Number eight Alun Lawrence is enjoying his rugby this season after playing more regularly than at any stage of his career.
The 26-year-old has already racked up over 1,200 minutes over 19 games for Cardiff this campaign and has been a mainstay of the side since rejoining the Blue and Blacks last year after the sad demise of Jersey Reds.
Lawrence is determined to keep performing and contributing to the team.
“I’m really enjoying it. I’m playing, I think it’s the most regularly I’ve ever played, probably in my whole career, let alone at Cardiff over the two periods,” said Lawrence.
“From a personal standpoint, I’m thoroughly enjoying myself and I just want to keep performing, want to keep playing, want to keep those minutes racking up.”
This Saturday, Cardiff face Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, with the hosts sitting on top of the BKT United Rugby Championship with 11 wins from 11 matches.
Lawrence is full of admiration for the Dublin based outfit and is excited to play at the national stadium but is excited at the challenge ahead, and sees the game as an opportunity to break their winning streak.
“They’re so efficient, it’s almost like people always talk about how their squad’s like an engine and their players are just like cogs. You take one cog out, you put one in, but the train keeps going kind of thing.
“There’s no denying that it’s going to be a challenge, regardless of who they’ve got available, but we’re really excited about that challenge.
“We’ve got a lot of belief about us in our camp, about how we want to go out and how we want to perform against them.
“We’re in the Aviva, the national stadium so it’s pretty special. Some boys haven’t played there, I haven’t played there myself, so I’m really excited about that as well.
“It’s a big occasion for us and you know, they’re on a 15-win streak. But you’d like to think someone’s got to take it off them, so why can’t it be us if we’ve got that sort of belief and we’re confident enough in what we’ve got to do in terms of our jobs. So why can’t it be us?
“We may as well give it a good crack and that’s what we intend to do on Saturday afternoon.”
Cardiff sit in sixth place in the BKT United Rugby Championship and remain in the hunt for a playoff spot. They also have a round of 16 game in the EPCR Challenge Cup against Connacht in April.
With big matches ahead, starting with this weekend, Lawrence says these are the matches he plays for and it’s an exciting time.
“It’s exciting in itself, the fact that we’ve still got a lot to play for. We’re well into February now, going into the latter stages of competitions.
“That’s where you really want to kick on and not fall away. These big occasions, these big games, quarter-finals or round of 16s going into quarter-finals, top eights of the URC.
“Those are the games you want to be involved in, your Leinsters away, so it’s a really exciting time and we’re excited to have a good go at it on Saturday.”
Lawrence has been outstanding season and sits at the top of the tackle standings in the BKT United Rugby Championship with 152.
However, he says it’s all part of the job and is going to put his body on the line again tomorrow for his team.
“That’s pretty cool to start to know. I’d imagine we’ll have to do our fair share of defending,” added Lawrence.
“Stuff like that is just part and parcel of my job within the 15 or within the 23 at the time.
“Other boys have got their jobs and we all do it and then we all give it a good go.
“Leinster are a good team, we all know that, there’s no denying that. There’s going to be times where we are going to be under a bit of pressure, we’ve got to do a bit of defending, but hopefully we can ride those out efficiently.
“Then when we get our chance, we can do the same for them. Hopefully they’ll have to make as many tackles as us, maybe not 152, but up in those regions where we can get our attack on the field and play how we want to play.”