John Mulvihill is excited to see ‘live-wire’ Josh Adams make his long-awaited Cardiff Blues debut.
The wing, who was the top try scorer in the recent Rugby World Cup, will line-up for his new side in Saturday’s crucial Challenge Cup clash against Pau, partnering fellow internationals Owen Lane and Matthew Morgan in the back three.
Mulvihill is hoping the wing will thrive in Cardiff Blues’ attacking brand of rugby and is confident Adams will be able to carry his fine form into the regional jersey.
“He’s definitely a live-wire and he’ll pop up in all parts of the field,” said the head coach.
“He knows the way we play and he likes the way we play and he’ll probably get a lot of ball in his hands.
“He’s done very well for Worcester and fantastically well for Wales and the World Cup topped off a brilliant 18 months he’s had. We’re really glad that he’s with us.
“When you look at the last game against New Zealand in the World Cup, we had our Wales back three playing together, and that’s certainly something to look forward to.”
The sides head into the clash with matching records from the opening two rounds of European action - picking up a win each and falling to defeat to Leicester Tigers.
Mulvihill insists his side must bounce back from the defeat to Tigers and believes discipline will be vital on Saturday.
The Australian added: “If we win back-to-back games against Pau, then we’ll give ourselves a shot of qualifying out of our pool.
“This week is massively important and we’ve put the best team we’ve got available out of the field.
“We look back at that Leicester game with disappointment because we didn’t manage parts of the field very well.
“If we’d have won that game, then we would’ve won the last four games in a row and would be on an absolute high.
“We have won three out of the last four and I’m looking forward to another good result this week. We can then really set-up and look at what Pau will throw at us away from home.
“The club has won two Challenge Cup trophies in the last 10 years and it was always one of our goals to qualify out of this pool.
“To do that, you have to win your home games, and if you lost a home game then you’ll have to pick up some wins on the road and that’s what we’ll be endeavouring to do.
“Pau have been running quite high in the Top 14 over the last few weeks and they had a close 19-9 loss to Toulon last week in pretty terrible conditions.
“Their European cup team is usually a little bit different and we’ve had a look at the team that played against Leicester.
“They have a sprinkling of international players in the squad alongside some good and exciting young French boys in that team.
“The discipline is key for us, and we only gave away seven penalties last week. If you stay under 10 turnovers and eight penalties in a game, then you usually pick up wins because you don’t let the opposition get a foot-hold in the game.
"If you look back at the Leicester game, then you’ll be able to see why those two areas are key for us."