As Cardiff Rugby prepare to face Scarlets this Saturday at the Arms Park, winger Harri Millard reflected on the team's recent high-scoring battle against Glasgow Warriors.
With their fast-paced and attacking style, the reigning BKT United Rugby Championship champions proved to be formidable opponents, but Millard noted there were positives to take heading into the weekend.
“It seems like every time we play Glasgow it’s a high-scoring game,” Millard said. “I remember back in, I think it was 2019, we played them four times in a season and every game was like 40 points to 30.
"It’s always an exciting game, but obviously, defensively they’ve got some strong boys, like Tuipulotu, who ran the show. We needed to cut their chances really, and we didn’t do that.
"We played some good rugby against Glasgow but were on the losing side. I think last year they averaged 18 points a game, and we scored 36.”
With two wins from their opening three games, Cardiff remains optimistic about the season. Their upcoming match against Scarlets presents an opportunity to bounce back from the Glasgow loss, as the team prepares for another anticipated Welsh derby.
The Blue and Blacks have already faced the west Walians this season, earning a narrow win at Parc Y Scarlets.
“We’re trying to stay positive because we’ve won two out of three of our games,” Millard noted. “We’ve obviously already played Scarlets, so we know what we need to do defensively there.”
“It’s tough because I think they only won three games last year and two of them were against us - it'll be hard for them coming down here to beat us.
“But we just beat them on their patch, so they're going to be coming with probably 20% more effort this week and we need to give more again."
With the derby looming, Millard and his teammates are focused on replicating their recent performances.
“We still played some good rugby, and we know we can do that," added Millard.
“It’s about getting the mindset ready for another big derby this weekend.”