backline who can score from our own half.

With Theo, you can give him the ball in space and he can do something special. Obviously, he's still learning the game, but he's a bit of a sponge as well.

"He's really enthusiastic and wants to learn. He's a genuine player that puts people on the edge of seats. He's someone you want to watch."