Cardiff Blues captain Cory Hill was happy to lead his side to a Guinness PRO14 derby victory over Conference B rivals Scarlets following a testing week.
The Blues went into the encounter on the back of a hugely disappointing performance and defeat to the Ospreys and against the backdrop of John Mulvihill’s departure.
Mulvihill left his position as head coach due to personal reasons and Richard Hodges took charge of the side before Dai Young’s arrival this week.
But Wales’ Capital Region responded in perfect fashion, playing with ferocious intent and a willingness to attack with so much quality behind the pack.
Speaking to S4C’S Clwb Rygbi, he said: “We certainly wanted to put our stamp on the game, play with intent and we did that in the first half.
“The red card (to Liam Williams) at the end of the half probably killed the game which was disappointing but we wanted to come out in the second half and we struggled to do that due to ill-discipline.”
Looking at the trio of festive derbies, he continued, “We got the win down at the Dragons. The weather down there didn’t let us play the game we wanted to but we won ugly and got the four points.
“It was disappointing to come here to the Cardiff City Stadium and perform like we did against the Ospreys. We had to bounce back and we certainly did that tonight.”
Jarrod Evans played an instrumental role in the encounter and fully deserved his Guinness man-of-the-match award.
The fly-half was a key creator in all three tries and kicked 14 points, including a succession of late penalties to kick the Blues out of reach as the Scarlets desperately chased.
He added: “It was certainly entertaining, speaking from a Blues point of view the intent was a lot better today. We went out there to express ourselves and we did that with a lot of confidence but also in a controlled manner as well. We knew when to manage the game but also show some of the talent we have, which we haven’t always done this year.”