John Mulvihill believes his side can stand up and be proud of their performance, as they narrowly lost out to Ulster at Kingspan Stadium.
It was a spirited performance from Wales’ Capital Region, as they looked to bounce back from last week’s disappointment at Glasgow.
The boot of John Cooney proved to be decisive at Belfast, as the visitors claimed two tries - through Matthew Morgan and Kristian Dacey - to Ulster’s one.
The head coach was pleased with his side’s physicality in difficult conditions at the Northern Irish capital.
“I was really pleased with our performance, and I’m really proud of our boys tonight,” said Mulvihill.
“Not many teams will come up here and score two tries compared to Ulster’s one.
“We were very close, but some of the ways the game was officiated towards the end wasn’t right.
“We used the ball really well and we knew we’d have a bit of opportunity up here, if we’re in the right positions of the field.
“Possibly in the second half, we played a little bit too much rugby around the half-way. It was quite difficult and greasy tonight for both teams.
“But it was a really good game and a really good contest. I just feel that we didn’t get our reward towards the end of the game.
“We were massively proud of our scrum, our line-out and defence. What we asked of the boys this week was to bring their physicality, and they certainly brought that tonight against a very physical Ulster team.”
Next up for Cardiff Blues is back-to-back European fixtures against English champions, Saracens.
The Australian is excited by the challenge ahead, and believes his side can head to Allianz Park with belief and confidence after tonight’s performance.
Mulvihill said: “We got one point out of it, but as a group we probably got a bit more, because there’s a bit of belief back there now that we’re a good team and that we still work hard for each other.
“The boys are going to be sore after that performance tonight, and we have a few to come back, but we need to embrace the challenge.
“You’re going to the English champions and if you don’t turn up there to play and challenge for every blade of grass then you’ll get beat quite soundly.
“We’re going to have the mind set to go out and have a decent go at them next weekend.”