Richard Hodges insists Cardiff can’t afford to get distracted by the permutations of the Welsh Shield when they face Ospreys at Judgement Day on Saturday.
The race for the Welsh Shield remains open heading into the final round of BKT United Rugby Championship action, with the Blue and Blacks currently leading the way.
However, Hodges insists that winning is the only thing on Cardiff’s minds as they look to finish the season on a high against their Welsh rivals.
“No one has mentioned a strategy. You can never going into a game aiming for one or two points, we just need to go to win the game,” said the defence coach, who will depart the club at end of the season after 18 years of service.
“We lost to Ospreys at home, 22-19, and came second in the set piece. It was a contact area-orientated game where the heavens opened up after 10 minutes and played right into their hands.
“We know full well what their strengths are, but this week has been about - do we worry about what the Ospreys will bring or do we worry about putting our own stamp on the game?
“We’ve come up with a game-plan, which we’ve trained well over Tuesday and Thursday and finished off on Friday, so we’ll certainly look to do something a little bit different.
“Looking back at our performances over the last month or so, you won’t come up against a more fearsome pack than Sale, who are rammed full of internationals. You won’t come up against a better pack in the URC than Benetton when they have their full Italian internationals, and we got more than parity. To say the pack has got parity would be disrespectful to some of their performances recently.
“The challenge now, with the work that Duane Goodfield and T Rhys Thomas have done with the pack to improve them, is to put it on the table against a Welsh international pack and see if we have made progress or whether we’re still second best to them.
“The players are certainly looking forward to it. People like Corey Domachowski, Keiron Assiratti and Liam Belcher have certainly come to the fore in the last month or so, so lets see if they can continue that against established Welsh internationals on Saturday.”
With players such as Max Llewellyn, Jarrod Evans and Dillon Lewis amongst set to depart the club at the end of the season, Hodges has emphasised the importance of group mentality on Saturday.
“When Tomos Williams came back into camp after the Six Nations, he’s been a big leader and his point has been about making sure we thoroughly enjoy each other’s company and thoroughly enjoy what we do on the training pitch and in games. There’s certainly been evidence of that.
“Treviso fully loaded are as good as anyone in the competition, but we ran them close, and we beat Sale. Last week we were off in certain areas but we fell victim to some poor refereeing decisions as well, which we’ve had clarification about this week and has backed up what we thought at the time.
“We’re looking to make sure that we enjoy Saturday. It’s been a tough season, I’m not going to lie. Every day there’s been different things coming out for individuals, which affects their performance, but rugby has been their outlet and an opportunity to get away from it all when they cross that white line.
“I can’t speak highly enough of how the group have handled it. It’s certainly a tough scene in Wales at the minute and it will take some time to sort.”
Cardiff face Ospreys at Judgement Day on Saturday, with plenty on the line at Principality Stadium. Snap up your tickets today