KICKING consultant Alan Kingsley is to work with Cardiff Blues as well as the Dragons, writes Chris Kirwan.

The Irishman is in his third season with the Rodney Parade region after initially being brought in by Bernard Jackman.

Kingsley will now combine that role with working for the Arms Park side after replacing former Blues, and briefly Dragons, fly-half Nick Macleod.

“Cardiff Blues are a really proud club with a massive history, and they’ve won big tournaments in recent years,” said Kingsley, who was coaching Navan and the Leinster academy before heading for Wales.

“Having been involved with Dragons for the last number of years, we keep an eye on the age-grade games and seeing how is coming through and there seems to be a good conveyor belt of talent coming through both regions.

“It’s really exciting to get the opportunity to work closely with some of the younger players at Cardiff Blues and try to bring on their skills around kicking.

“It’s really exciting and it’s always an honour to be involved with massive clubs.

"Cardiff Blues are a huge name and are a very competitive in both Europe and the PRO14. It’s really nice to be around the system.

“There are good, young coaches here and I’ve already been introduced to the backroom staff here.

"I’ve only done one session so far but over the next few weeks and months it will be nice to knock ideas between each other and I’m looking forward to growing those relationships.

“We’re all very young in our coaching journey and have some fresh ideas.

"There will be some learnings along the way and it’s great to share the journey with these ambitious, young coaches while learning from the older and more experienced coaches that we get to observe.”

Kingsley's work will help attack coach Richie Rees, the former Dragons scrum-half, but he won't see the fruits of his labour for some time.

The Blues are next in action in the PRO14 on the weekend of February 19.

“Obviously these boys train to play games and it’s always nice when you’re able to put things in place during the week and see them coming to play on the weekend,” said the kicking specialist.

“But, because we know there won’t be any games for a few weeks, it’s a time when we can really break the skills down so it’s a good time for people to look at specific areas of their game that they can develop and go through a slower, detailed process to get to the end result.

“That’s where I really like to get into the fine detail and look at the small bits and pieces to ensure that their kicking game is up to scratch.

“Something I really enjoy is breaking down the kick as a skill and looking at the technical aspects. At this point in my career I don’t have a real interest in looking at the attack.

“For me, it’s more about the individual skills and working one-on-one, trying to help people with the specific kicking elements of their game and the kicking process, and that’s where I get most of my enjoyment from."