Dai Young is expecting his Cardiff Blues players to bounce back this weekend after a disappointing loss to the Scarlets last time out.
Dai Young is expecting his Cardiff Blues players to bounce back this weekend after a disappointing loss to the Scarlets last time out.
Young is hoping his players can turn that around when they take on Aironi this weekend.
"There will be a little bit of heat in our bellies going there this weekend," said Young. "A loss against the Scarlets will burn in the stomach. If it was just a bad day at the office then okay, but we haven't played like we want all season.
"[Against the Scarlets] we struggled to get possession at the lineout, we lived off scraps and struggled to get a pattern. If you haven't got the ball then you can't play.
"I was disappointed with our accuracy. We probably had more forward passes than we had in all of last season.
"We practised things all week like lineouts, but made ourselves look average.
"We're in a better position than last year because we've picked up wins but we are still not playing anything like we can."
Young held no punches when giving his assessment of Saturday's performance. The former Wales and Lions prop rightly sticks up for his players at every opportunity but even he admitted there was little to smile about at the weekend.
"I wasn't too impressed with anyone last week," added Young, who has been in charge of the Blues since the region's inception in 2003.
"There were quite a few bruised egos in the changing room after the Scarlets defeat. The most disappointing thing was that the Scarlets seemed hungrier than us.
"We beat the Scarlets three times last season and you could see that was in their approach and perhaps it was in ours. We looked like a team who were expecting things to happen and not making it happen.
"There were no positives and you have to put your hand up and say the Scarlets played better than us. It was a frustrating game, but I am not going to take anything away from the Scarlets because I thought they completely outplayed us."
Following the away game against Airioni this weekend, the Welsh teams take a break from Magners League action once more, as attention switches to Anglo Welsh rivalries and the LV= Cup.
The Blues visit The Rec to play Bath in the opening round of the tournament and return to Cardiff City Stadium the following weekend to play newly promoted Exeter Chiefs on Friday 12th November, kick off 7.30pm.
There are two more consecutive home games after the Exeter game, as the Magners League returns to Cardiff City Stadium for the visit of Ulster and Glasgow on 21st and 27th November respectively.
Tickets for all three November home games are now on sale call 0845 345 1400 or buy online at www.cardiffblues.com/tickets