Richard Hodges has been proud to see Cardiff’s progress over the past season, which culminated with a thrilling 38-21 Judgement Day victory over Ospreys on Saturday.
The bonus point win was enough for the Blue and Blacks to secure Heineken Champions Cup rugby next season, claiming the Welsh Shield in the process.
In contrast, Cardiff suffered heavy defeat to Benetton on the final day of 21/22, but Hodges was delighted to see his delivering the game plan at Principality Stadium and believes it’s a sign of how the squad have turned around their fortunes.
“You look at that Ospreys side, who have performed like they have in Europe, but in that first half there was only one side in it.
“We were absolutely superb in the way we delivered a game plan that Matt Sherratt deserves the credit for.
“We wanted to take away the Ospreys’ working week and send their forwards east to west and north to south. We didn’t want to get involved at all in the kicking game off nine and changed our kicking strategy to go higher in the air, cross-fields, because we had height on the wings with Mason and Jason who were superb in the air.
“We wanted to also play off transition and that’s what the game looked like.
“When you think back to where we were last season against Benetton, and you think where we are now, finishing the season as the top Welsh region, there’s a lot of work that has gone on behind the scene.
“I know there’s turmoil in Welsh rugby, and I know the league table doesn’t look as healthy as people want it to, but selfishly from a Cardiff point-of-view - to achieve what we have and turn it around in that space of time is down to a lot of good work done behind the scenes.
“We come second against Ospreys up front in battles on recent occasions and we were up against today at times when you look at the nature of the tries they’ve scored.
“But we knew that the emotion of players leaving our playing group today wasn’t enough to get us across the line. We had to be tactically spot on.
“The breakdown work defensively was the best it’s been this season and we were causing havoc in that area, and it’s something we thought we’d be able to do so.
“Emotionally, it’s probably on a par with Sale, Stormers, Sharks, Scarlets away - we’ve had some good wins this year. But as with everything in Welsh rugby, it’s about consistency.
“There’s a lot of people leaving this environment that we’ve wanted to reward and thank them for their time, and also enjoy each other’s company which is something we’ll certainly do tonight.”
The BKT URC Player of the Match was Tomos Williams, who set the tempo for Cardiff and played an instrumental part in two of the tries.
Reflecting on the scrum half’s performance, Hodges said: “We wanted to set a target today of having our highest ball-in-play of the season.
“When you play the Ospreys and it’s 26 or 28 minutes of set piece and kicking game, that’s when they win the arm wrestle.
“We didn’t want to give them line-outs, we didn’t want a kicking game off nine and Tomos enjoys that. He had licence to take quick tap penalties early in the game rather than take the three points.
“We wanted to put our stamp on the game, by kicking to the corners, break outs in plays and try to target the seam of that line-out, and Tomos delivered that to a tee.
“He was absolutely superb today. You could see the basketball side of it coming out to the fore.
“There was only one nine in it. He obviously lost his Wales shirt towards the end of last season but he’s put himself back firmly in the mix.
“Rhys Webb is a quality operator but Tomos got the better of him today.”