The gloves will be off as Cardiff Blues go toe-to-toe with Ospreys in a mouth-watering festive derby at Liberty Stadium on Saturday, according to head coach John Mulvihill.
The Blues return to Guinness PRO14 action in Swansea on Saturday, before welcoming Dragons and Scarlets to the Welsh capital over the festive period.
The Australian insists his side will be gunning for victory against their Welsh rivals and is excited to have an edge to the encounter on Saturday.
“Winning against the Ospreys is something that all the boys are really going after,” said Mulvihill.
“The Ospreys question the toughness of the Cardiff Blues team and the toughness of our pack, and they’ll take us on in the forwards.
“But we’ve picked a good team to match them and the gloves will be off once we get down there.
“There’s an edge to it. There’s history of us getting off the bus and not leaving everything behind.
“We had a good game against Dragons last season, went down to Llanelli to thump the Scarlets. The next port-of-call was Swansea and we weren’t ourselves.
“As a coach, that was disappointing to see, but I’m sure we won’t see that this weekend. We need to right some wrongs.
“We can mix it up when we’re down there and some of the boys can rant and rave before the game.
“We’ll focus on what we’re good at and that will be getting our set-piece right and being able to move teams around.
“Playing with tempo would help us win down there this weekend.
“They’ll make it simple, keep the ball up and will kick a lot to try to put us under pressure. They’ll try to deny quick ruck ball and that access.”
Mulvihill believes the rush of the festive period is exciting and hopes they can build momentum for the rest of the campaign.
The head coach added: “They boys will be ripping into each other this week and we’re really looking forward to the three games in 13 days.
“It’s going to come thick and fast. This whole season has been really quick this time, after a later start and the World Cup.
“This is really getting into the meat of the season and three derbies in a row will be fantastic leading us into Leicester away in Europe where we still can qualify for the next stage of the competition.
“We need to kick-start our season. We’ve won a few of last PRO14 games, including Benetton last time out where we took a bunch of kids over there, who fronted up against a team full of internationals.
“I hope the more experienced players can do a job for us down at Ospreys this weekend.”