John Muvlhill says composure was key as Cardiff Blues came from behind to seal a bonus point win over Isuzu Southern Kings in the opening clash of the Guinness PRO14 season.
Wales’ Capital Region were behind at half time in Port Elizabeth, but crossed for four second half tries to kick off the new campaign with maximum points in the table.
Mulvihill says there were plenty of positives in his side’s performance as hosts Kings provided a tough challenge for the Blues.
“We’re happy with the process that we went through to get the five points in the end,” said the Australian.
“We found composure at half time and managed to turn it around so we’re happy with that.
“The Kings had led with 20 minutes to go in their last three games, against Namibia twice and Georgia, who are two teams to have been in the World Cup.
“They were match-hardened and we knew they were going to come at us but at half time we said that we needed to stick to our structure and we’d get there.
“We knew that the Kings were going to be tough, and by winning the first game you cast your mind back to last year, and we’re ahead of where we were.
“We’re happy with the result and there’s a lot of positives in there but also a lot still to work on.
“I thought we used the ball really well coming out of our end, I thought our exits were great, and we were positive to finish.
“We’ve got a team that’s mostly been together for a couple of years now, and I thought the synergy was good.
“We have to make sure we work on our line-outs to make sure we have continued ball to put teams under pressure but all-in-all we’re happy with the result.”
The season continues next week as Cardiff Blues return to the Welsh capital for their first home game of the season, welcoming Edinburgh to the Arms Park on Saturday.
With the squad based at the iconic stadium throughout the week, Mulvihill is excited to play at home in front of the passionate Arms Park crowd.
He added: “We haven’t played at the Arms Park since April last year so we’re looking forward to going back home.
“It is our home now, as we train there as well, and we’re excited to see our fans and hopefully they’ll come out in massive numbers.
“We’re going to try to play a quick game, move the ball a lot, tie up the areas we weren’t quite good enough in today and hopefully come out of it with a big win.”