Dai Young is confident there’s more to come from his Cardiff Blues side after they secured back-to-back victories over Guinness PRO14 Conference B rivals, Scarlets.
A try from centurion Matthew Morgan and eight points from the boot of Jarrod Evans steered the visitors to victory at Parc y Scarlets, building on their win at Cardiff City Stadium a fortnight ago.
With a win his first match in charge since returning to the capital as interim director of rugby, Young was proud of the defensive effort shown by his side but insists there is still room for improvement as they head back into contention for an end-of-season play-off spot.
“We’ve got an opportunity to work on things in training and iron one or two things out which didn’t go too well tonight,” said the former Cardiff prop.
“But it’s put us back in the mix a little bit after two wins against Scarlets.
“As I said after the first game, we’ve set the standard and put out there what we want to play like. It wasn’t perfect and there’s still a lot of room for improvement but if we can play like that every game, then we’ll take some beating.
“That’s the first step on the ladder of our improvement and now we need to continue to improve individually and collectively.
“Defensively I thought we were in good shape all night but were a little bit frustrated in the second half because we were in good shape and didn’t need to give some of those penalties away.
“The big message all week has been about making sure that we’re disciplined, making sure that we trust our structure and not give away the penalties.
“I felt that we gave away too many penalties in the second half which gave Scarlets field possession, momentum and put us under pressure.
“But I’m really pleased with the effort and commitment and it was a game built on character and defence.
“I’ve been here six or seven days so you have to give the coaches credit for that performance more than myself. My job is to try and help the coaches get the best out of these players.
“It’s a talented group and we believe there’s more to come from this group, and that’s partly my job with the coaches. We want to get the best out of them and we’ll assess where we are after that.
“I thought the game was pretty much a mirror image of when we played them a couple of weeks ago. In the first half we were well on top and probably should’ve got more points and more of a cushion.
“In the second half, they came back strong like they were always going to do, and we gave away too many penalties, too much possession.
“But, in saying that, I thought we did a real good job of stopping the attacking backline that the Scarlets have got, which is up there with the best of them.”
Young missed the opening minutes of the match as he was stuck in traffic following a crash on the M4 on the outskirts of Cardiff, which led to road closures.
Young admitted that it was frustrating to miss the opening few minutes of the encounter, but insisted the most important thing was the well-being of those involved in the accident.
The former British and Irish Lion added: “To be honest, I couldn’t have been more frustrated before the game as I was sat on the motorway for four and a half hours, just past Cardiff Gate.
“First and foremost, let's hope that whoever was involved in the accident are okay, that’s the most important thing.
“But it was quite tough to be sitting on the motorway for that time, desperate to get to your first game.
“I missed the first 10 minutes, and when I got in we were 7-0 up, so I felt like turning around and making sure that I didn’t spoil it for the players.
“I got here in the end but it would’ve been better had I got here on time.”