Coach Andi Kyriacou praised a big night for the future of the region as a young Cardiff Blues side stunned powerful Newcastle Falcons 22-21 in a LV=Cup thriller at Kingston Park.
Cardiff Blues produced a breathtaking second half display as they roared back with 15 unanswered points courtesy of tries from Thomas Davies and Rory Watts-Jones and the boot of Simon Humberstone.
Earlier a debut score from winger Harry Davies had helped Blues – who fielded 16 Academy graduates in the match day squad of 23 - start the inspiring fight-back.
And Kyriacou believes the manner of the second half display was a huge positive for Blues as they now aim to back it up when they face a Welsh derby with Scarlets at BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park on Friday night.
He said: “We’re absolutely stoked with that result because 16 of that 23 match day squad have come through the Blues Academy system.
“It’s great for the region and the players will gain a lot of experience and heart from that performance.
“I was really happy for some of our senior fringe players too who stepped it up in that second half and put in a good display.
“As a squad we’ve trained hard all week and we believe there are more performances like that to come in this competition and we will see the future of the region going forward.
“We were very soft first half. We fell off tackles and weren’t sticking on them, our line speed was not good enough and we highlighted those points.
“The players certainly seemed to listen. We cranked the intensity up and produced the physicality we know we can play. It was very good to watch.
“There were certainly a few choice words said at half-time,” he added. “We really weren’t happy with the way we approached the first half. We only had about 30percent possession and gave away nine penalties and our discipline was not good.
“We highlighted those and said ‘let’s go play rugby in their half’. When we got down there we had to keep the pressure on them. We did that second half and it was much better.”