Dan Fish believes the Celtic Cup will provide an ideal platform for the region's players to gain valuable playing time in a professional environment.
The full back played a starring role as Cardiff Blues A crossed for five tries against Dragons A, securing a bonus point win on the opening night at Rodney Parade on Friday.
Alongside the likes of Macauley Cook, Lewis Jones and Steven Shingler, Fish, who has suffered two long-term injuries over the past 18-months, was one of the more experienced players in the Cardiff Blues A squad on Friday, and he thoroughly enjoyed his senior role in the build up.
“It’s a great competition to be involved with. For the younger boys, who are coming through the system, it’s a step up from the Premiership and is the next level before you make it for the regional team,” said Fish.
“Boys like myself, who have been out injured for a long time, can use this competition to put their foot down and get back into the senior team.
“It’s been quite stranger to be honest, because even at 27 years of age I still feel like a veteran with all these youngsters.
“But like you’ve seen tonight, the boys have come in and trained well all week, knew their roles and made sure we came away with the win.”
Fish, who crossed the whitewash twice, was joined on the scoresheet by his fellow back-three team-mates, Tom Williams and Aled Summerhill.
The full back admits that it was a tough challenge in Rodney Parade, and he doesn’t expect it to get any easier when they face Leinster at Energia Park next week.
“It was a great win in the end. To come down to Rodney Parade and the Dragons is always tough, whether it’s an A team game or a senior game.
“The boys did well, we dug in at the end with a couple of front rowers playing in the back row, and we were obviously delighted to come away with the win.
“Our tries came from turnover balls, and the back three that we had out there tonight thrive on that type of play.
“As you could say from the tries we scored out there tonight, that’s what we’ve been working on.
“All these games are going to be tough, and Leinster away next week will pose a different challenge again.
“We’ll look forward to that trip, get our work done during this week and give it a good crack next week.